Profiterols and Chocolate Eclairs

Enjoy these for after dinner dessert or with friends over a cuppa. They are not too sweet but still so yummy. Profiteroles are the round pastries with chocolate sauce and the Chocolate Eclairs are the long pastries with hard chocolate topping. The filling can either be custard or whipped cream. I made these for my brother as dessert after dinner, he loved them ! brought back memories when he made them himself at school, and I think I inspired him to make them himself, those that know him will properly say "yeah right..." Just come back for dinner again bro and I'll make them again for you.

Makes 42 Profiterols (approx)

** Choux Pastry recipe inspired by “the Margaret Fulton Cookbook” by Margaret Fulton
** Chocolate Sauce recipe inspired Australian Women’s Weekly “Dinner Party Cookbook No. 2”

Choux Pastry

1 cup plain flour
1 cup water
125g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
4 eggs

Sift flour into a bowl and set aside. In a saucepan, over medium heat, add water, butter, sugar and salt. Stir to combine until melted and bring to a boil for ½ minute. Add flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon to incorporate until mixture forms a ball and leaves the side of the pan. Remove from heat and place mixture into a food processor with blade attachment. Allow to cool to lukewarm. Add eggs, one at a time, and process until mixed through well. The mixture should be shiny and smooth.

Preheat oven to 200oC (190oC fan forced). Line baking trays with baking paper.

For Profiteroles - Fill piping bag with 14mm nozzle and pipe 3 cm rounds, 5cm apart onto baking trays. For Chocolate Eclairs - Fill piping bag with 14mm nozzle and pipe 8 cm long strips, 5cm apart onto baking trays. Bake immediately for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 190oC (180oC fan forced) and continue baking pastry rounds for 10 minutes. Remove trays from oven and with the tip of a knife make a small slit on the side of each pastry round. Return the pastry rounds to the oven and switch oven OFF. Leave the pastry rounds to cool in oven before filling with whipped cream or custard (recipe below) and topping with chocolate sauce (recipe below).

Custard

6 egg yolks
6 tab sugar
4 tab plain flour
1 teas vanilla essence
3 cups milk (full cream)

In a saucepan over medium heat, heat up milk until hot. Switch off Heat.

In a medium bowl, add egg yolks, sugar, flour and vanilla essence. Stir to combine using a balloon whisk. Add ½ of the milk into egg mixture and stir slowly to incorporate. Add the rest of the milk and continue stirring. Return egg/milk mixture back to saucepan and stir with balloon whisk until custard thickens, this should take around 10 – 15 minutes. Remove from heat and pour custard into a clean glass bowl. Cover the surface of custard with cling film and allow to cool to lukewarm. Then place in the fridge until required.

Chocolate Sauce (smooth & creamy)

60g unsalted butter
125g dark chocolate
½ cup icing sugar
1 cup sour cream

Place butter and chocolate in saucepan, stir over moderate heat until melted. Add sifted icing sugar, mix well. Remove from heat, add sour cream and stir until smooth and glossy. Serve warm. Can be reheated when required.

or for Chocolate Eclairs

Chocolate Topping (sets hard)

150g dark or milk chocolate
20g copha

In a small bowl put chocolate and copha and melt in microwave at 10 second intervals, stirring at each 10 seconds until smooth and melted. Dip tops of each Eclairs with chocolate and leave at room temperate to set hard or place Eclairs in fridge until ready to serve.