One of the easiest French pastry doughs to master is pâte à choux, which translates to “cabbage dough” since once baked, the puffs resemble little cabbages. (If you have a creative imagination!) Unlike other pastry doughs, this dough is made in a saucepan on the stovetop, then piped or spooned onto baking sheets. These versatile puffs can be sprinkled with pearl sugar before baking, which turns them into one of the great French snacks, chouquettes. Cheese can be added to the dough, which turns them into gougères. And if you like gougères a lot (which I do), you can make giant gougères. That’s how they’re sold in bakeries in Burgundy, the region of France where they were invented. But one of my favorite ways to use them is to make profiteroles, which I enjoy so much that I put them on the cover of my new book, Ready for Dessert. Yes, that smile on my face while dousing them with warm chocolat sauce is the real deal.
When my friend Cécilia Jourdan of Hello French was in Paris recently (she was a guest on my podcast), I invited her back into my kitchen to make a video with me preparing profiteroles with her. Because Cécilia is a French teacher, we had some fun with French vocabulary, too. Here are a few words we used in the video: Sauteuse: A high-sided, wide saucepan. Douille: Pastry piping tip. Poche à douille: Pastry piping bag. Au pif: “By the nose,” meaning you cook or add an ingredient by instinct, rather than using a precise measurement. Excité/excitée: Technically means “excited,” but some say it’s a sexual term, similar to “aroused,” but Cécilia clarified that more in the video.
I hope you enjoy the video as well as the recipe (below), which is from my book Ready for Dessert. Bon Appétit!
Pâte à chouxAdapted from Ready for Dessert, revised edition Makes 25 to 30 puffs 1 cup (250ml) water 8 tablespoons (4 ounces/115g) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch (~2cm) pieces 2 teaspoons sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour 4 large eggs, at room temperature Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. In a medium saucepan, bring the water, butter, sugar, and salt to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring gently to encourage the butter to melt. As soon as the mixture begins to boil, add the flour all at once and stir rapidly with a spatula until the mixture forms a smooth ball and easily pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat. Wait for 2 minutes, stirring the paste a couple of times to cool it slightly, then vigorously beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure each one is completely incorporated before adding the next. (I do this by hand, but some folks prefer to use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.) Using a pastry bag fitted with a plain 1/2-inch (1.5 to 2cm) tip, pipe the choux paste into mounds about 1 1/2 inches (4cm) high on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 3 inches (8cm) apart. Conversely, you can also use a spring-loaded ice cream scoop or two soupspoons to drop the paste into mounds. Bake until the puffs are golden brown on the tops and sides, 25 to 30 minutes. (But check before those baking times as ovens can vary. You want to remove the puffs from the oven when they’re deep golden brown.) Turn off the oven and let them rest in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and poke each puff in the side with a paring knife so that it releases its steam. Let cool completely. To make profiteroles, cut each two or three cream puffs in half horizontally, per serving, and place them on a plate. Put a scoop of ice cream between each and replace the top. Ladle warm chocolate sauce over the profiteroles, and top with toasted or candied sliced almonds, if desired.
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Friday, September 26, 2025
Making Profiteroles (a video)
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