Profiteroles (cream puffs) are made with choux paste and then filled with vanilla pastry cream.
Ingredients
For the choux paste:
1 cup (120g) flour
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (120g) unsalted butter
1 cup (250ml) water
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
For the vanilla pastry cream:
6 large egg yolks
½ cup (100g) sugar
4 tablespoons (40g) flour
4 tablespoons (40g) cornstarch
3 cups (750ml) milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Method
Prepare the choux pastre:
In a bowl sift together the flour, sugar and salt. Set aside. Place the butter and water in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and, with a wooden spoon or spatula, quickly add the flour mixture. Return to heat and stir constantly until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a thick smooth ball. Transfer the dough to your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, and beat on low speed a minute or two to release the steam from the dough. Once the dough is lukewarm start adding the lightly beaten eggs and continue to mix until you have a smooth thick paste. Using a piping bag with a round tip, pipe the smooth dough into balls onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes and then at 350°F for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown on the outside but hollow on the inside. Leave the oven open a crack (by using a spoon or something else to hold it open) and let cool completely.
Prepare the vanilla pastry cream:
Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar together until they are a pale yellow. Sift together the flour and cornstarch and then whisk them into the egg yolk mixture until you get a smooth paste. Meanwhile, bring the milk and vanilla to a simmer (small bubbles) in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and add slowly to the egg mixture, one drop at a time and then in a steady stream, constantly whisking. Then, pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until very thick, stirring constantly. Pass through a sieve if your eggs curdled (if there are pieces of egg in your pastry cream). Let cool in the fridge for a few hours.
Assemble the profiteroles:
Using a piping bag pipe the pastry cream into a hole in the profiterole. If there are no holes, use a wooden skewer to create one. Alternatively, cut them in half and fill with two teaspoons. You can also serve them with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.
Recipe by IronWhisk at http://www.ironwhisk.com/2012/10/profiteroles/