Tuesday, September 17, 2013

TWD: [Not] Espresso Profiteroles

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking with Julia
by Dorie Greenspan
Contributing Baker: Norman Love



I love profiteroles - who doesn't? I know, someone in the universe may not - and they be crazy.

I have only made plain profiteroles in the past. Norman's recipe is an espresso flavored profiterole, filled with a cinnamon ice cream and drizzled with a Grand Marnier chocolate sauce. Personally, the orange flavored chocolate sauce with cinnamon ice cream did not sound good to me, so I opted to use Emily Luchetti's cocoa sauce instead.

Upon reading the ingredients for the cinnamon ice cream, and my experience with the recipes in this book (bland, bland, bland), one teaspoon of ground cinnamon was not going to give this ice cream any kick. Again, I opted to use a different recipe. The cinnamon ice cream recipe from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz, is intense! He uses ten cinnamon sticks to infuse the cream - so friggin good. I added a molasses swirl to the ice cream as well, after my sister-in-law mentioned to me that this flavor combination was to die for (this she had at Citizen Cake in SF - now closed).

I did follow the recipe for the profiteroles! And they were a dud. It was the worst choux pastry I have worked with. Not only did it not look right from the beginning, but it was an extremely sticky dough (choux pastry is normally soft and silky) and I had a hell of a time forming the profiteroles. They also did not rise very much after baking, and were rather dense and rubbery, instead of light and airy. With the addition of brewed coffee and espresso powder, I was surprised they did not have a very strong coffee flavor. Sad to say, they ended up in the garbage.

I went back to my trusted pastry chef, Emily Luchetti, for her profiterole recipe - as expected they turned out perfect! Thank you Emily!




This ice cream would taste fantastic served alongside a slice of apple tarte tatin or apple pie. I'm seeing a new Thanksgiving tradition on the horizon..


Seriously, which one would you prefer?




You can see how all the other talented bakers in the group worked this recipe by going to the LYL: Espresso Profiteroles link on the TWD site.

You will find the profiterole recipe on page 411 of Baking with Julia; David's cinnamon ice cream, page 38 of The Perfect Scoop - or just do a Google search; and for Emily's cocoa sauce, you can find it here.


12 comments:

  1. hmmmm.... I thought it was just my issue with the dough since this is the first time I had tried my hand at profiteroles... My first batch failed (I had the same problems as you) and since I didn't want to bother with the coffee again, I just followed a simple profiterole recipe and those turned out fine.

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  2. It looks gorgeous. I totally need to pull out my copy of Perfect Scoop and find that ice cream recipe. (if I can ever clean out enough space in my freezer to fit my canister, that is...)

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  3. Well at least your pictures look beautiful!

    I didn't have as much issue with the dough. I've tried choux before and they deflated post-baking so i was just happy these little guys stayed puffed.

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  4. That cinnamon ice cream sounds to die for, DL's "Perfect Scoop" is currently on my wish list and that will be the first ice cream I make. I have to say I agree with you about this book I have found the recipes quite bland as well, it is ok to use as a guide but you always have to do some serious tweaking to get good results.

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  5. Oh dear.. the first batch was really quite a dud!! but will you look at the next batch.. and that photo with all that choco sauce all over it.. that's a winner!!

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  6. Gosh, I think I will try Emily's cream puffs next! Beautifully done!

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  7. Oooh the second last photo is a real glamour shot! And DL's cinnamon ice cream sounds good, I'm also intrigued by adding molasses to the ice cream, do you fold it into ice cream before freezing it?

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    1. Saucy, the swirl is a mixture of molasses, sugar, and water, heated until it is slightly thickened. I then drizzled it in the container, added a layer of ice cream and drizzled more, another layer of ice cream, etc. (Yes, before freezing.) Next time I would stir it ever so slightly. The flavor of the molasses is lost against the cinnamon, though it does make for pretty swirls. :)

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  8. I wish I had been smart like you and used David Lebovitz's cinnamon ice cream recipe. It is so much better. You hit the nail on the head - most of the recipes in this book really have been bland. I also agree on the profiteroles, I've definitely made better.

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  9. So good to read that profiteroles can be better than these. And I am curious now about Emily's cocoa sauce.

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  10. Your ice cream sounds so good! I definitely want to try a "warm"-flavored cinnamon ice cream sometime this fall, and if I ever get around to the profiteroles, I'll avoid the recipe in the book and use another trusted one. I'm surprised by how many of these recipes were lacking :(

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