Have you ever had profiteroles? it’s a pastry combining vanilla ice cream and warm chocolate sauce… How does that sound?

It’s pretty simple to make once you get the pastry texture right. If you make it too dry or too liquid, your puff pastry won’t « get up » in the oven. Every egg is different, their weight can vary from one country or brand to another. That’s why, in order to succeed, it is more important to achieve a particular texture than respecting the given egg measure.

This profiteroles recipe is the original French classic but don’t be afraid to vary ice cream flavors, you’ll find your favorite! Need some ideas? Start by trying pear or coconut, they’re both amazing

Preparation time: 20 minutes – Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients (for 25 to 30 profiteroles)

1/2 cup (125 ml) of milk
1/2 cup (125 ml) of water
1 stick (4 oz/ 125 g) of butter
4 oz (125 g) of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
4 eggs (about 2 oz/ 60 g each)

Chocolate sauce

1/3 cup (85 ml) of water
1 tablespoon (15 g) of caster sugar
1 tablespoon (15 g) of unsweetened cocoa
7 oz (200 g) of dark chocolate
1/2 cup (125 ml) of whipping cream

3 cups (750 ml) of vanilla ice cream

Instructions

Prepare puff pastry

1/ Dice butter.

2/ Heat a large pan over medium-low heat. Add water, milk, butter and salt. Stir occasionally until butter is melt.

3/ Take pan off heat and add flour all at once, whisk. Put pan back over low heat and whisk for a minute so pastry dries up a little.

4/ Off heat, add one egg and whisk until mixture is blended and smooth. Repeat with two more eggs.

5/ Break last egg in a small bowl, whisk it with a fork. (Pastry mixture is ready when smooth and sticky. When taking it with a spoon, it should hang on the sides. If your pastry mixture is too liquid, add some flour (1 teaspoon at a time) until it gets sticky. There is no need for you to add the last egg. On the other hand, if you pastry is still hard to whisk you go and add the last egg.) Add whisked egg one half at a time and whisk pastry mixture.

6/ Pour pastry mixture in a piping bag. (If you don’t have one, use a freezer bag. You’ll cut one corner with scissors once it’s filled with pastry mixture) . Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

7/ Preheat oven to 400°F (200° C/ Th 6). If you have a convection oven, preheat to 375° F (190° C/ Th 5).

8/ Position opening of the piping bag just above the baking tray. Gently squeeze. Lift about 1/4 inch while still squeezing.When puff is about 1.5 inch round, stop squeezing and lift tip. Leave a few inches between puffs so they don’t stick together  when baking.

9/ Bake in oven for 30 minutes. Don’t open the oven before they’re ready!

10/ When they’re ready, get them to chill on a grill tray.

Prepare chocolate sauce

1/ Break dark chocolate in a bowl.

2/ Get water, sugar and cocoa powder to a boil in a small pan. Stir well with a wooden spoon until you get a smooth chocolate syrup.

3/ When chocolate syrup is boiling, lower heat and add whipping cream. Stir well.

4/ Take off heat and add dark chocolate. Stir well until you get a blended and thick chocolate sauce.

Prepare profiteroles (count 3 per serving)

1/ Open all the puff pastry you need with a knife.

2/ Place bottoms on serving plates, top with puff pastry remaining half.

3/ Top generously with chocolate sauce and serve right away.

We’re in the middle of fruit season; it’s a perfect time for experimenting with crumble. I had different kinds of fruit left and tried different combinations. Some of them didn’t come out so great, but apricot and mango made it unforgettable This is  a basic crumble recipe: apricot and mango can be easily replaced by any fruit. Crumble is really, really easy to make. You should try!

Preparation time: 10 mn  Cooking time: 30 mn

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

6 apricots
1 mango
1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar
2/3 cup of flour
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of butter

Instructions

1/ Mix flour and sugar in a salad bowl. Cut butter into small pieces and incorporate them one small amount at a time. Rub into mixture until it looks like breadcrumbs.

2/ Preheat oven to 410° F (210° C / Th 7)

3/ Peel and slice mango.

4/ Clean and slice apricots.

5/ Butter an ovenproof dish and add fruits sprinkling with vanilla sugar between layers. Scatter with crumble mixture.

6/ Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Lemon lovers, this recipe is for you ! If you don’t have time or you’re feeling lazy you can always use an already-made pie crust… but be aware you’ll be missing something! By adding lemon zest to the crust, we give it a delicious taste… Let’s try this at home!

Preparation Time : 40 mn (+ 1h in the fridge for the crust) – Cooking Time : 50 mn

Ingredients (for 6 to 8 servings):

For the crust
2 cups (200g) of flour
4 tablespoons (60g) of sugar
1/2 cup (100g) of cold butter
1/2 non-treated lemon
1 teaspoon of vanilla powder
1 egg yolk
Baking paper
A handful of dry beans

For the pie mixture
2 1/2 non-treated lemons
4 eggs + 1 egg yolk
1 cup (200g) of sugar
5/8 cup (15 cl) of sour cream
1 tablespoon of icing/powdered sugar

Instructions:

Pie crust

1/ Mix flour and sugar in a salad bowl. Cut butter in small pieces, grate the 1/2 lemon zest and mixt it in the salad bowl together with vanilla and egg yolk.

2/ Rinse hands with cold water and knead mixture until all butter pieces are incorporated.

3/ Roll the crust and garnish a (greased) pie mold with it.

4/ Leave it in the fridge for 1 hour.

5/ Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C / Th 6)

6/ Put baking paper on the crust and fill it with the beans (rice could make it as well, it’s just for the weight) . Pre-bake in oven for 10 mn.

Pie mixture

7/ Clean lemons and grate zest.

8/ Beat eggs, yolk and sugar until soft. Add lemon zest and juice.

9/ Wisk sour cream well and add thoroughly to lemon mixture.

10/ Reduce oven heat to 300°F (150°C / Th 5). Take weights and baking paper off crust and fill with lemon cream.

11/ Bake in oven for 50 mn. Let it chill.

12/ Before serving, spread icing sugar on top and put it under grill for less than 1 mn. Be careful not to let it burn, it would be a shame now that all the hard work in done!