I may not be the most romantic man in the world according to my wife, who I obviously disagree with, but I do know the quickest way to her heart, or more accurately, stomach.
Valentine’s Day has never been a high priority for me to be honest. You can keep your red roses, and any fluffy bunnies should only ever be seen in a pie.
The best way for me to attain brownie points on this day is with a towering pyramid of chocolate profiteroles. They are one of her favourite desserts (she has many favourite puddings) and she can forget all my indiscretions (for an hour or two anyway) when confronted with the little cream-filled choux buns.
I I always thought making choux pastry was difficult and therefore hardly ever made it. Then after being taught how to do it properly on a cookery course, I embarked on a quest to find the easiest and most consistent recipe I could.
When you have a recipe that is powerful enough to make your wife forget what you've done, or haven’t done, no stone should be left unturned in the mission for perfection.
I have tried a few different recipes from many chefs for choux pastry, with differing results. It was probably me, but some profiteroles would be like golf balls, others the size of a marble and the odd one more likely to be seen at a ten pin bowling alley.
But then I discovered a recipe for choux pastry by French master baker Richard Bertinet from his book Pastry.
This recipe produced the most consistent results I've ever had making choux buns. All were roughly the same size, nice and round like they should be.
The main difference I can see with Bertinet's recipe as opposed to other ones I have tried is that they are baked at a lower oven temperature. In the past I have baked them at 200°C but this time it was 170°C. It works, and the only thing you need is a bit of patience to let the pastries become golden brown, puffy and crispy. Pale, pallid choux buns are the seven stone weaklings of the pastry world and will collapse on cooling.
So if you need something to divert your better half's attention, give these profiteroles a go - they will work, even if it's just for a few hours.
INGREDIENTS
125g plain flour
225g water
60g butter
1 tsp caster sugar, (optional, if you like a sweeter pastry)
½ tsp salt
4 eggs
METHOD
Sift the flour into a bowl or jug. Put the water, butter and salt into a good sized pan and bring to the boil. Tip all of the flour into the pan, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon. Keep stirring fast over the heat until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and looks smooth and glossy, about 2-3 minutes.
Leave the paste to cool. You can add the eggs now, one at a time, beating vigorously after each one until you get a dropping consistency. This is quite hard work, so always trying to find an easier way, I usually put the choux paste in a food mixer and use the paddle attachment to do it all for me.
Mix with the paddle for a minute before adding the eggs a little at a time until you reach a stiff dropping consistency that is suitable for piping, that looks smooth and glossy. You may not need all the eggs.
Line a couple of baking trays with baking parchment and either drop teaspoons of choux paste about the size of a £2 coin onto the trays or pipe about 20-30 (depending how big you like your profiteroles).
With a wet finger very gently press down on each choux bun to get rid of the pointy bit left after piping and bake in a 170ºC oven/ 150ºC fan for about 20 minutes until golden brown. They should be well risen and firm to touch, so be careful not to bring them out too early or they will go soft and flabby. Turn the oven off and leave them in for 5 minutes more if you are not sure.
Also, when you do bring them out of the oven, prick a small hole (with a skewer or small knife) in the base of each bun to allow the steam to escape and keep them crisp. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
You can use the hole in the bottom of each bun to pipe in some sweetened cream, whipped to soft peaks. The choux bun should feel tight and heavy with cream, but don't overfill or it will burst. Still delicious, but won’t look as good.
You can pour over a chocolate sauce (chocolate, sugar & water) or do what I do and just melt some good quality 70% dark chocolate and pour over or dip the top of each profiterole in the chocolate. Leave to cool and refrigerate.
I find the crisp chocolate topping gives a nice contrast to the soft cream of the profiterole.
But this has nothing to do with me. This is all about Mrs GCC and trying to take her mind off how incredibly unromantic I really am!
Wish me luck.
Bringing the butter, water and salt (sugar if using) to the boil.
The choux paste after beating in the flour over the heat.
The mixture after beating in the eggs, ready for piping.
Small mounds of piped choux paste ready for the oven.