Classic French Profiteroles
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If you’ve never made profiteroles at home, you’re in for a treat—crisp pastry shells, cool ice cream, and warm chocolate sauce come together in one melty, irresistible (and surprisingly easy) dessert.
Profiteroles are the kind of dessert you might order at a French bistro, but they’re totally doable at home. The puffs are made from classic French choux pastry—a simple dough that bakes into crisp, airy shells with hollow centers. Traditionally, they’re filled with ice cream and drizzled with warm chocolate sauce. I usually go with good store-bought ice cream to keep things easy, but if you’re up for it, my homemade vanilla ice cream makes them extra special. You can also fill the shells with vanilla pastry cream, like cream puffs, or even whipped cream—it’s less traditional, but just as delicious.
Profiteroles are one of my favorite make-ahead desserts—they’re perfect for parties, holidays, or anytime you want to bring a little fun to the table. Bake the puffs a day ahead, then fill and drizzle with warm chocolate sauce just before serving.
What You’ll Need To Make Profiteroles
- Water and Milk: These moisten the dough and help create the steam that makes the pastry puff up light and airy.
- Butter: Adds richness and flavor to the dough, plus it helps the pastry bake up tender and golden.
- Sugar: Just a touch to sweeten things slightly and help the pastry get that beautiful golden color in the oven.
- All-Purpose Flour: The foundation of the dough—it gives the pastry its structure and helps it hold its shape.
- Large Eggs: The magic ingredient that makes the choux pastry rise. Eggs add structure, richness, and keep everything light and airy.
- Vanilla Ice Cream: The classic filling that’s creamy and sweet—perfect against the crisp pastry shell. Feel free to swap in any flavor you love, or even use pastry cream or whipped cream.
- Heavy Cream: This is the base of the chocolate sauce, making it smooth, rich, and pourable.
- Semisweet or Bittersweet Chocolate: Adds deep chocolate flavor to the sauce. (Good chocolate, like Ghirardelli or Guittard, really makes a difference!)
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Make the choux pastry dough. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the water, milk, butter, sugar, and to a boil. Stir until the butter melts. Reduce the heat to low, add the flour, and stir until the dough comes together in a smooth ball and pulls away from the sides—about a minute. This dries it out just enough so the puffs rise nicely in the oven.
Transfer the dough to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and let it cool for about 5 minutes. Mix on low for 30 seconds to release some of the steam, then mix in the eggs one at a time.
Step 2: Finish choux pastry dough. Once the dough is ready, give it one more mix—it should be smooth, thick, and pipeable. Fit a piping bag with a ½-inch round tip. Then place the bag in a tall glass or measuring cup to hold it steady while you fill it. It makes the whole process much less messy.
Step 3: Pipe and bake. Pipe 1¾-inch mounds onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. If little peaks form as you lift the bag, just dip your fingertip in water and gently smooth them out—those tips can burn.
Bake in a 400°F- oven for 22 to 25 minutes, until the puffs are golden and nicely risen—resist the urge to peek, or they might collapse before they’re set. Once they’re done, turn off the oven, crack the door, and let them sit inside for 30 minutes to dry out.
Step 4: Make the chocolate sauce. In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the cream until it’s steaming but not boiling. Take it off the heat, add the chocolate and a pinch of salt, and stir until smooth. (You can also do this in the microwave—just heat the cream, then stir in the chocolate.) Let it cool a bit before drizzling.
Step 5: Assemble the profiteroles. Once the puffs are cool, slice them in half with a serrated knife, place a scoop of ice cream on the bottom half, and top with the other half.
Step 6: Serve. Drizzle the ice-cream-filled cream puffs with warm chocolate sauce and serve. You can eat profiteroles with a fork and knife—or just pick them up and go for it. There’s no wrong way…just don’t forget plenty of napkins!
More French Desserts You May Like
Profiteroles
Ingredients
For the Choux Pastry
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1½ teaspoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
For the Filling
- Vanilla ice cream (or any flavor of choice; you’ll need to buy a quart but you won’t use all of it) or vanilla pastry cream
For the Chocolate Sauce
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 2 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- Pinch salt
Instructions
Make the Choux Pastry
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and set an oven rack in the middle position. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium saucepan, combine the water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is fully melted.
- Reduce the heat to low, add the flour all at once, and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a smooth ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 1 minute.
- Transfer the dough to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Let it cool for 5 minutes, then beat on low speed for 30 seconds to release steam.
- With the mixer on low, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides as needed. Once all the eggs are incorporated, continue mixing for 1 minute more, until the dough is smooth, thick, and pipeable.
- Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a ½-inch (1.25-cm) round tip. Pipe 1¾-inch (4.5-cm) mounds onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Wet your fingertip and gently press down any pointed tips to prevent burning.
- Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, without opening the oven until near the end of the baking time, until the puffs are golden and well-risen. Turn off the oven, crack the door open slightly, and let them sit inside for 30 minutes to dry out. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the Chocolate Sauce
- In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream over medium heat until steaming (do not boil). Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate and salt, stirring until smooth. (Alternatively, you can heat the cream in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave, then stir in the chocolate.) Let it cool slightly before drizzling over the profiteroles.
Assemble the Profiteroles
- For Ice Cream-Filled Profiteroles: Before assembling, scoop small balls of ice cream (a 1½ oz or 3 tablespoon cookie scoop is ideal) onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until firm, at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours. (If you need to freeze them for longer than 2 hours, cover them with plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn.) Once the profiteroles are completely cool, slice them in half horizontally using a serrated knife.Place a frozen ice cream ball onto the bottom half of each profiterole, then place the top half back on. (An offset spatula helps lift the ice cream quickly without it melting all over your hands.) Drizzle generously with the warm chocolate sauce and serve immediately.For Pastry Cream-Filled Profiteroles: Before filling, whisk the chilled pastry cream until smooth. Using a small knife, poke a ¼-inch (6-mm) hole in the bottom of each profiterole. Transfer the pastry cream to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip and pipe into each puff until almost filled. Drizzle with warm chocolate sauce and serve.
Notes
- Profiterole shells can be made a day ahead and stored, unfilled, in an airtight container at room temperature. To re-crisp, bake at 300°F (150°C) for 5 minutes before filling. Let cool completely before filling. They can also be frozen for up to a month. To freeze, place the completely cooled shells on a baking sheet in a single layer and freeze until firm. Then, transfer them to a zip-top freezer bag or airtight container. To refresh, bake straight from frozen at 300°F (150°C) for 5 to 7 minutes, then let cool before filling.
- Filled ice cream profiteroles can be assembled ahead of time and frozen. Just add warm chocolate sauce before serving. Place the assembled profiteroles on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until solid. Once frozen, transfer to an airtight container or wrap in plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn. Let sit at room temperature for 5 minutes before serving, then drizzle with warm chocolate sauce.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Comments
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Making these for a dinner party tomorrow. What store bought ice cream brand would you recommend?
Hi Kathy, I always like Haagan-Daz.
thank you!!!😍
Thanks for all of your delicious recipes! Serving these for dessert tonight! Do I recrisp the shells whole or sliced? I stored them overnight whole. Also do I freeze shells whole or sliced? So easy to make. Can’t wait for the finished product!
Hi Sheryl, I’d recrisp them whole. Enjoy!
The recipe is very clearly written and I now have 12 mini profiteroles filled with ice-cream in the freezer. Thanks Jen.
A couple of comments.
I made double the pastry recipe and left the second batch of pastry blobs sitting on the prepared baking pan in the kitchen on a warm day today while the first batch cooked and dried out in the oven (about 50 minutes). The first batch while they were risen and browned mostly on top I think should have had longer in the oven as the second lot which were browned all over didn’t flop on cooling as the first lot did and are real shells. I don’t think the second lot sitting in the kitchen waiting for the middle shelf made any difference. So I made a note to leave them in the oven the full or a bit more time
The second comment I have is about the ice-cream I used: a store brand premium vanilla that I later saw included carob bean gum and guar gum with the regular cream, egg yolks etc. The blobs of this ice-cream were not very hard after several hours covered in the freezer whereas our regular premium ice cream – the 5 ingredient type with no gums is very hard straight from the freezer. When I put the blobs of gum containing ice-cream in the profiterole shells it was definitely still soft but not running and think it will remain pretty much like that when I take them out of the freezer in a few days.
The point I am making is that the I think if I had used the 5 ingredient ice cream in the profiteroles they would have been hard to eat from the freezer even after the warm sauce had been added whereas with the ice cream I have used I will have to rush them to the table probably on fridge cold plates to keep the ice cream intact!
These facts about ice cream are probably well known to others but we only normally eat home made or the 5 ingredient type so I am not used to softer ice-cream!. I might decide to go with the patisserie cream filling next time although I love the idea of having everything but the sauce done in advance.
All this being said even without the chocolate sauce the spare one I ate was very good with the choux pastry having just a tinge of sweetness which went very well with the sweet ice-cream.
Update. The well done shells with their gum containing ice-cream were good eaten almost immediately out of the freezer with a quick covering of the chocolate sauce: the ice cream was firm but not solid which worked out well in the end.