Profiteroles with Cocoa-Rum Cream

Mother’s Day!  Tomorrow!

Say hi to your mutha for me!

Turns out Mark Wahlberg wasn’t happy about this sketch.  MARKY MARK.  Chill out.  Make some profiteroles for your mom.  Come on now.

It’s not that hard…  A little time consuming, but worth it.  Then we can make some tea and go talk to animals.

To make the dough, we boil water and butter with some sugar and dump in a bunch of flour.  This makes a really firm dough…  Did you do your pushups yesterday?  Me neither, but it’s time to do some work with that arm.  (Note that I doubled the recipe; don’t worry if you seem to have less dough.)

You stir, and stir, and stir.  Stir after each addition of an egg.  It looks like lumps of dough covered in slime and it seems like those things will never come together in one harmonious, beautiful mass…

…But it happens!  Rest assured.  Just keep stirring, and before you know it, you’ll be piping this shiny, eggy dough onto parchment.

Put some water on your fingers and gently smooth out the tops.

This is what you get!  Puffy little vessels for a delicious filling of your choice.  Little itty bitty boats.

Ice cream would be lovely, but we’re filling them with cream, whipped with cocoa (because chocolate is delicious) and rum (because being a mom is hard work).

Pipe, spoon, slather…  It’s all good.

Good job, Mark.   I told you it was easy.

This would be…  Number 5 from my list?  I’m losing track already.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Profiteroles with Cocoa-Rum Cream
(slightly adapted from Epicurious)

For profiteroles:
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs

For filling:
1 cup chilled whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons dark rum

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper (don’t grease).

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, heat up the water, butter, sugar and salt until boiling.  Remove from heat and add the flour, stirring until you have a smooth, stiff dough.  Stir for a couple more minutes to cook the flour, then remove from heat. Add one of the eggs to the dough and stir until incorporated; repeat with the rest of the eggs, one at a time.

Transfer the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip (or just use a plastic bag with the corner cut off to make a 1/2-inch hole).  Pipe little mounds, about 1 1/4 inches in diameter and 1-inch high.  Space them a couple inches apart.  Wet your fingers slightly with water and gently smooth out the pointy tops.

Bake until puffed and golden brown, about 35 minutes.  Cool completely on a rack before filling.

To make the filling, use a hand mixer to beat cream and sugar in a large bowl until soft peaks form (a few minutes).  Add cocoa and rum and continue beating until stiff peaks form (a couple of minutes).

To fill profiteroles, use a serrated knife to cut off the bottom (around 1/3rd of an inch or so from the bottom).  Spoon or pipe filling into the bottom and replace the top.  Chill before serving.  Makes 12 profiteroles (I doubled the recipe to make 24-ish).