Salted Caramel Profiteroles

Directions

Get a medium saucepan and put in the water, butter, sugar, vanilla and salt.  Heat over medium heat, stirring regularly, until the butter is melted and the water starts to boil.

Take the pan off the stove, add in the flour and stir energetically with a whisk – really get in there.  Once all the flour has been absorbed by the liquids, return the pan to the medium heat and cook again for a couple minutes, stirring throughout, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan.

Move the dough to a bowl, let cool for a couple of minutes (NOT all the way), and get your bowl with the eggs.

Add in your eggs about one at a time, and whisk well after each egg is added.  The goal is to get the dough to a consistency where it’s glossy and you can put it in a piping bag and pipe it, so you may not use all the eggs.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper and fill a pastry bag with a fairly large tip with your dough.

Pipe 6 per baking sheet.  Tap lightly on the top of any with points at the top – you want them rounded, not pointy.

Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.  Open the oven, prick each of the pastries (I used a cake tester but you can also use a toothpick) and put them back in the oven for another 5-15 minutes, or until the pastries are a nice golden brown.

Remove the rack from the oven and place the baking sheet on a wire rack to cool completely.

Once they are cooled place them in an air-tight container and put them in the fridge until you’re ready to fill and top them.

Now on to the filling, and for this we’ll make a pastry cream.

Add the milk, heavy cream and vanilla to a medium saucepan and heat over medium until the mixture starts to bubble along the edges.  Remove from heat.

In a medium bowl, add the sugar and egg yolks and whisk together until well combined.  Add in the corn starch and whisk again until the corn starch is fully incorporated and the mixture is smooth.

Get your pot with the milk mixture in it and pour about half a cup or so of the hot mixture into your egg yolk mixture, whisking vigorously the entire time.  Then, pour the bowl mixture back into your saucepan and whisk.

Turn the heat back on and cook at low, whisking regularly, until the mixture starts to thicken and it’s bubbling around the edges – it should only take a few minutes.

Next, remove it from the heat, add the butter and whisk until the butter is fully melted and incorporated.

Pour your cream into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Make sure the plastic wrap is actually touching the mixture so that it doesn’t develop a film on top.  Move the bowl to the fridge to cool completely (at least a couple hours).

Finally, we’ll make the salted caramel topping.  I’d make this just before you take the pastry cream out of the refrigerator and are ready to fill the profiteroles.

In a small pot, sprinkle the sugar evenly along the bottom.  Heat at medium until the sugar melts and is a nice golden brown.  Resist the urge to stir it (if you do it can start to crystalize on the sides of the pot).  Just leave it and watch it carefully – the sugar can go from golden brown to burnt VERY quickly.

Get your heavy cream and slowly pour it into the pot, stirring vigorously the entire time.

Once the caramel starts to bubble, turn off the heat and add in the butter, one chunk at a time.  The chunks don’t need to be super small – it’s just easier to combine this way than throwing in and entire stick of butter.  Continue stirring after each addition and do this until all the butter is incorporated and well mixed in.  Finally, add in the salt and stir to combine.

Transfer the caramel to a bowl and let it cool and thicken on the counter.

While the caramel is cooling, take the pastry cream out of the fridge and whisk it again to loosen it up.  Load it into a pastry bag and pipe it into the profiteroles, filling them as much as you can.

Once the caramel is thick enough to adhere to the pastry (you can stick a spoon in to check – you want it to cling to the spoon with a minimum of drip), get your profiteroles and dip each one into the caramel.

Transfer to a cookie sheet covered with a sheet of wax paper and sprinkle your flaky sea salt on top.  Move the tray to the fridge to set, and eventually remove them from the tray and transfer them to an air-tight container and keep them refrigerated until you’re ready to serve.  These will start to get soggy fairly quickly so it’s best to eat them within a day or two of finishing them.

Makes about 10 profiteroles.  This is a little more work than most of my recipes but I promise it’ll be worth it.  Enjoy!