Chocolate Dipped Profiteroles

Chocolate Dipped Profiteroles - My heart is skipping a beat at the sight of these. Just wait until you get to taste this easier than you might think dessert. Your guests will be so impressed - you never have to tell them how easy it is to make profiteroles from scratch!

Yields: 28

Ingredients

For The Profiteroles (Choux Pastry)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into small pieces

5 large eggs, at room temperature

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate

1 tablespoon canola oil

For The Whipped Cream Topping

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

For The Spiced Apple Topping

2 apples (I used Cortlands)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch of salt

homemade salted caramel sauce, for drizzling

confectioners' sugar for dusting, optional

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. You can fit a pastry or large ziptop bag with a 12-inch tip or simply cut off one corner of the bag once it's filled with the dough (that's what I did).

Whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine water and butter and bring to a boil. Before adding the flour mixture, make sure that the butter is completely melted. Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture into the wet ingredients on the stove and beat vigorously until fully incorporated and no lumps remain. The dough is ready when it starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and begins to form a ball. Remove from the stove and let cool for 5 minutes.

Stir in one egg at a time (making sure to fully incorporate each egg before adding the next one). Your final dough should be smooth and glossy. Spoon into the pastry or ziptop bag and cut off one corner.

Pipe desired shapes onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. I started piping a 2-3-inch circle onto the baking sheet and topped that with 2 smaller circles. It should remind you of a raised snail shell and doesn't have to be perfect. Once your done piping out your profiteroles, wet one of your fingers and push down any pointy parts in the middle of each profiterole (as they tend to burn quickly).

Optional: At this point you can put the baking sheet into the freezer (for at least 1 hour or until profiteroles are firm), transfer them to a freezer bag and pull them out when you're ready to bake them. Proceed as directed. No need to defrost them first.

Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Increase the heat to 425 degrees F and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until profiteroles are nice and golden. Remove from the oven, transfer to a cooling rack.

While the profiteroles are cooling, prepare the chocolate glaze by combining the chocolate and oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 30 second intervals, stirring often, until chocolate is completely melted. Dip each profiterole into the chocolate and return to wire racks until chocolate is set.

While chocolate is setting, prepare the whipped cream filling. In a medium bowl, whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add confectioners' sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Place in the fridge while you cook the apple topping.

Peel and dice the two apples. Places the apples along with all of the other ingredients (except for the caramel sauce and confectioner's sugar) into a skillet. Cook apples over medium-high heat until they're tender,soft and caramelized, about 5-8 minutes. Remove from the stove.

Cut the profiteroles in half. You can either spoon or pipe desired amount of the whipped cream topping onto the bottom half of each profiterole (I used a piping bag and star tip to pipe on mine). Top with a heaping tablespoon of the spiced apple topping and drizzle with salted caramel sauce (I had my homemade caramel sauce in the fridge). Place second half on top. Sift confectioners' sugar over the top of each profiterole and serve, 2-3 per person.