Profiteroles with Gruyère Caramel
Ingredients
Ingredients
PASTRY PUFFS
- 1 cup water
- 6 tablespoons ¾ stick unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 5 large eggs lightly beaten, plus 1 egg
CARAMEL
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup grated young 1 year or less Gruyère
- 2 tablespoons ¼ stick unsalted butter, cubed
- ½ teaspoon sea salt plus more to taste
TO SERVE
- 2 pints vanilla ice cream softened (you’ll have leftover ice cream)
Instructions
Instructions
PASTRY PUFFS
- Heat oven to 425°F and arrange racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
- Add water to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Add butter and sugar, and once melted, remove pan from heat and beat in flour, stirring rapidly until no lumps remain. Return dough to medium heat and continue beating another 1 to 2 minutes, or until dough starts gathering itself into a ball.
- Transfer dough to a large bowl and stir for 1 minute to cool. Make a well in the center of the pastry and pour in about ¼ of the beaten eggs. Stir to combine. Repeat 3 more times with remaining beaten egg. The pastry will have the texture of thick glue, barely holding its shape when spooned—this is normal.
- Transfer dough to pastry or freezer bag and pipe 20 to 24 1-inch-wide puffs onto prepared baking sheets (10 to 12 per sheet). Lightly beat remaining egg with 1 teaspoon water, brush puffs with egg wash, and transfer to oven. Bake 20 minutes, rotating sheets once during cooking. Turn off oven and remove puffs. Make a horizontal slice in the puffs (not all the way through) to let some steam out. Return sheets to the oven for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
CARAMEL
- Heat sugar, corn syrup, and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Continue cooking without stirring until mixture begins to caramelize and turn brown, about 10 minutes (use a pastry brush dipped in water to brush sugar from the sides of the pot).
- When sugar mixture has browned to your liking, reduce heat to medium-low and add cream, stirring vigorously until combined. Stir in cheese until it melts, then add butter and stir until incorporated. Stir in salt and keep warm over low heat.
TO SERVE
- Open each pastry puff on the horizontal slice you made earlier and fill with a rounded spoonful of softened ice cream. Place 3 to 4 on a plate, drizzle with Gruyère caramel, and serve. Freeze any remaining pastry puffs.
Rebecca Haley-Park
Rebecca Haley-Park is culture's former editor and resident stinky cheese cheerleader. A native New Englander, she holds a BFA in creative writing from University of Maine at Farmington.
Photographer Evi Abeler
Evi Abeler is a food and still life photographer based in New York City. She helps art directors, cookbook authors and designers to communicate the love, passion and thought that goes into every project and creates modern, yet classic images. Her clients in advertising, publishing, hospitality and retail include Food & Wine Magazine (which named her Digital Food Award Winner), Harper Collins Publishing and Whole Foods Markets.
Leigh Belanger
Leigh Belanger is culture's former food editor. She's been a food writer, editor, and project manager for over a decade— serving as program director for Chefs Collaborative and contributing to local newspapers and magazines. Her first book, The Boston Homegrown Cookbook, was published in 2012. She lives and cooks in Boston with her family.
