Wednesday 17 October 2012

Profiteroles

If you're good and follow me on twitter, then you might've noticed that last week I made Profiteroles. Yes, I'm sorry I bombarded your twitter feeds with my pictutures, I was just SO happy with the result. So much so in fact, that I'm going to show you all again now, et voila...



As usual I used someone elses recipe and adapted it slightly for my own ego, and this week was the turn of James Martin. The main bones of the recipe were taken from his 2006 book Desserts which can be bought from any good book store or Amazon if you click the link here (It's actually a very good recipe book and if you're a fan of James Martin's Saturday Kitchen, then you'll find a lot of his favourite puds to try for yourself)

Back to the Profiteroles though... Here's my recipe.

Ingredients
(Serves 4 - 6, makes around 15 Profiteroles)

Choux Pastry
85g Salted Butter
4 tsp Caster Sugar
115g Plain Flour
Pinch of Salt
3 medium eggs (beaten)

Filling
600ml Double Cream

Method
1. Pre-Heat oven to 180C and line a tray with baking paper

2. To make the pastry, place the butter and sugar into a large pan with 200ml cold water and place on a low heat to melt the butter.

3. Once the butter is melted increase the heat and tip the flour in all at once.

4.Remove from the heat and quickly beat the mixture until it forms a smooth paste.

5. When the mixture is smooth put the pan back on the heat and stir with a spatula for one minute.

6. Take off the heat and immediately add the eggs, one at a time, mixing them in with a spatula.

7. Beat the mixture until it's smooth and glossy, with a soft dropping consistency.

8. Dip a teaspoon into warm water and use it to spoon out the profiterole mixture onto the baking sheet into even balls, making sure to smooth over any rough edges with a wet finger to make sure your mix doesn't catch.

9. Place into the oven and leave to bake for 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown (Slowly begin to increase the oven up to 200C after 10 minutes)

10. Remove from oven and carefully prick a hole into the bases of your profiteroles. Turn them over and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes.

11. Remove and leave to cool.

12. To make the filling, simply whip up the cream and place it into a piping bag with a circle nozzle. Pipe in through the hole in the bottom, until the profiteole feels firm.

13. Display as desired and cover with chocolate sauce (packet if you like or make your own)

And it's as simple as that really. If you have a go yourself, let me know how you get on, I'd love to see some pictures!


Until next time,

Happy Baking!

X

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Great British Bake Off Winner: John Whaite

Winner John Whaite

He's shed blood sweat and tears in the pursuit (quite literally - who can forget the finger?) but last night, after ten week's of hard work, Manchester Law graduate John Whaite was crowned the winner of The Great British Bake Off 2012

Congratulations John!

Happy Baking!

 


Great British Bake Off: Good Luck to the Fabulous Baker Boys

The Fabulous Baker Boys (Photo Credits: The Mirror)

Good luck to the fabulous baker boys, Brendan Lynch, James Morton and John Whaite, who will all compete tonight to be crowned the winner of the Great British Bake Off 2012.

You're all brilliant bakers - Can't wait to see which of you wins!

Happy Baking!

X