Profiteroles

Choux Pastry:

• 1 stick of unsalted butter, chopped into 8 pieces
• 1/2c milk
• 1/2c water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 TB sugar
• 1c flour, sifted
• 1 egg beaten with 1 TB milk
• 3 beaten eggs
• 1 beaten egg

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Keep 1 egg with 1 TB milk, 3 beaten eggs, and 1 beaten egg separate.
3. Melt butter, milk, water, salt, and sugar in a small pot. Bring to a simmer.
4. Add all sifted flour at once, vigorously stir with a wooden spoon until a dough ball is formed.
5. Transfer dough to a heat safe bowl.
6. While using an electric handmixer, add egg with milk. Slowly add rest of the eggs while mixing, so the dough doesn’t cook the eggs.
7. When you stick in a rubber spatula and pull it out, the dough should form a V.
8. Put in a piping bag, or large Ziploc bag with the corner tip cut off, and pipe in circles on baking sheet.
9. Using a brush or your finger, egg was the pastry dough on the baking sheet with the remaining beaten egg.
10. Bake for 20 minutes.

Buttercream:

• 7 TB flour
• 1 1/2c milk
• 2 TB vanilla extract
• 1 1/2c salted butter at room temp (not melted)
• 1 1/2c granulated sugar

1. Whisk flour and milk together well in pot. Place pot over medium/low heat. Continue whisking constantly until it thickens to a paste. Remove from heat and let it cook COMPLETELY to room temperature. If you don’t the frosting will be too liquidy.
2. Stir in the vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. The mix needs to be light and fluffy. If you don’t incorporate well, the buttercream will be grainy at the end. (The butter and sugar mix will still be grainy. Unfortunately, you won’t know if you’ve gotten it right until the very end. Better safe than sorry! Make sure it’s REALLY incorporated!)
4. Add the cooled milk & flour paste mixture.
5. Mix for another 5-8 minutes until the mixture looks like whipped cream!

Chocolate Ganache (Jessi’s great grandmother’s recipe!)

• 12oz semi sweet chocolate
• 1 2/3c heavy cream

1. Put chocolate in food processor or use knife to finely chop/grate the chocolate
2. Heat heavy cream in a pan until boiling.
3. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl (or directly into food processor).
4. Whisk, or process until creamy!

Sidenote: Let it cool and firm up a little bit to make a yummy cake frosting!