Profiterole
A filled French choux pastry ball, sweet or savory.
A profiterole, also known as a cream puff in the US and Canada, is a filled French choux pastry ball. It typically has a sweet and moist filling of whipped cream, custard, pastry cream, or ice cream, and may be garnished with chocolate sauce, caramel, or powdered sugar. Savory versions, filled with pureed meats or cheese, were formerly common garnishes for soups.
- field
- Pastry
- nationality
- French
- known_for
- Small choux pastry ball with sweet or savory filling
- earliest_culinary_use
- 16th century
- key_ingredient
- Choux pastry
Lore & Background
The French word profiterole, meaning 'small profit, gratification', has been used in cuisine since the 16th century. In the 17th century, profiteroles were small hollow bread rolls filled with a mixture of sweetbreads, truffles, artichoke bottoms, mushrooms, and various poultry, and could be served in soup. François Massialot in Le Cuisinier royal et bourgeois (1698) gave recipes for profiterole soup with fillings of minced ham and poultry, using bread dough. Joseph Menon (1732) and François Marin (1750) provided other savory recipes following the same principle.
The profiteroles known today, using choux pastry, were created in the 19th century. Jules Gouffé in his Livre de cuisine (1870) described a profiterole as a small choux pastry. Gustave Garlin in Le Cuisinier moderne (1887) mentioned profiteroles filled with cream and glazed with chocolate or coffee. A widely-repeated legend claiming choux pastry was invented by the head chef to Catherine de' Medici is a 19th-century invention. The pastry cook's art of choux pastry began developing around the 17th century, with patissier Jean Avice developing it further in the mid-18th century and creating choux buns. In the 19th century, Antoine Carême developed the recipe used today.
Reader's Guide
Profiteroles are significant as a classic French pastry that has evolved from a savory bread-based soup garnish to a sweet choux pastry dessert. Their preparation involves piping choux pastry dough into small balls and baking to form hollow puffs, which are then filled with cream, custard, or ice cream and often topped with chocolate ganache, caramel, or powdered sugar. The most common presentations include pastry cream, whipped cream, or ice cream filling, and they are also assembled into croquembouches for weddings in France and Italy, Christmas in France, and important celebrations in Gibraltar. Profiteroles also form the outer wall of a St. Honoré cake. Outside France, cream puffs have appeared on U.S. restaurant menus since at least 1851, and the Wisconsin State Fair is known for its giant cream puffs. In Hawaii, Liliha Bakery's coco puffs are a popular dessert. In Japan, they became so popular under the name Shu-cream that they were regarded as a Japanese dessert, even as the French origins were understood. Alan Davidson draws a distinction between profiteroles and cream puffs, describing profiteroles as smaller.
Did You Know?
- The French word profiterole means 'small profit, gratification' and has been used in cuisine since the 16th century.
- Savory profiteroles filled with pureed meats or cheese were formerly common garnishes for soups.
- The profiteroles known today, using choux pastry, were created in the 19th century.
- In Hawaii, Liliha Bakery's coco puffs are filled with chocolate creme patissiere and topped with a frosting called 'chantilly'.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Profiterole?
Profiterole is a small, filled French choux pastry ball that can be prepared sweet or savory. In the US and Canada, most people know it simply as a cream puff.
What are Profiterole's key ingredients and signature role?
Its structural backbone is choux pastry, which creates a light, hollow shell ideal for holding fillings. It's typically packed with whipped cream, custard, pastry cream, or ice cream, then finished with chocolate sauce, caramel, or a dusting of powdered sugar.
How does Profiterole's story end on the plate?
It's most often served as a small individual dessert, sometimes stacked into a tower and drizzled with warm chocolate or caramel. In older French kitchens, savory versions stuffed with pureed meats or cheese were used as garnishes floating in soups.
Why is Profiterole important in the pastry world?
It's one of the most recognizable French pastries and a cornerstone of the choux-pastry family. Its ability to work in both sweet and savory contexts has kept it a kitchen staple for centuries.
When did Profiterole first appear in the culinary canon?
Its earliest recorded use dates to the 16th century in France. Since then it has evolved from a simple filled ball into a widely recognized dessert found across many cuisines.
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