Preparation and cooking time: 30 min
Baking time: 25-30 mins
Total time: 1 hour
Serves: About 15-20 people, makes roughly 24 profiteroles

Ingredients

For the choux pastry

• 180 ml water
• 50 ml milk
• 110 g unsalted butter
• 3 tbsps brown sugar/plain castor sugar
• A generous pinch of salt
• 150 g plain flour
• 3 large room temperature eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the filling

• 1 jar of Sprig Banoffee

 For the glaze

• 120ml cream (35% butter fat)
• 80 g 72% dark chocolate
• 3 tbsps Sprig Banoffee spread
• A pinch of salt

Directions

• In a medium-large deep and heavy bottomed saucepan, add water, milk, butter, sugar and salt; place over medium to high heat and let the butter melt
• Once the mixture almost reaches a simmer, lower the heat, add your flour and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula till you see no lumps, as the flour will stick together and form a dough ball
• Keep mixing for about 45 seconds to cook the flour and you’ll see a thin skin form on the base of the pan; take it off the heat and transfer this dough ball into a large bowl
• Mix the dough with the spoon and leave it to cool down; cool enough to add the eggs
• Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 200^oC and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper; take a large piping bag, fit a round tip and keep ready
• (If you want, use a wooden spoon and put it together. Or use a hand-held mixer as it makes it much easier and even saves a lot of time)
• Take the hand-held mixer and mix the dough for about a minute to make sure it cools down completely, now when it is cold enough, add the eggs one by one and mix thoroughly
• Let the previous egg get incorporated completely before adding the next one, and lastly, add in the vanilla and mix well; the dough should look like a thick paste capable of holding a bit of shape
• Transfer this mixture to a piping bag, dab a little bit of this paste to the edges of the pan and stick the parchment paper on to it, so that the paper stays put
• Now pipe a squash ball-sized amount of this paste in a way you would frost the top of a cupcake, leave enough room in between, because these puff up.
• If you notice peaks on top of the piped batter, you can slightly wet your finger with water and smooth them off
• Now bake these profiteroles at 200^oC for 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 175^oC and bake for another 15 minutes or until they have a beautiful amber-coloured crust
• Note: Do not open the oven in between while these are baking as it may cause them to shrink; also, it is crucial that you are patient with these puffs and wait till they turn beautifully amber coloured, because if they are under-baked, they will shrink when you take them out; once you see they’re baked, turn the oven off and slightly open the oven door and let the profiteroles cool gently; remove them after 20-25 mins
• While the profiteroles cool, you can make the chocolate glaze: In a small bowl, chop up your chocolate and keep aside; in a sauce pan, heat up your cream just up to a simmer;
• Pour the cream on to the chocolate, add the banoffee and salt, cover the bowl for two minutes and then stir until combined; you can also do this in the microwave; keep aside to use later.

Assembling

• Once your profiteroles are cooled to room temperature, fill a piping bag with a narrow round tip full of the yummy Banoffee filling; using a sharp paring knife, make a small slit on the bottom of the profiterole and squeeze in the filling till you feel the weight of it has increased; keep going till you have filled them all
• Note: You can bring some variation by cutting some profiteroles in half and stuffing their centers with the filling, like a sandwich
• Once you fill all of them, dip their tops in the glaze and if you like, dust the tops with some icing sugar and then serve

Recipe and photo courtesy of Bakesalotlady.com