15 Dec Chocolate Profiterole Christmas Puddings

Perhaps I am in the minority here, but I am not keen on traditional Christmas Pudding. It can be quite heavy and rich, and in our hot climate there are so many other delightful options to end your Christmas meal.

Having said that, the look of a Christmas pudding is instantly recognisable. So why not borrow that familiar, festive look but make a much more (in my humble opinion) delicious dessert! I was inspired by a Sainsbury’s recipe to make this Chocolate Profiterole Christmas Pudding stack. The crisp chocolate pastry provides the perfect shell to encase a vanilla diplomat cream. A decadent drizzle of white chocolate adds a touch of creamy sweetness and of course, gives the Christmas pudding appearance.

Although the diplomat cream can be made a few days in advance, it’s best to fill  the profiteroles as close to serving as possible.. If you can’t find sugar holly decorations at your local baking store, you could make them yourself with green and red fondant.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Choux Pastry:
100g butter
200ml water
2 tbsp sugar
90g flour
5 tsp cocoa
a pinch of salt
3 large eggs

Diplomat Cream:
1 quantity of Crème Pâtissière
250ml cream

To decorate:
150g white chocolate
Holly sugar decorations

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 200°C. Line or grease a baking tray and set aside.
• Add the butter, water and sugar to a medium saucepan and cook over low heat until melted.
• Meanwhile sift together the flour, cocoa and salt.
• Once the butter has melted, increase the heat and stir occasionally until the mixture just comes to a boil.
• Remove from heat and quickly stir in the dry ingredients. Return to a low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for 1-2 minutes. The mixture will thicken – continue beating until it forms a ball and comes away from the sides of the saucepan.
• Leave the mixture to cool for 5 minutes. Whisk the 3 eggs together, then add gradually to the pastry mixture beating constantly. The pastry should be smooth and glossy.
• Placed heaped teaspoonful’s of the mixture onto the baking tray. Or for a neater effect, scoop the mixture into a piping bag, then pipe 2cm round balls onto your baking tray.
• Bake for 25 minutes, then switch the oven off. Remove the profiteroles from the tray and pierce each one with a skewer or sharp knife. Return to the oven for 15 minutes to dry out. Remove from the oven and leave the profiteroles to cool on a wire cooling rack. The cooled profiteroles can be kept in an airtight container for 2 days, but are best eaten the day they are made.
• While the profiteroles are baking, make your crème pâtissière. Cover with cling film directly on the surface of the mixture and leave to cool. Once the mixture has cooled to room temperature, whip the cream and fold into the crème pâtissière. Refrigerate until needed.
• Using a piping bag to fill each profiterole with diplomat cream.
• Melt the white chocolate and allow to cool slightly, then spoon some over each profiterole to create a drip effect. Decorate each one with a holly sugar decoration.
• Stack the profiteroles onto a serving plate, gluing them together with the remaining white chocolate, and serve as soon as possible (the filled profiteroles will go soft in a few hours).