Recipe: Strawberry chocolate profiteroles

Description:

• Serves: 6
• Preparation time: 30 minutes
• Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• For the profiteroles:
  • 50g butter
  • 75g plain flour, sifted
  • 2 eggs, beaten
• For the filling:
  • 200ml double cream
  • 1 tbsp sifted icing sugar
  • 150g strawberries, hulled and diced
• To decorate:
  • 100g chocolate
  • 6 strawberries, halved
  • 1/2tsp finely grated orange rind

Steps:

1. To make the profiteroles; put the butter in a pan with 150ml water, bring to the boil to melt the butter. Remove from the heat and immediately add all the flour and beat with a wooden spoon to get a smooth dough that comes easily away from the pan. Cool for five minutes. Preheat the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas mark 7.
2. Vigorously beat in the eggs a little at a time until you have a thick and glossy mixture. It’s important to beat it hard to incorporate as much air as possible. Sprinkle a little water on two baking trays and use a teaspoon or piping bag to make blobs of the mixture on the trays. Bake for around 15 minutes until puffed up and golden. Remove from the oven make a small slit in the base of each and return to the oven for three more minutes. This helps release the steam and create a crisper shell. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
3. Whip the cream with the icing sugar to soft peaks and stir in the chopped strawberries. Cut the tops from the profiteroles and fill each with the cream mix then return the tops and pile up on a serving platter.
4. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Dip the halved strawberries in the chocolate and leave to set on greaseproof paper. Drizzle the remaining chocolate over the profiteroles then decorate with the chocolate strawberries.