profiteroles with coffee ice cream and chocolate sauce

image courtesy of gourmet magazine

it was liron’s birthday few weeks ago, and one of his favorite treats is ice cream, specially coffee ice cream. so i got to work and decided to make these profiteroles that i found in one of my gourmet magazines. they looked so adorable, special and yummy. so i had to give them a shot.
their recipe called for bought coffee ice cream, but i have decided to make mine from scratch. i found a great recipe on simply recipes. making the ice cream and the profiteroles were a bit of work, but if you divide the work, each component by itself its easy to make. for example, you can make the ice cream on one day and the profiteroles the next.





while making the profiteroles, their pointy peaks tends to burn, so tap them down with a finger dipped in water before baking.
as for the ice cream, i used decaffeinated coffee. i felt that we had enough sugar to keep us buzzing so there was no need to add caffeine.



do not forget to serve it all with a nice alcoholic beverage. i have served mine with a very rare and special bourbon (pappy van winkle’s family reserve 15 years old) we were all very happy!



coffee ice cream:

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups whole coffee beans
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon finely ground coffee (press grinds through a fine mesh sieve)
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PREPARATION
heat the milk, sugar, whole coffee beans, salt, and 1/2 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan until it is quite warm and steamy, but not boiling. once the mixture is warm, cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into a medium size metal bowl, set on ice over a larger bowl. set a mesh strainer on top of the bowls. set aside.
reheat the milk and coffee mixture, on medium heat, until again hot and steamy.
in a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks together. slowly pour the heated milk and coffee mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly so that the egg yolks are tempered by the warm milk, but not cooked by it. scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof, flat-bottomed spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula so that you can run your finger across the coating and have the coating not run. this can take about 10 minutes.
pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. press on the coffee beans in the strainer to extract as much of the coffee flavor as possible. discard the beans.
mix in the vanilla and finely ground coffee, and stir until cool.
chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

profiteroles:

INGREDIENTS
1 qt coffee ice cream
3/4 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
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PREPARATION
chill a small metal baking pan in freezer. form 18 ice cream balls with scoop and freeze in chilled pan at least 1 hour (this will make serving faster).
preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle. butter a large baking sheet.
bring butter, water, and salt to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring until butter is melted. reduce heat to medium, then add flour all at once and cook, beating with a wooden spoon, until mixture pulls away from side of pan and forms a ball, about 30 seconds. transfer mixture to a bowl and cool slightly, 2 to 3 minutes.
add eggs 1 at a time, beating well with an electric mixer after each addition.
transfer warm mixture to pastry bag and pipe 18 mounds (about 1 1/4 inches wide and 1 inch high) 1 inch apart on baking sheet.
bake until puffed and golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes total. prick each profiterole once with a skewer, then return to oven to dry, propping oven door slightly ajar, 3 minutes. cool on sheet on a rack.

chocolate sauce:

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
7 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (no more than 60% cacao if marked), finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon Cognac or brandy (optional)
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PREPARATION
heat sugar in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring with a fork to heat sugar evenly, until it starts to melt, then stop stirring and cook, swirling pan occasionally so sugar melts evenly, until it is dark amber.
remove from heat, then add cream and a pinch of salt (mixture will bubble and steam). return to heat and cook, stirring, until caramel has dissolved.
remove from heat and add chocolate, whisking until melted, then whisk in vanilla and cognac (if using). keep warm, covered.

serve:

halve profiteroles horizontally, then fill each with a ball of ice cream and drizzle generously with warm chocolate sauce.

*פחזניות עם גלידת קפה ורוטב שוקולד