The dense filling has a pudding-like consistency that is light in taste, with caramel and maple complementing each other nicely.
Ingredients
Pastry
1 lb puff pastry, frozen
Choux paste
1 cup water
pinch salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup less 1 Tbsp butter
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp flour
4 extra large eggs
Pastry Cream
4 cups 3% milk
3 1/2 Tbsp butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup less 1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 tbsp orange brandy
1/2 cup Manitoba maple syrup
Filling
1 L whipping cream
1/2 cup Manitoba maple syrup
Method
Pastry
1. Roll out dough to 1/4″ thick and cut six 5″ circles. Bake on a sheet pan at 425˚F for 25-30 min until golden brown and firm.
Choux paste
1. In a heavy saucepan, bring first four ingredients to boil. Stir in flour with wooden spoon. Cook, stiring continually, until a ball forms. Cool. Beat in eggs, one a time, mixing well. Place in pastry bag with star tip and pipe mixture around edge of pastry circles, then in an ‘e’ starting in each centre. On a parchment lined sheet pan, pipe 24 1/2″ balls (profiteroles). Bake at 425˚F for 25-30 min until golden brown and firm. Once cooled, dip profiteroles in your favourite caramel sauce. Cut a small hole in the bottom of each profiterole.
Pastry Cream
1. In a saucepan bring milk, butter and 1 cup sugar to near boiling.
2. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl. Whisk until smooth. Add cup of hot milk mixture to egg mixture, then add to saucepan with remaining milk. Whisk until very thick. Transfer to clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill.
Filling
1. Whip cream until very thick. In a bowl, combine maple syrup and pastry cream. Very gently, fold into cream, a little at a time. Pipe over cooled bases from pastry bag. Fill profiteroles with mixture. Top each base with four profiteroles.
Yield 6 servings