With Valentine’s Day around the corner, these Red Velvet Profiteroles are delightful, vibrant, and delicious idea to treat yourself and your beloved.
Today I am going to keep this very short and classy. Again. However, I am not doing this because I am being busy/tired/frozen, etc. I am embarrassed. I am not happy about the pictures of these Red Velvet Profiteroles. When I made it a couple of weeks back, we happened to have so unfortunate weather, rainy and gloomy, that I didn’t get almost any decent light (As the result, I literally couldn’t handle ISO. I am bad at this anyway). Certainly, I could have moved the photo session to the next day, but Andrey looked suspicious having checked them few times. I had some solid grounds to believe they would not survive for another day.
Besides, I kind of like the ambiance here despite the grainy images. Also, the profiteroles although not being perfect, look quite cute, don’t they? Finally, these Red Velvet Profiteroles are the way too delicious (and fan dessert!) to hide from you. Afterall, this is Valentine’s day, so I am supposed to give you some love.
Red Velvet Profiteroles
As for the dessert itself, I am proud of the result. Although I used a basic recipe for choux pastry incorporated just some coloring and cocoa powder, it looks there aren’t too many similar ideas on the Internet (I’ve checked Google!) That’s another reason to share this idea.
Thus, even though I was doubtful, I decided to share them on this blog. Hopefully, I repeat this one day or another and update the images.
That’s all for now. Fingers crossed – you won’t stop by here and see this post:) If you have stopped here, please don’t be too harsh on me.
Better make some of these Red Velvet Profiteroles.
Red Velvet Profiteroles
Notes
havocinthekitchen.com
Ingredients
Choux Pastry
- 2/3 cup (160 ml) water
- 80 gr. butter, at room temperature, cubed
- 2/3 cup (100 gr) flour, preferably pastry flour, sifted
- 2 tbsp dark cocoa powder, sifted
- about 1 tsp of red coloring
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- oil/spray, for greasing
Cream Cheese Filling
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2/3 cream cheese
- 1/3 powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place the water with butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 2-4 minutes until the butter has fully melted. Do not boil.
- Stir in the sifted flour and cocoa powder at once and using a wooden spoon/spatula beat until well combined.
- Place over low heat and cook, stirring, for about 1 or 2 minutes or until the mixture starts to come away from the side of the saucepan.
- Remove from heat and let stand for about 5 minutes to cool slightly.
- Whisk one egg in a small bawl and set aside.
- Add two remaining eggs to the mixture beating well with the spoon/spatula.
- Stir in the red coloring to reach the desired color.
- Add a little of the reserved egg (about 1/4 of it). The dough should easily falls from the spoon but hold its shape.
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Brush a baking tray with the oil/spay.
- Using a spoon or pastry bag, spoon out the mixture onto the tray, about 2 cm apart (I preferred medium size resulting in about 20 profiteroles, you might make them bigger or smaller - just adjust the baking time). Brush the tops with a little of the remaining egg.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes then reduce heat to 170 degrees C and bake for another 10 minutes. Do not open the oven's door while baking!
- Remove from the oven and using a small knife or wooden stick, pierce the top of each profiterole to release the steam. Check the insides with your finger - if the dough is too wet, bake for another 10 minutes or so at 150 C and then dry out in the turned off oven. If the insides look fine, then turn off the oven and let the profiteroles stay in the oven for about 15-20 minutes to dry out.
- In a meanwhile, in a small saucepan combine the cream and cream cheese and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the cheese melts and incorporates. Off heat and stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat well to get rid of any lumps. Keep the filling in the fridge until ready to use.
- To serve the profiteroles, cut the little tops from the profiteroles and fill with the cream cheese. Drizzle with some chocolate sauce/ganache if desired.
- Enjoy!
Hi – I’m Ben, a blogger, recipe developer, and food photographer. I’m glad you’re here! I hope you will enjoy hundreds of delicious recipes and a pinch of havoc in the kitchen.
Ben, am so so loving the ambience in these pictures – so sultry and sexy – and – now am craving some of these GORGEOUS Red Velvet Profiteroles! They look stunning to me – so your photos are getting their job done – leaving me with a mouthful of drool! In my opinion, fantastic photos and recipe, my friend!
Wonderful article and photo documentation! So glad you got to see the knives among other wonders
I love how creative you get with classics, Ben! And you’re being too hard on yourself about the photos, they look mouthwatering to me!
Hope you and Audrey had a wonderful Valentine’s Day!
Thank you, Marissa!
Ben | Havocinthekitchen recently posted…Sea Buckthorn Curd
I like these pics; I think they’re kind of fun and dramatic! But I feel your pain when it comes to natural lighting in the winter. And I love the fact that we both had the same idea for Valentine’s Day. Great minds really do think alike :). These sound delicious, Ben! Happy Valentine’s Day!
Thank you, the Great Mind! :)
All good food deserves to be shared Ben, so thanks for sharing these. Natural lighting is so difficult and I feel your pain. I have just 2 days I can photograph my recipes on a weekly basis (Saturday and Sunday) as I work Monday to Friday and if the light is bad, there’s nothing I can do about it either! But, one thing to remember is that what doesn’t look quite right to your eye, looks different for another set of eyes and I think these photographs are just great!
Yup, look forward to it. Indeed, it’s gotten so much better now – we have decent light until almost 6 p.m now.
Ben | Havocinthekitchen recently posted…Sea Buckthorn Curd
Natural lighting can be so tough!! Especially here in Canada, in the winter. I can’t wait for the summer when I can shoot beautiful pictures at 8pm!! You did these profiteroles justice – they look amazing!!! I wish my Valentine was gifting these to me tomorrow ;)
Thank you! I hope you were gifted these profiteroles :)
Ben | Havocinthekitchen recently posted…Sea Buckthorn Curd
These are so beautiful Ben! I am glad you decided on sharing them! It’s a very creative dessert recipe for Valentines!! Your choux pastry looks perfect and that cream cheese filling is dreamy!
Thank you Deepika!
Ben | Havocinthekitchen recently posted…Sea Buckthorn Curd
Well I for one am really glad you decided to share these profiteroles, Ben! And I totally agree with you assessment that these wouldn’t have lasted an extra day. I mean how can you put a plate of these down on the counter and expect Andrey to stay away? That’s just rude! Natural lighting can be so difficult, but I think you did a solid job considering the rainy day situation. Plus, this is just a fun recipe no matter what! If Andrey left any, I’d be happy to sample them. :-) Happy Valentine’s Day to you and Andrey!
David @ Spiced recently posted…Mardi Gras Donut Holes