Profiteroles

They may be French in origin, the name certainly sounds French enough, but for us, the residents of Istanbul, they have another association entirely. That association is "İnci".

It would be hard to call "İnci" a patisserie, since they only do one thing - profiteroles. For years they operated out of a tiny shop on İstiklal until urban renewal ousted them out. I think İnci was started by a Greek Istanbulite called Luka Zigoris in the 1940s and upon his retirement was taken over by his apprentice Musa Ateş.

Today, as far as I know, the original İnci no longer exists. They have sold their secret recipe to a big patisserie chain who still operates under the brand name "İnci" in several new locations across the city, including one in Beyoğlu, quite close to the original location. The profiteroles are exactly the same and it isn't just us who are crazy about them - any visitor to Istanbul who tastes this agrees that this is a kind of profiterol that they have never eaten anywhere else.


INGREDIENTS
Choux Pastry
  • 50g unsalted butter
  • 60g plain flour, sieved
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 150ml water
Cream Filling
  • 300ml double cream
  • 2tbsp icing sugar
  • 1tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate Topping
  • 200g dark chocolate
  • 25g butter
  • 3tbsp golden syrup
  • 100ml double cream 

INSTRUCTIONS

Making The Choux Pastry
  • Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas Mark 7.
  • Add the water and butter to a saucepan and gently melt on a low heat. Once the butter is completely melted bring it to the boil before removing it from the heat.
  • Add the sieved flour to the saucepan and beat it with a wooden spoon until a smooth form ball has formed.
  • Leave it to cool for 10 minutes before slowly adding the beaten eggs, beating them into the dough very well as you do. As you continue to add the remaining egg and beat it, a smooth and stiff paste like mixture will form.
  • Transfer the mixture to a piping bag. If you don't have a piping bag use a teaspoon instead. Pipe/dollop about 2 teaspoons worth of the mixture onto a lined baking tray. Make sure you leave enough space between each one.
  • Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes, They will be golden brown in colour and will have risen when they are ready.
  • Pierce a hole in each one to allow the steam to escape before returning them to the oven for a further 2 minutes to crisp up.
  • After removing them from the oven a second time, transfer them to a wire rack to cool down.
Making The Filling
  • In a bowl add 300ml of double cream together with the icing sugar and vanilla extract. Whip it up until it is just peaking.
  • Transfer the cream mixture to a piping bag, or, if you don't have one, you can use a teaspoon.
  • Slice the profiterole buns open and pipe/transfer the cream inside.
Making The Chocolate Topping
  • Add 100ml of double cream to a saucepan, add in the broken up chocolate, butter and golden syrup.
  • Heat gently until melted.
  • Pour the sauce over the profiteroles when you are ready to serve the profiteroles.
Making ahead of time
You can make the Choux pastry profiterole shells ahead of time. Once they have baked and cooled store them in an airtight container for 2 days, or freeze them for up to 3 months.

Alternative Profiterole Fillings
Instead of cream you can fill the profiteroles with ice cream or fresh custard.


Shamelessly filched from: 
Thank you Liana's Kitchen! :-)

Images: Unsplash, Pexels and Freepik.


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