SAVORY PROFITEROLES FILLINGS RECIPES

Steps:

• Bring the milk, water, salt, sugar and butter to a boil in a saucepan. Pour in the flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a lump and comes away from the bottom of the pot and leaves behind a white film.
• Pour the mixture into a bowl, immediately stir in 1 egg and mix until completely combined. Stir in the rest of the eggs, mixing thoroughly between additions.
• The dough is ready when it becomes shiny and falls from the spoon in thick lumps.
• Pour the batter into a piping bag with a star tip and pipe mounds which are 6 cm (approximately 2 inches) in diameter and 2 cm (approximately 1 inch) high on a lined baking sheet.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C (approximately 400°F) for about 30 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.
• Cut the chicken into small pieces and mix with the thyme leaves, lemon juice, oil, and creme fraiche. Season with salt and pepper.
• Cut the cooled cream puffs in half horizontally and fill with the chicken mixture, then serve.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180º C. Line a baking sheet with a piece ofgreaseproof paper. Sift the flour and salt into a little bowl, or onto a sheet of paper. Put the butter and the water into a large saucepan andset over a brisk heat. When the mixture begins to boil rapidly, removethe pan from the heat. Immediately tip the sifted flour and salt, all in one go, into the butter/water mixture. Stir energetically with a wooden spoon, and return to the heat. Turn down the heat and cook, stirringvigorously and continuously, for one to two minutes, or until themixture forms a ball that comes cleanly away from the sides of the pan.Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool for five minutes, oruntil just warm to the touch. Now beat in the whole eggs, one at a time, beating hard after each addition. Once you’ve added the fourth egg, you should have a glossy and thick – though slightly slack – mixture. Pilethe mixture into a large piping bag fitted with a big plain nozzle, andpipe blobs the size of a litchi onto the baking paper (or use a teaspoon to make neat little dollops). Put the baking sheet into the hot oven and bake for 25-35 minutes(depending on the ferocity of your oven) until well risen, golden brownand crisp. Turn off the oven, open the door, and allow the profiterolesto dry out for 10 minutes. Remove the profiteroles from the oven andturn them onto their sides. Use a piping nozzle (or the handle-end of awooden spoon) to poke a hole into the bottom of each one. Set aside tocool completely. In the meantime make the filling. Crumble the blue cheese into asaucepan, and add half (125 ml) of the cream. Place over a gentle flameand heat through, stirring often as the cheese melts. Do not allow toboil. When all the cheese has melted, remove the pan from the heat andset aside to cool for a few minutes. Place the cream cheese in a large bowl, add the warm blue cheesemixture and, using a metal spoon, stir furiously until the mixture issmooth and well combined. Whip the remaining half-cup (125 ml) of creamto a soft peak, then stir it lightly into the blue cheese mixture. Ifthe mixture seems a little stiff, don’t worry: persist with gentlestirring, and it will all come together Season with a few grindings ofblack pepper. Cover and set aside, at room temperature.Wash and dry your piping bag and fit a medium nozzle to it. Fill thepiping bag with the blue cheese mixture. Poke the nozzle into theunderside of each profiterole and squeeze in just enough of the cheesemixture to fill the cavity. Serve immediately with a dab of wine jelly. Or – please trust me onthis – put them in the fridge for a couple of hours, or until thefilling is firm. Makes 12 large profiteroles, or 18 small onesCook’s Notes Choux pastry, although easy to make, is a little temperamental, andyou can really only learn from experience when the batter is of aperfect consistency. Much depends on the flour you’re using and the size of your eggs. Measure all the ingredients exactly, and follow theinstructions above to the letter.If your first batch of choux pastry doesn’t turn out well, don’t bediscouraged. Try again!  Perfect choux buns are light and crispy, hollow on the inside, and have a soft golden-brown colour.  Reprinted with permission of Scrumptious South Africa.To visit Scrumptious South Africa’s blog, click here.