Profiteroles

Serves 12

for the choux pastry
50g dairy-free margarine or coconut oil
65g gram flour (chickpea flour)
4 teaspoons Orgran No Egg whisked together with 120ml cold water

Dairy-free pastry cream or dairy-free whipped cream (see tip)

for the Chocolate Sauce
175g dairy-free plain chocolate
45g golden syrup
a few drops of vanilla extract
45ml water
20g dairy-free margarine

If filling the profiteroles with pastry cream, this is best made the day before and stored in the fridge until needed.
If filling with dairy-free whipped coconut cream – place a tin of coconut milk into the fridge the day before needed. (See tip)

Preheat your oven to 220°c /200°c fan oven / 425°f / gas mark 7.

Place the dairy-free margarine into a saucepan with 125ml cold water and a pinch of salt and sugar.

Sieve the gram flour into a small bowl.

Bring the water to the boil. The dairy-free margarine should have melted by the time the water boils.

Turn off the heat and stir in the gram flour. Place back on the heat and beat with a wooden spoon for 20 seconds.
Leave to cool until you can place your hand on the mix comfortably.

Mix the No egg with a small amount of the water until smooth. Add the rest of the water until all combined.

for the Profiteroles
Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and brush with oil.

Put a large plain piping nozzle on a piping bag and fill with choux pastry.

Pipe 40 small bulbs on the tray, spaced apart. Try to pipe them all the same size.
Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Check at this time, the tray may need turning round or placed on a lower shelf to finish cooking.

The profiteroles are cooked when they look firm and golden. After this time, take the profiteroles out of the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes.

Make a small slit at the base of each bun and scoop out the mixture inside and discard.

Place the profiteroles back into the oven for 4 minutes to dry out the inside. Leave to cool.

The profiteroles can be frozen at this stage until needed.
When defrosting, take out of freezer bag and leave at room temperature. They will defrost in a few minutes.

When serving – fit a piping bag with a small plain nozzle. Fill with dairy-free whipped cream or pastry cream. Push the nozzle into each profiterole and fill with the cream. Serve with warm chocolate sauce.

for the Chocolate Sauce
Place all of the ingredients into a saucepan and stir over a low heat until melted together.
Serve warm with the profiteroles. It will thicken as it cools.

To make whipped coconut cream – open the tin of coconut milk and spoon out the hard coconut cream into a mixing bowl leaving the water behind. This can be sweetened with icing sugar and flavoured with vanilla. Whisk until thick.

Te enrich the pastry cream – In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the pastry cream to break up. Fold in the whipped coconut cream a quarter at a time until you are happy with the flavour.

There are now dairy-free whipping creams available in the shops. Prepare as per instructions on the packaging and fold into the pastry cream or serve alone with the fruit.

Choux pastry can be used in many ways – it can be piped into different shapes, have other flavourings added to the mix before piping and baking, even deep fried!

Vegan choux pastry doesn’t expand very much and you will have to scoop out the dough from inside. This means a lot of wasted ingredients so I prefer to keep this choux pastry as mouth-size pieces.

A popular dessert is choux buns – a ring of choux pastry baked with flaked almonds on top. Filled with pastry cream, dairy-free whipped cream and fruit.

Make the choux pastry, pastry cream and dairy-free whipped cream as above.

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and brush with a little oil.
Draw eight circles onto a piece of greaseproof paper 2 ½ in wide. Turn the paper over and brush with oil. Place onto a baking tray.

Fit a piping bag with a large plain nozzle and fill with choux pastry. Pipe circles onto the tray following the drawn circles. Remember this pastry doesn’t expand very much. You can place a few flaked almonds on top at this stage.
Place in the oven and bake for 15 / 20 minutes. Check at this time, the tray may need turning round or placed on a lower shelf to finish cooking.

If the choux bun looks cooked but the bottom is still white continue cooking until it is golden brown all over.
Leave to cool.

To serve, cut the choux buns in half. Pipe a line of pastry cream onto the bottom half. Cover with the sliced fruit then pipe a line of whipped cream on top. Place the lid on top and dust with icing sugar.

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