Celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day by making coffee profiteroles with a chocolate sauce using classic Irish “boozy” ingredients to make ordinary cream puffs a little more attractive.
With Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations coming up soon, I decided to take a classic profiterole recipe and add some Irish (alcohol) ingredients to make ordinary cream puffs a little more exciting and festive. I would test the limits of Irish cream with whiskey!
You’ll get in the spirit (no pun intended) with my Irish coffee profiteroles with chocolate whiskey sauce recipe. Now before you continue any further, please remember to eat these tasty desserts responsibly. Enjoy!
Pâte à Choux is what I consider the “mother” dough of pastries. The dough is extremely versatile and can be used to make some of the most adored pastries around the world.
Pâte à Choux can be baked, poached or fried to create various kinds of decadent cakes. Luscious cream puffs, custard-filled and chocolate laden éclairs, Paris-breast made to look like bicycle wheels, a pyramid of small custard-filled puffs for a croquembouche, beignets are just a few.
One of my personal favorites, however, is cinnamon and sugar-coated churros. All of these delectable pastries start from pâte à Choux paste.
The crisp golden brown hollow puffs are filled with a light and silky cream that is flavored with a hint of Irish Cream liquor and coffee.
To make the dessert even more irresistible, the cream puffs are dipped then drizzled with a chocolate whiskey ganache sauce. The flavor is rich and intense, also perfect for drizzling and creating designs!
I couldn’t help but make a smooth and creamy coffee crème anglaise custard sauce to enhance the flavors in the filling. To create the chocolate pattern, I placed the sauce in a squeeze bottle and carefully created 5-6 horizontal lines across the coffee creme. Then used a toothpick to drag vertically down or up the chocolate stripes to create the design.
Profiteroles are best when they are assembled and eaten right away! Your guests will be sure to drool when they see you drizzle the chocolate whiskey ganache sauce over these heavenly cream-filled puffs. For a complete Irish feast, try my Irish soda bread recipe and baked corned beef!
Recipe Science
TIP#1- to achieve the characteristic hollow “puff” of the profiterole interior, eggs and steam are the two leavening agents. Large air pockets are created in the interior of the pastry by baking the paste at very high temperatures above 400 degrees Fahrenheit. This allows the water in the dough to quickly activate into steam before the exterior of the dough sets. The eggs and other proteins in the dough will eventually coagulate (set) and hold its round shape.
TIP#2- The profiterole baking process requires going from very high temps, to incrementally decreasing the temperature over time. This allows the dough to rise properly, set into shape, then dry out without burning. The end product should be light in weight and have a slightly crisp golden exterior. Try your best not to open the oven door constantly! If too much heat escapes at the beginning of the baking process when the profiteroles are just rising, they will deflate if they haven’t set. This, unfortunately, can’t be fixed. Patience and attention are key!
Irish Coffee Profiteroles
Ingredients
Pâte à Choux
- 8 ounces water
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 3 ¾ ounces unsalted butter
- 4 ounces all-purpose flour
- 3 eggs
Coffee Crème Anglaise
- 16 ounces half-and-half
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 egg yolks
- 5 ounces granulated sugar, 10 tablespoons
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee
- 4 teaspoons Irish cream, Bailey’s or Carolans
Irish Coffee Whipped Cream
- 16 ounces heavy whipping cream, chilled
- 1 ½ ounces powdered sugar, 5 tablespoons
- ½ teaspoon instant coffee, dissolved in ½ teaspoon hot water
- 4 tablespoons Irish cream, Bailey’s or Carolans
Chocolate Whisky Sauce
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, at least 60%
- 1 tablespoon Irish whisky, (Jameson, Bushmills, or your favorite; add more to your liking)
Instructions
Pâte à Choux
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Place the water, salt, sugar, and butter in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir the mixture until the butter is fully melted.
- Turn off the heat and immediately add the flour. Vigorously stir the dough with a spoon by hand. Turn on the heat to medium and continue stirring the dough until it comes away from the sides of the pan. The dough should look relatively dry and should just begin to leave a film on the saucepan.
- Transfer the dough to a bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle, slowly stir and allow it to cool briefly to about 130°F or below to prevent the eggs from curdling when added.
- Begin beating in the eggs one at a time, until each egg is fully incorporated. Continue to insert the eggs one by one until the mixture is shiny but firm. It may not be necessary to add all of the eggs; too many will create a runny dough. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl in thick threads; it will not clear the bowl. The mixture should not be runny; it should be easy to control when piped and hold it’s shape.
- Add a workable amount of dough into a pastry bag and pipe onto the sheet pan, creating a 1.5-inch circular ball of dough. Dip your finger in water and flatten any tails left on the ball when piping to create a smoother surface. Pipe the balls 2-inches apart from each other; they will expand to about 2-inches after baking.
- Bake as follows to create a dry and hollow cream puff shell: Bake for 10 minutes at each temperature setting; 425°F > 375°F > 325°F > 275°F > 225°F > 200°F. Open the oven door as little as possible to prevent rapid changes in the stove’s temperature.
- Break open one of the pastry's to ensure that baking is complete; you want the pastry to be as dry as possible on the inside. If needed, continue to bake at 200°F until dry in the center; they should feel light in weight when you pick them up. (Note: This baking method will work the best if you bake one tray at a time.)
- Cool completely and reserve until ready to fill.
Coffee Crème Anglaise
- In a heavy saucepan, bring the half-and-half and vanilla just to a boil.
- Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Temper the egg mixture with approximately one-third of the hot half-and-half, then return the entire mixture to the saucepan with the remaining half-and-half.
- Cook the sauce over medium heat, constantly stirring, until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not allow the sauce to boil.
- As soon as the sauce thickens, remove it from the heat. Add the instant coffee and Irish cream, and stir until fully incorporated. Taste and adjust to your liking.
- Pour the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl. Chill the sauce over an ice bath, then cover and keep refrigerated.
Irish Coffee Whipped Cream
- Place cream in a chilled mixing bowl, whisk until the cream is slightly thickened.
- Add the sugar, Irish cream, and dissolved coffee to the mixer, and continue whisking until smooth medium-stiff peaks are formed, being carefully not to over mix. The cream should be soft and light, not grainy.
- The whipped cream may be stored in the refrigerator for a few hours. If the cream begins to soften, gently whip again if necessary.
- Add the cream to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. You can use a large zip lock bag a cut a small opening in the corner to pipe if you do not have a piping bag.
Chocolate Whiskey Sauce
- In a saucepan combine the heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. Heat the cream over medium heat until just boiling, about 2 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate and whiskey, and whisk until smooth.
- To serve, reheat gently over simmering water.
Assembly
- Cut the profiterole shell in half. Fill the bottom the shell with the whipped cream. Dip the top of the shell in the chocolate, then place on top of the filled shell.
- To Plate: Add two tablespoons of the coffee crème anglaise to the center of a small serving plate. Place the filled cream puff on top of the coffee crème. Top with more chocolate sauce, or serve with ice cream.
Recipe Video
Notes
- The pâte à choux can be frozen or stored at room temperature for 3 days. But, once filled, the cream puffs should be served the same day, as they will get soggy from the filling.
- The sauce should last 3 to 4 days.
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. All nutritional information is based on estimated third-party calculations. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
Zara says
mmmm they look amazing and I love the idea of the irish cream sauce instead of normal cream which can be a bit heavy. Thanks so much for the recipe and the great video! 😀
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you Zara! I hope you get a chance to try the recipe, the coffee sauce is also addicting!
Motownkittys says
Sounds good.
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you!
Jogalog says
I love Irish cream and these look so pretty. I love how you’ve served them in a pool of the creme anglais
petite.cherie says
Lovely recipe. Pate au choux was the first item I learned how to bake from my French mum. Ty for the tips: though I feel they’re failproof, my DIL have had many problems. I always forget how lovely it is to whip up some gougeres or have some in the freezer for either savory or sweet fillings. Definitely on my to do list for today. Perhaps I’ll even have some left for St. Patrick’s Day….or make another batch, oops.
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you for sharing your wonderful experience Cherie! I love hearing how others connect with food. Would love to hear how the baking goes!
Nicole(FoodBlogLife) says
What a stunning dish! Wow! 🙂
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you Nicole!