Ingredients:

For Profiteroles

Choux Pastry (sufficient for 6 people)

Chocolate Sauce (see below)

Chocolate Pastry Cream (see below)

For Chocolate Sauce

170 grams Dessert Chocolate (roughly chopped)

285 millilitres Water

115 grams Granulated Sugar

For Chocolate Pastry Cream

1 Egg (separated)

1 egg yolk

55 grams Castor Sugar

20 grams Plain Flour

15 grams Cornflour

285 millilitres Milk

85 grams Plain Chocolate (roughly chopped)

1 tablespoon Coffee Essence

You will also need a forcing bag with a plain eclair nozzle.

Method:

For Profiteroles

Set the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Place the choux pastry, in small balls, onto a dampened baking sheet.

Bake until crisp (about 30 minutes)

Lift the profiteroles off the sheet and prick them to release the steam.

Leave to cool.

In the meantime, you can prepare the chocolate pastry cream.

For Chocolate Pastry Cream

Cream the egg yolks with the castor sugar until white.

Add the flours.

Use a small quantity of cold milk to make a smooth paste.

Simmer the chocolate in the remaining milk until it has melted.

Pour the chocolate milk onto the egg mixture.

Blend and return to the pan.

Make sure that the pastry cream is completely smooth.

Stir over a slowly rising heat until the mixture boils.

If lumps form in the pastry cream, remove from the heat immediately. Beat cream until it is smooth. If it is too thick, add a little milk.

Whip the egg white until stiff.

Place a small portion of the boiling cream into a bowl and fold in the egg white.

Put this portion back in the pan and stir carefully until the egg white sets (about 3 minutes).

Turn the cream into a bowl to cool.

Once the cream has cooled, add the coffee essence.

Now for the chocolate sauce.

For Chocolate Sauce

Melt the chocolate with the water over a low temperature.

When the chocolate is completely melted, add the sugar.

Wait for the sugar to dissolve and then bring water to the boil.

Simmer with the lid off the pan until the sauce is rich and syrupy and can be used for coating pastry (about 15 minutes).

Allow the sauce to cool.

To Finish

Make a slit in the profiteroles and fill with chocolate pastry cream.

Spoon over the chocolate sauce.

Just before serving, I like to heat a little additional chocolate sauce and then spoon over the profiteroles.

Absolutely delicious when served with a cup of coffee.