Flaky pastry, creamy vanilla bean ice cream, and melty dark chocolate is a very French-feeling combination, and these bite-size Ice Cream Profiteroles are easy as can be while possessing a truly fancy-feel. Using Puff Pastry is the big short-cut here (honestly, what did we do before we could open the refrigerated case at Walmart and grab a box of Puff Pastry?). These petite morsels are perfect for serving guests for dessert: you can have the pastry baked and ready to fill with ice cream. The chocolate can quickly be melted while guests chat or reheated come serving time. The soft pastry, cold ice cream, and bittersweetness of the chocolate really is a marriage of flavors and textures made in pastry heaven.
Your bigger kids can totally make this dessert on their own (with your supervision at the stove). All they need to do is roll out the Puff Pastry sheet and cut out 2-inch rounds (we used a jar that had an approximate 2-inch mouth). They’ll brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar:
Then into the oven they’ll go. The dough will puff and look like this:
They’ll then split each round in half horizontally. Many of the balls will tear naturally to create a separate top and bottom half. They’ll melt some chopped bittersweet chocolate with a little cream in a double-boiler (which is a fancy term for a bowl over a pot of simmering water), then dip the top pastry halves in the chocolate. Fill with a tiny scoop of ice cream and voila! The cutest little desserts you’ve ever seen.
Tip: you can fill these with real whipped cream as well, or any flavor of ice cream that you prefer. Mint or cherry ice cream would be delicious and beautiful.
Clearly a French-inspired dessert, let’s learn a few things about France and it’s people:
- Most kids in France go to school from 8am-4pm and get 2 hours for lunch.
- Kids usually have Wednesdays off of school but they have a half-day on Saturdays.
- Kids play a game like hopscotch but it is in the swirly shape of snail and they only use one foot.
From: 50 Puff Pastry Treats , #50
- 1 puff pastry sheet
- Egg wash (whisk 1 egg with 2 tsp water)
- Sugar, for sprinkling
- 4 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 25 tiny scoops of ice cream
- Roll out the puff pastry sheet into a 10-inch square; cut out 2-inch rounds (25 total).
- Brush the rounds with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake at 400 degrees F until golden, 14 minutes. Let cool.
- Melt the chocolate with the heavy cream in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring.
- Split the profiteroles and sandwich with small scoops of ice cream; top with the chocolate sauce.
