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These Gluten Free Profiteroles are the dream dessert, made with my easy gluten free choux pastry and filled with whipped cream. Topped with a silky chocolate ganache, these profiteroles are the perfect gluten free dessert everyone will love!
Gluten free profiteroles are the perfect Christmas dessert – you can easily make them without any gluten and nobody will know.
The super light, homemade gluten free choux pastry is actually surprisingly quick and easy to make. And I’ve used a simple whipped cream filling everyone will love.
Finished with a silky chocolate ganache sauce, you can either dip the profiteroles before serving or pour the warm chocolate sauce over the top.
I first made gluten free profiteroles at a gluten free cooking course in 2019 and it’s taken me since then to perfect my own recipe… and get round to writing it up!
But now you’ve got my gluten free profiteroles recipe, you’ll want to keep making them over-and-over again. Profiteroles are for life… not just for Christmas!
And then you can try using the choux pastry to make homemade gluten free eclairs and all sorts of treats!
If you need any more gluten free Christmas dessert ideas, check out my gluten free tiramisu, my gluten free sticky toffee pudding or gluten free lemon cheesecake next.
Ingredients
To make these gluten free profiteroles you’ll need the following ingredients.
For the gluten free choux pastry:
- Plain Gluten Free Flour: I use the FREEE by Dove’s Farm gluten free plain flour. You’ll need a plain gluten free flour blend rather than a single flour.
- Xanthan Gum: This is essential for the texture of the choux pastry.
- Milk: I use a mixture of milk and water for the pastry dough. Use dairy free milk if needed.
- Butter: Unsalted butter is best but you could use a dairy free margarine if needed.
- Caster Sugar: Or baker’s sugar in the US.
- Eggs: I use two large UK eggs, which would equate to XL eggs in the US.
For the profiterole filling and chocolate sauce:
- Double Cream: Or heavy cream in the US. You’ll need this for the filling and the ganache topping.
- Icing Sugar: Or confectioner’s sugar in the US, to sweeten the whipped cream.
- Chocolate: I use dark chocolate for my ganache but you could use milk chocolate, or a mixture. Just double check it’s gluten free with no ‘may contain’ warnings.
How to Make Gluten Free Profiteroles
Don’t be daunted by how long this method seems – I’ve broken it down into bite-size steps and tried to really describe how each stage should look.
But to help with this, here are some step-by-step photos to show how this gluten free choux pastry should look when making gluten free profiteroles.
How to make gluten free choux pastry:
Preheat the oven to 220C / Fan 200C / Gas Mark 7 and line a large baking tray (or two) with parchment paper.
Sift the gluten free flour, salt and xanthan gum into a bowl through a sieve. Set to one side.
Add the water, milk, butter and sugar to a saucepan and place on a low heat. Once the butter has melted and the mixture has started to boil, turn it down to a low simmer.
Very quickly pour (or ‘shoot’) the flour mixture into the pan and immediately start to stir it vigorously, using a wooden spoon. You want to really beat it against the sides of the pan.
Continue to beat for around 30 seconds until the dough is coming away from the side of the pan and looks like the below-right photo.
Remove from the heat and continue to beat for another minute. Then leave the dough for approximately 5 minutes until it has cooled – it should be warm but cool enough to touch.
Meanwhile, add the eggs to a small bowl and beat together lightly with a fork.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The dough should be warm to touch but not hot – otherwise the eggs will scramble when you add them next! I added my choux pastry dough to a mixing bowl once mixed, so it cooled a bit quicker than in the warm pan.
When the dough has cooled enough to touch, gradually add the eggs to the dough, while beating with an electric whisk (or with a wooden spoon by hand).
You’ll want to add the eggs a little-at-a-time, mixing it together thoroughly before adding more egg, until you get the right consistency. It should look like the below-right photo.
Once you’ve added all the eggs, you should have a thick, smooth, shiny paste, which is slightly sticky. It should be the right consistency to pipe and hold its own shape.
Add the dough to a piping bag with either a round or star nozzle fitted. Pipe small balls of the mixture onto the sheet, with a little space between them.
I use scissors to ‘cut’ the dough off between each ball, to get a neater ball. Use wet fingers to gently shape any misshapen profiteroles.
Bake the profiteroles for 15 minutes, then without opening the oven door turn the oven down to 170C / Fan 150C / Gas Mark 3. If you open the door, they will sink!
Bake for a further 15 minutes – they should be golden brown and puffy when ready.
Remove the profiteroles from the oven. Instantly use a sharp knife to poke a small slit into the bottom of each profiterole.
Place the profiteroles on a cooling rack, slit-side-up, to cool. This will help the steam escape and stop them going soggy inside!
To fill the profiteroles:
Once completely cooled, you can fill the profiteroles. I love filling mine with whipped cream!
Whip the double cream and icing sugar in a bowl until it forms soft peaks, then pipe into the choux pastry buns using a small nozzle, through the slit in the bottom.
To make the ganache, chop the chocolate finely and place in a heatproof bowl. Pour the cream into a pan and place on a low heat.
Just before it comes to a simmer, remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate, whisking until it forms a smooth ganache.
Stack the filled profiteroles, then serve with the warm chocolate sauce drizzled over the top before serving. You can also individually dip the profiteroles in the ganache if you prefer.
Storing and Freezing
If you want to make this recipe ahead of time, you have a couple of options. You could make the profiteroles and then freeze the unfilled choux buns for later.
You can also freeze the filled profiteroles and defrost at room temperature before eating.
If making earlier in the day, bake the profiteroles and make the whipped cream topping, but don’t fill the choux buns until just before serving.
Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge but they will start to soften after a few hours. I would recommend eating these as fresh as possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some FAQs about this gluten free profiteroles recipe. If you can’t find the answer to your question here or in the post above, please comment and I’ll try answer!
If your plain gluten free flour blend contains xanthan gum already, you can omit this from the recipe. But otherwise you need to add it, otherwise the dough will be very difficult to handle.
Due to its reliance on eggs, I have not tested a vegan subsitute for this recipe. You could swap the butter and milk for a vegan alternative and use a dairy free whipped cream for the filling instead to make gluten and dairy free profiteroles.
If you make this recipe and love it, please do let me know by tagging me on my Instagram or using #theglutenfreeblogger. You can also share your creations in my Facebook group! And please do leave a 5* review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to let others know you loved it too! It would mean the world to me and really helps support my website.
Gluten Free Profiteroles
Ingredients
For the gluten free choux pastry:
- 85 g plain gluten free flour
- 0.25 tsp xanthan gum
- pinch salt
- 75 ml water
- 75 ml milk
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 2 large eggs
For the cream filling:
- 200 ml double cream
- 1 tbsp icing sugar
For the chocolate ganache topping:
- 85 g dark chocolate
- 85 ml double cream
Instructions
To make the gluten free choux pastry:
- Preheat the oven to 220C / Fan 200C / Gas Mark 7 and line a large baking tray with baking paper. Sift the gluten free flour, salt and xanthan gum into a bowl through a sieve. Set to one side.
- Add the water, milk, butter and sugar to a saucepan and place on a low heat. Once the butter has melted and the mixture has started to boil turn it down to a low simmer.
- Very quickly pour (or 'shoot') the flour mixture into the pan and immediately start to stir it vigorously, using a wooden spoon. You want to really beat it against the sides of the pan. Continue to beat for around 30 seconds until the dough is coming away from the side of the pan.
- Remove from the heat and continue to beat for another minute. Then leave the dough for approximately 5 minutes until it has cooled. It should be warm to touch but not hot – otherwise the eggs will scramble when you add them next! I added mine to a mixing bowl so it cooled a bit quicker than in the warm pan!
- Add the eggs to a small bowl and beat together with a fork. When the dough has cooled, gradually add the eggs to the dough, while beating with an electric whisk (or by hand using a wooden spoon, but you'll need some muscle power!) You'll want to add this a little-at-a-time, mixing it together thoroughly before adding more egg.
- Once you've added all the eggs, you should have a thick, smooth, shiny paste, which is slightly sticky. It should be the right consistency to pipe and hold its own shape.
- Add the dough to a piping bag with either a round or star nozzle fitted. Pipe small balls of the mixture onto the sheet, with a little space between them – I use scissors to 'cut' the dough off between each ball. Use wet fingers to gently shape any misshapen profiteroles.
- Bake the profiteroles for 15 minutes, then without opening the oven door turn the oven down to 170C / Fan 150C / Gas Mark 3. Bake for a further 15-20 minutes – they should be golden brown and puffy.
- Remove the profiteroles from the oven. Instantly use a sharp knife to poke a small slit into the bottom of each profiterole, then place them on a cooling rack, slit-side-up, to cool. This will help the steam escape and stop them going soggy!
To fill the profiteroles:
- Once completely cooled, you can fill the profiteroles. Whip the double cream and icing sugar in a bowl until it forms soft peaks, then pipe into the profiteroles using a small nozzle, through the slit in the bottom.
- To make the ganache, chop the chocolate finely and place in a heatproof bowl. Pour the cream into a pan and place on a low heat. Just before it comes to a simmer, remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate, whisking until it forms a smooth ganache.
- Stack the filled profiteroles, then serve with the warm ganache drizzled over the top before serving.
Notes
- Weighing Scales vs Cups: You can toggle this recipe card to convert the ingredients into cups. However, I always recommend using weighing scales – these are cheap to buy and much more accurate. And in gluten free baking, a tiny variation can make a huge difference!
- Step-by-Step Photos: Check out the blog post above for step-by-step photos to show how this gluten free choux pastry recipe should look at each stage.
- Storing and Freezing: Check out the post above this recipe card for more information on how to store and freeze these gluten free profiteroles.
- Like this Recipe? It would mean SO much to me if you could leave a 5* review and tell all your gluten free friends about these Gluten Free Profiteroles.
Nutrition
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