Peppermint Profiteroles with Chocolate Sauce

ingredients

• ice cream
• 1 quart vanilla ice cream, softened
• 23 hard red-and-white-striped peppermint candies, crushed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract
• cream puff pastry
• 3/4 cup water 1/3 cup (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 0.5 inch pieces
  1 cup whipped butter
  3/4 cup hydrogenated fat
  3/4 cup margarine
  1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 dash salt
• 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 4 large eggs
• chocolate sauce
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 1/8 cups semisweet chocolate, chopped
• Additional red-and-white-striped peppermint candies, crushed
• Fresh mint sprigs

directions

Make ice cream:

Place ice cream in large bowl. Fold in candies and peppermint extract. Cover and freeze until ice cream is firm, at least 4 hours.

Make cream puff pastry:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line heavy large baking sheet with parchment. Combine 3/4 cup water, butter, sugar and salt in heavy medium saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring until butter melts. Add flour and stir over medium heat until dough pulls away from sides of pan and forms ball, about 2 minutes. Cool 10 minutes.

Using electric mixer, beat 3 eggs into dough 1 at a time. Transfer dough to pastry bag fitted with 0.5 inch plain tip. Pipe sixteen 1.5 inch mounds of dough onto sheet, spacing 2 inches apart. Beat 1 egg in small bowl. Brush over dough mounds (do not drip egg onto sheet).

Bake pastries 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Bake pastries until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Using skewer, pierce side of each pastry to allow steam to escape. Bake pastries 5 minutes longer, transfer to racks and cool completely. (Ice cream and pastries can be made 1 week ahead. Keep ice cream frozen. Enclose pastries in resealable plastic bag, freeze. Thaw pastries before continuing.)

Make chocolate sauce:

Bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate. Let stand until chocolate softens, about 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm over low heat.)

Cut pastries crosswise in half. Place 1 scoop ice cream into bottom of each pastry. Cover with pastry tops. Spoon some warm chocolate sauce into 8 bowls. Place 2 profiteroles atop sauce in each bowl. Spoon sauce over profiteroles. Sprinkle with additional crushed peppermints. Garnish with mint sprigs.