🍓Summer Strawberry Profiteroles with Vanilla Ice Cream & Chocolate Ganache
Every once in a while a recipe surprises you.
This week in The Nomad Kitchen, I finally tackled one of my culinary bucket-list recipes: classic French pâte à choux pastry. To my delight, the profiteroles emerged from the oven perfectly golden, light, airy, crisp, and beautifully hollow inside—everything a French pastry should be.
For my very first creation, I couldn't resist transforming those delicate pastry shells into an elegant summer dessert. Filled with creamy vanilla ice cream, layered with fresh California strawberries, and draped in rich chocolate ganache, this Strawberry Shortcake Profiterole became one of the most delicious desserts I've ever made.
What I love most about this recipe is its simplicity. A humble French pastry shell becomes the perfect vessel for endless creativity. Whether filled with ice cream, pastry cream, whipped cream, fresh berries, or seasonal fruits, every profiterole becomes its own little masterpiece.
This beautiful dessert marks the beginning of The Nomad Kitchen French Pastry Series, and I have a feeling we're just getting started.
The Nomad Kitchen French Pastry Series
Fresh strawberries. Cold vanilla ice cream. Warm chocolate ganache. All tucked inside a delicate homemade French profiterole.
After mastering my first batch of classic pâte à choux pastry, I couldn't wait to create a simple summer dessert that showcased just how versatile these beautiful little pastry shells can be. Traditional profiteroles are often filled with pastry cream, but on a warm California afternoon I found myself reaching for vanilla ice cream instead.
The result was pure magic.
The crisp shell, the cold creamy ice cream, the sweetness of fresh strawberries, and the silky richness of chocolate ganache create a dessert that feels elegant enough for a French café yet simple enough for a weekend afternoon in The Nomad Kitchen.
If you'd like to make the pastry shells from scratch, start with my Perfect Classic Pâte à Choux Pastry Recipe and then come back here for the fun part—the filling.
🥐 Homemade Profiterole Shells
Use one batch of:
✨ Perfect Classic Pâte à Choux Pastry
Bake until golden brown, puffed, and hollow.
Allow to cool completely before filling.
🍓 Ingredients
🥐 6 profiterole shells
🍦 Vanilla ice cream
🍓 Fresh California strawberries, sliced
🍫 Chocolate ganache
✨ Optional powdered sugar
🍫 Simple Chocolate Ganache
1 cup chocolate chips
½ cup heavy cream
1️⃣ Heat cream until steaming.
2️⃣ Pour over chocolate.
3️⃣ Allow to sit for 2 minutes.
4️⃣ Stir until smooth and glossy.
🍓 Assembly
1️⃣ Slice profiteroles in half.
2️⃣ Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
3️⃣ Layer with fresh sliced strawberries.
4️⃣ Replace the pastry top.
5️⃣ Spoon warm chocolate ganache over the profiterole.
6️⃣ Serve immediately.
7️⃣ Try not to eat all of them before taking the photographs.
I made a short one for me.
