Ina Garten's Favorite French Dessert Is Easy to Make at Home

While you watch the world’s best athletes compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, you need something to munch on, right? You could grab the Olympic-themed Reese’s from the store or the Go USA Doughnut Collection from Krispy Kreme and wash your treat down with a Red Robin Star-Spangled Spritzer.

Or, you could take inspiration from Ina Garten, who is in Paris for the Olympics with the Today Show team. Ina’s Instagram posts have been giving us serious FOMO lately as she and her signature denim shirt pop in and out of Paris shops. She’s buying cheese with Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie. The three are having picnics in Parisian parks with Al Roker, And Ina is indulging in profiteroles. 

We can’t be there with this food-loving crew, but we can join Ina in enjoying profiteroles from home.

What Are Profiteroles?

In the comments of her Instagram post, Ina describes the profiterole in front of her as "cream puffs filled with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with warm chocolate sauce. Heaven!" She also says they are the "only dessert to order in Paris!" although we can't imagine she's not also indulging in some other French sweet treats such as crème brûlée or delicate macarons (we know we would be).

"This is also how I participate in international athletic competitions," one of Ina's followers commented. "10/10 the olympic coverage i want to see," added another.

If you can't get to Paris for the Olympics, you can still enjoy a delicious profiterole made in your own kitchen.

How to Make Profiteroles

Traditionally, profiteroles have a vanilla cream center, but the version Ina had in Paris swapped the cream for vanilla ice cream, a much easier way to make the treat, especially if you use store-bought ice cream. 

To make the Parisian version of the profiteroles Ina had, here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients

• Choux pastry: This pastry puff is known as pâte à choux in France. The dough has just four ingredients—butter, sugar, flour, and eggs (plus water and salt), and takes 15 minutes to make. In the oven, the pastry takes just 25 minutes to bake. 
• Vanilla ice cream: We know Ina is known to buy a tub of quality store-bought ice cream herself, and that’s all the permission we need to use ice cream from the grocery store ourselves. 
• Chocolate Sauce: Homemade or store-bought is fine. We’d probably go homemade here unless we could get something better at the store than the squeeze bottle you use for chocolate milk.

Ina's Instagram post also shows something crunchy scattered on the plate, which looks like toasted walnuts or some sort of brittle, but we can’t say for certain. 

Directions

1. Cut the baked choux pastry in half horizontally.
2. Add vanilla ice cream to the bottom pastry, then top with the other pastry half.
3. Drizzle with warm chocolate sauce.
4. Sprinkle nuts or brittle pieces around the edge (optional).

If you'd prefer a traditional profiterole with a cream filling, try this recipe for profiteroles filled with cream. 

Whichever version of this classic French pastry you choose to make, we're pretty sure you won't be disappointed—any food recommended by Ina is usually gold.