Blue Star: PREP & ENTERTAIN WITH EASE: SEAMLESS COOLING TO COOKING

Home cooks are always seeking new tools to enhance and refine their process, to produce the best results. At BlueStar®, our goal is to equip every home cook with appliances that maximize performance and efficiency in their home kitchen.

We have the honor of working with America’s best chefs, and rely on their experience to fuel real innovations that make cooking better everyday. Their challenge to us: make the transition from prep to cooling to cooking easier. They wanted a lot: zero transfers, less bowls to clean, easy movement, plus the ability to serve prepared chilled courses.

Our answer was the full extension shelf in our 36” Built-In refrigerator; which not only made it easier, but seamless. Now home cooks can start a recipe by mixing ingredients on a sheet pan, then store it in the refrigerator or freezer and then move directly to the oven without transferring – and then back to refrigerator or freezer before serving. They can proof breads and pizza doughs before using our artisan bake stone. They can make salads, appetizers and desserts for guests ahead of time and pull them out, ready to serve. Engineered and designed to compliment your cooking process, this leading innovation not only improved how they cook at home, but connected a hallmark of BlueStar’s appliances – accommodation of commercial-size sheet pans, now, for seamless cooling to cooking.

Keeping the idea of smooth transition in mind, BlueStar’s 36” Built-In refrigerator comes with articulating hinges, allowing the tray to fully extend, saving you from unnecessary contact with the door’s shelving. Built with commercial-grade stainless steel and glass it provides a sturdy, flat surface for organization. With award-winning, industry-leading features, our refrigerator will enhance your cooking experience, and bring chef-level results at home.

Renowned pastry chef and bread baker Zoe Francois showed us just how effortlessly this all works together with her delectable profiteroles. Easily baked and filled with ice cream in advance, the profiteroles can be kept on a sheet pan in the freezer until you are ready to serve.

Profiteroles from Zoe Francois
Prep time: 1 hour
Baking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

Pate a Choux Dough:

• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs, room temperature

Ice Cream of your choice

Ganache:

• 8 ounces heavy whipping cream
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup

Directions:

To make the cream puff dough:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat
3. Bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to a rapid simmer. Dump the flour in all at once. Stir with wooden spoon over low heat. The dough will come together as a smooth ball and the bottom will have a skim of dough stuck to it.
4. Remove the dough from the pot and place in a bowl of stand mixer, fitted with paddle attachment. I love these beater blade paddles with the rubber sides, so you don’t have to scrape down the bowl. If you don’t have one, then scrape down the bowl after each egg. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each, until it comes together in a smooth paste.
5. It will be thick enough to hold its shape, but thin enough to pipe easily.
6. Fit a pastry bag with a large round tip and pipe the dough into quarter sized balls. If there are points stickup up on the ends just wet your finger and smooth them out. Place the sheets into the oven and bake for about 10 minutes, until they are puffy, but have a little color. Quickly rotate the trays from top to bottom and back to front. They may deflate a touch, but don’t worry, they will puff again as they continue to bake. Bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes or just until they start to turn golden.
7. Prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon and continue to bake for about 5 more minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before filling. They can be made ahead and frozen for up to a couple of weeks.
8. Once you are ready to assemble the profiteroles cut the pastry open along the sides with a sharp knife. Scoop ice cream into the pastry shells. Freeze until ready to serve.

To make the ganache:

1. Heat the cream to a simmer. Add the chocolate, swirl the pan to cover the chocolate with the cream and allow to sit for 2 minutes. Gently stir the cream and chocolate together. You don’t want to whip too much air into it or it won’t be smooth and shiny.
2. Drizzle over the profiteroles to serve.