A Bossche bol, sometimes called chocoladebol, is a lovely Dutch choux pastry ball. Essentially, a very large profiterole, filled with sweetened whipped cream and glazed with dark chocolate. As the chocolate cools, it forms into a shell that keeps much of the cream inside of the bossche bol as you eat it.
They are traditionally eaten out of the hand, without any utensils, but since it can be rather messy, you can serve it on a plate, with a fork. If you choose to eat it the traditional way, make sure you turn it upside down, so the chocolate shell stops the cream from spilling all over. Bossche bollen are usually served with coffee, so pour yourself a cup and enjoy a nice, chilled bol.
Ingredients
For the dough
80 ml water
30 grams butter
40 grams plain flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
For the filling
200 ml double cream
2 tablespoons icing sugar
For the glaze
100 grams chocolate
Preparation
Pour the water into a large saucepan, dice in the butter and bring it to a boil over medium heat. When the mixture is boiling and everything is melted, sift in the flour and cook for a minute, then remove from the heat and stir it vigorously with a wooden spoon until the dough forms into a ball. Lightly beat the egg, pour it in, add the vanilla, and keep mixing until the dough absorbs it all and becomes smooth and glossy.
Take a large baking sheet and line it with baking paper. Pour the batter into a piping bag fitted with a large plain round nozzle and pipe out two mounds of dough on the baking sheet, making sure you leave a bit of room between them so they can rise nicely while in the oven. Bake them immediately in a preheated oven, at 200˚C (400˚F) for about 25 minutes, until puffed up and golden. Let them cool on a wire rack.
When they are cool and ready, whip the double cream with the sugar until stiff peaks form. Put the double cream into a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle, poke a hole on the bottom of each pastry and pipe a generous amount of double cream in. To glaze them, melt the chocolate in a double boiler, then dip them, top first, into the chocolate. If you wish, you can also pour the chocolate over each one until they are completely glazed. Let them cool completely and serve. Yields 2 servings.
