Bossche Balls Heaven


The combination of vanilla whip cream and dark chocolate is hard to resist. You'll find this combo in Bossche balls.

Bossche balls

Named after its city of origin in Holland, 's-Hertogenbosch (often Den Bosch), the size and shape alone are particularly inviting.

Usually eaten with the fingers, accompanied with a cup of coffee. Watch out for this one, it's addictive!

Choux Dough:

  • 100 ml milk
  • 100 ml water
  • 90 g butter
  • 100 g all purpose flour
  • 4 medium eggs
  • Pinch of salt

Filling:

  • 350 ml cream
  • 35 g sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp powdered stabilizer or gelatin powder (optional)

Chocolate glaze:

  • 190 g dark chocolate (50% or higher)
  • 2 tbsp cream
  • 200 g caster sugar
  • 100 g water

Choux dough:

  1. Bring the butter, water, milk and salt to a boil (medium heat) and add the flour.
  2. Stir well, it's important that the flour cooks entirely. You can see that when the dough comes off the pan walls and becomes a large ball. 
  3. Preheat oven to 210°C.
  4. Take the pan off the stove and put the choux in a bowl. Add the eggs one by one. Only add the next when the egg is completely blended.
  5. Scoop the dough into a piping bag with a smooth, round nozzle.
  6. Lay a piece of baking paper on the baking tray, press some dough on the sheet, a little larger than a golf ball. This is something you have to eye-ball. Continue adding dough balls, leaving enough space between them. Baked, they will be slightly larger than a tennis ball.
  7. Bake for 25 minutes, a little lower than the middle of the oven.

Filling:

  1. Make sure the cream is ice cold. Whip the cream over another bowl with ice cubes in water at high speed.
  2. When it has thickened some, add the sugar gradually and vanilla extract.
  3. When cream becomes a light paste and you see a hole appear every now and then, stop mixing. Otherwise it will turn into butter.
  4. Put the cream in the piping bag with fill nozzle (the one with the sharp point) and pierce the profiteroles from underneath to fill.

Chocolate icing:

  1. Break chocolate into small pieces if chips aren't being used.
  2. Boil water and cream in a pan, add sugar. Make sure sugar is completely dissolved. Remove pan from stove.
  3. Add the chocolate pieces. Let it dissolve completely while stirring.
  4. Dip the upper half of the bossche balls in the chocolate. Do it gently otherwise they may rip.
  5. Let them cool for 10 minutes and store in the refrigerator.


Tools used: Baking paper, hand mixer or stand mixer, piping bag with smooth nozzle and fill nozzle.