Profiterole

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /pɹəˈfɪtəɹoʊl/

Definitions

1. A sweet pastry that is made from choux dough and filled with cream, typically drizzled with chocolate or caramel sauce
2. This treat consists of a light pastry ball filled with cream or custard and is frequently adorned with sweet toppings
3. A small, hollow puff made from choux pastry that is stuffed with sweet cream or custard and often covered with a glaze or sauce

Etymology: The small filled pastry got its name from a word that once meant "a little bit of profit." French "profiterole" is a diminutive of "profit," and the sense of a small gain, a bit extra, was the original point of the name. The French term passed into English as a borrowing, and it is the source of the pastry's English name. Those little choux puffs were thought of as a bonus or a sweet extra added to a meal, which is how the name's notion of a small surplus fits them. The connection between a tiny financial gain and a bite-sized cream-filled cake is a quirk of French usage rather than a deliberate culinary pun, and the English word simply carries that French history with it.

Synonyms: cream puff, choux pastry, pastry ball, dessert puff, sweet roll