This is a delicious fall twist on the classic vanilla and chocolate profiteroles of my youth – bright, spicy cinnamon, intense dark chocolate, and the warm comfort of apples. An elegant (and impressive!) finish to what is often an epic meal. What I most love about this dessert for Thanksgiving is its size – it’s but two sweet bites (often all one can take at the end of the day) but complex enough to stand up as The Dessert. It is also endlessly variable – with a different ice cream flavor and sauce, you can cater the profiterole to your particular meal and place. TIPS: The beauty of profiteroles is that most of the pieces can be made ahead of time, which leaves nothing but assembly on an otherwise chaotic Thanksgiving day. The choux pastry can be made, piped into shape, and frozen weeks in advance, to be baked on the day of; the ice cream can be made in the days leading up to Thanksgiving; and the ganache will keep in the fridge and responds well to a quick spell in the microwave. The apple butter is certainly an unconventional addition to the classic profiterole, and unnecessary unless you have some on hand. By Thanksgiving I usually have just enough left over from September’s apple picking to add a taste. You could substitute a different, appropriate jam, or leave it out entirely. NB: The two-part recipe doesn't leave room for the ganache as its own thing, so I've added it as a step near the end. And...choux pastry is really not so hard, promise.

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