Chocolate Cream Puff
Crunchy cream puffs filled with light chocolate custard cream and topped with a crunchy chocolate cookie shell
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 30 min
- Yield
- 12 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
- 65 g Brown sugar (1/3 cup)
- 65 g All Purpose flour (1/2 cup)
- 65 g Unsalted butter, softened (1/3 cup)
- 50 g Whole milk (3 tbsp 1 tsp)
- 50 g Water (3 tbsp 1 tsp)
- 45 g Unsalted butter (3 tbsp 1 tsp)
- a pinch salt
- a pinch sugar
- 55 g Plain flour (1/3 cup 4 tsp)
- 100 g Beaten egg, approx 2 eggs
- 30 g Egg yolk, approx 2 egg yolks
- 100 g Sugar (1/2 cup)
- 25 g Cornflour (3 tbsp 1 tsp)
- 30 g Cocoa powder (1/4 cup)
- 200 g Milk (3/4 cup 4 tsp)
- 25 g Butter (2 tbsp)
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract (optional)
- 200 g Thickened/Heavy cream (3/4 cup 2 tsp)
- Creme Patissiere, prepared and cooled
Instructions
- 1
Combine brown sugar, flour and butter in a mixing bowl
- 2
Rub the butter into the flour and sugar using your fingertips
- 3
Place between two pieces of parchment paper and use a rolling pin to roll it out to 4mm in thickness
- 4
Freeze
- 5
Cut into 4cm or 1 1/2″ inch round discs with a cookie cutter and reserve in the freezer until ready for use
- 6
Preheat the oven to 230°C
- 7
Line a large baking tray with baking paper
- 8
Heat milk, water, butter, salt and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat
- 9
When it starts to boil remove from heat and add the flour in one go, mixing vigorously until smooth
- 10
Return to medium heat and flatten the dough to the bottom of the pan, listening for crackling of the dough without mixing
- 11
Give the pan a shake and when you notice the dough doesn’t stick to the sides of the pan, and a thin film forms on the bottom of the pan the dough is sufficiently dry
- 12
Remove from the heat
- 13
Using a wooden spoon/spatula beat the dough to let steam evaporate and then cool for 10 minutes
- 14
Slowly add the beaten egg and stir until the dough is smooth, but still holds structure (the batter will form a ‘V’ or a ‘beak’ on the spoon/spatula when lifted) (You can also do this in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment at medium speed)
- 15
Pipe small 3.5cm or 1 1/3″ round mounds on the prepared baking sheet
- 16
Top with a disc of frozen craquelin
- 17
Turn down the oven temperature to 160°C and bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown
- 18
Remove from oven and poke a hole in the bottom of each puff to release steam
- 19
Cool on a wire rack
- 20
Heat milk until just boiling in a small saucepan
- 21
Meanwhile, in a medium-sized mixing bowl combine egg yolks, sugar and a teaspoon vanilla extract (optional), whisking until doubled in volume
- 22
Sift in the cornflour and cocoa powder, mix until combined
- 23
Pour the hot milk into the egg mixture and whisk until smooth
- 24
Return the mixture to heat and whisk constantly until thick
- 25
Remove from heat and add butter
- 26
Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, ensuring it touches the surface of the pastry cream
- 27
Cool in fridge until use
- 28
Whisk the cream until medium-stiff peaks are reached
- 29
Add the cooled creme patisserie and whisk until stiff peaks are reached
- 30
Transfer to a piping bag with a small round tip
- 31
Reserve in the fridge until use
- 32
Using the end of a chopstick or a skewer poke a hole in the bottom of each choux puff
- 33
Insert the tip of the piping bag into the bottom of each choux puff and fill it with the chocolate cream
- 34
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consume within 2 days