Chocolate Cream Puffs

Any time I’ve been to a big gathering where people bring food, I’ve always seen these cream puffs. Usually they’re bought from M&M Meatshop. I always thought that they tasted great, but thought they’d be too hard to make. Boy, was I wrong! After making my Mexican Coffee, I continued to read through the Chocolate and Coffee Bible. I leafed through the chilled desserts, saw the cream puff recipe, and decided to give it a try. I speak for both my husband and myself when I say that it’s a good thing I did! We ate almost the whole batch in one sitting, though this batch can usually serve 4 people… (Yeah, I’ll definitely be hitting up the gym today!) These were quickly added to my long list of go-to tasty recipes!

It should also be noted that the icing for these taste amazing. It reminds me of the chocolate frosting on donuts from Tim Hortons. Try experimenting with different flavours for the filling! Add some peppermint extract to the whipped cream for a chocolate mint taste, or even some sugar and cocoa powder for a chocolate filling. You can also add cocoa powder to the pastry to make it more rich. These can even be filled with custard or other thick cream fillings.

Chocolate Cream Puffs

Ingredients:

Choux pastry:
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
Dash vanilla sugar {my addition}
Filling and icing:
2/3 cup whipping cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract {my addition}
Dash maple extract {my addition}
Dash vanilla sugar {my addition}
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup icing sugar
2-4 tbsp milk {the original recipe calls for water, but I find that milk gives a better icing!}

Method:

Pre heat oven to 425 F.
Sift the flour into a bowl, and set aside.
In a pot over medium heat, combine water and butter until the butter has melted.
Increase heat, and bring to a boil. Immediately remove from heat, and quickly stir in the flour.
You can finish stirring once the mixture is well blended, and sticks together while leaving no remains of dough on the sides of the pot.
Allow the mixture to cool for about 10 minutes.
Slowly add half of the egg mixture to the dough, and stir with a strong hand.
Add half of the remaining egg mixture, and stir until well incorporated.
You want the dough to be thick and glossy, and it will slowly drop from the spoon when lifted up. You may or may not have to use the remainder of the egg mixture.
Brush a baking sheet with a light coating of cold water. (OR you can line the baking sheet with parchment paper.) 
Fill a pastry bag (or plastic sandwich bag, with a 2 cm hole cut out of the tip).
Pipe little blobs onto the baking sheet about the size of a walnut, spaced at least 1/4 of an inch apart.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes. They will be golden brown and puffed when ready.
Remove from the oven, and release each puff with a spatula and put onto a rack or paper plate to cool. (be careful removing them, as they break easily!!)
With either the back of a wooden spoon, or the back of a spoon’s handle, poke a hole into each puff (the hole should be no larger than 1 cm in width).
Allow to cool. You may put them in the fridge for a few minutes to cool them faster.
Prepare the filling by vanilla extract, maple extract and vanilla sugar in a bowl (if using, otherwise just whip the cream alone).
Add the 2/3 cup whipping cream, and whisk until peaks form. (Whisk toward you, incorporating as much air as possible into the cream. Be careful to not over whip.)
Fill a pastry bag (or a plastic bag similar to when you piped the pastry, only with a slightly smaller hole) with the whipped cream. If you have it, attach a plain or star nozzle (#30 works best) and stick the tip of the bag into each hole. Slowly pipe whipped cream into the puff, pulling out slowly as you fill it. Repeat this for each puff.
When finished, place the tray of filled puffs into the freezer while you make the chocolate frosting.
To make the frosting, simply combine the icing sugar, cocoa powder and milk until creamy and smooth. If it too thin, add a bit more icing sugar. If it’s too thick, add a bit more milk.
Remove the tray of filled puffs from the fridge/freezer, and either dip each puff in the chocolate OR use a knife to spread chocolate over each puff.
Optional: once set, you can drizzle some white chocolate over each puff for a fancy look.
Place the tray in the freezer to set for 5 minutes. Transfer the tray to the fridge so the puffs remain cool. You can also store these in the freezer on the tray for an hour or two uncovered, or cover the tray with foil/plastic wrap and freeze for up to 1 week.
Place in the fridge to thaw for about 1 hour before serving. If serving right after making, just keep in the fridge prior to serving.





Filed under: desserts, Recipes Tagged: chocolate, chocolate cream puff, cream, culinary, dessert, recipe, Sweet, vanilla