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These cream puffs are filled full with creamy vanilla pastry cream and dunked in a great chocolate ganache coating!
Cream puffs are made with Choux pastry, which is easy to make. They are hollow crunchy vessels to fill with whatever filling you like. You can use whipped cream or fill the center with some strawberries, then some whipped cream. Then, there are the lemon lovers who can plop a scoop of lemon curd right into the center for a tart, but sweet lemon taste. Our favorite is the pastry cream; just love the creamy vanilla-rich pastry filling for these delicious little beauties!
The cream puff is a versatile piece of pastry, meaning it can be sweet or savory. They can also be big or they can be small or bite-size. They are a vessel to hold whatever you think will taste good in one. They can be dessert or hors d'oeuvres for your next dinner party. Kids love them and so do the grown ups! You can make them any way that you like, they are always a favorite.
The creamy chocolate-coated cream puffs we made are decadent. They are filled to the brim with sweet creamy vanilla pastry filling. Then, we dip the cream puff as far as we can into the shiny chocolate ganache coating so every bite gets some chocolate on it.
Choux Pastry Ingredients:
- Water
- Butter
- Salt
- Sugar
- Flour
- Eggs
Pastry Cream Ingredients: our recipe
- Whole milk
- Heavy cream
- Vanilla
- Egg yolks
- Sugar
- Cornstarch
- Butter
Chocolate Ganache: our recipe
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Heavy cream
- Corn syrup
Making these creamy chocolate coated cream puffs:
The first step in making these cream puffs is to prepare the pastry cream, so that you can get it into the refrigerator to cool. If you prefer whipped cream, that is a good choice too, so you can skip the pastry cream. We used our pastry cream recipe, but feel free to use whatever center that you want.
Choux Pastry:
These are very fast to make; it just take a little time to cook. You just take a saucepan and add the water, butter, salt, and sugar, then bring it to a boil. Now ,dump the flour into the water and stir until it all comes together; keep it cooking on the stove while you do this.
Now, put the mix into a stand mixer and beat it for a minute or two, just to cool it off some. Now, add the eggs and beat one at a time until all incorporated.
Drop the batter onto a baking sheet or use a piping bag; either works. You can now make them the size that you want. We made ours big.
Pipe them onto a baking sheet with a large open piping tube.
The cream puffs will have peaks when you pipe them onto the baking sheet. Put a little water onto your finger and just tap the down so they are not pointed.
Bake them in them in the oven at 400ºF for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
The Cream Center:
You can use whatever center that you want, Some people prefer cream puffs with sweetened whipped cream. . We like to use pastry cream for the center of these cream puffs. When we use pastry cream we whip up ½ cup heavy cream and fold it into the pastry cream before piping it into the cream puff.
Time to stuff the cream puffs!
After the pastry cream is cold, it is time to stuff the cream puff. Put a hole at the bottom of the cream puff or slice a small "x" onto the bottom. This makes it easier to get the piping tube into the puff. If you don't have a piping bag, you can slice the top of the cream puff off and scoop in the pastry cream or whipped cream if you like.
Squeeze the pastry cream into the cream puff until it is filled. You can tell because the cream starts to come out at the bottom. Just scrape the excess filing off of the bottom of the cream puff with a knife (you can reserve the pastry cream, just in case).
Making the Ganache:
Heat the cream in a saucepan until just starting to boil. In the meantime, put the chocolate chips into a bowl that will hold the hot cream. When the cream is hot, pour it over the chocolate chips and add the corn syrup. Let the mixture sit for 1 to 2 minutes, then mix until incorporated. Let the chocolate mixture cool before you dip the cream puffs into it.
Dipping the Cream Puffs:
Hold the bottom of the cream puff and dip into the cool chocolate ganache. Then, set it onto a plate or wire wrack and let it set.
The finished product is nice, chocolaty and shiny. Put them in the refrigerator to get the chocolate harder.
Don't want pastry cream? Try fresh whipped cream!
An alternative to pastry cream is fresh whipped cream. Just whip some heavy cream and add a tablespoon or two of powdered sugar to the cream. Then, just either pipe it into the pastry choux or scoop it in with a spoon.
Here are the Cream puffs!. Either way, you will be rewarded with nice, delicious cream puffs that everyone with love!
Chocolate Coated Cream Puffs
Ingredients
Choux pastry:
- 1 cup of water
- 1 (½ cup) stick butter
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ Tbsp. sugar
- 1 cup flour
- 4 large eggs
- 1 recipe pastry cream
Chocolate ganache:
- 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoons light corn syrup
Instructions
Making the choux pastry:
- In a saucepan, add the water, butter, salt, and sugar and bring to a boil.
- Pour the flour all at once into the boiling water mixture and stir until the mixture comes together. Mix in the pan for about 30 seconds.
- Place the mixture into a stand mixer, or a bowl with a hand mixer, and mix for about 1 minute.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix to incorporate each. Then, mix for about 30 seconds.
- Add the mixture to a piping bag with a large round tube. You can also put the mixture in large mounds onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Tap the top of the cream puff with water on your finger so they don't stick up.
- Bake at 400ºF degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool before adding cream.
Making the pastry cream:
- We used the pastry cream on our site.
- We add ½ cup whipped heavy to the pastry cream and fold it into the filling
Making the chocolate ganache:
- Put the cream in a saucepan and cook until it is just coming to a boil.
- In another bowl, add the chocolate chips.
- When the cream is ready, pour over the chocolate chips along with the corn syrup.
- Let sit for several minutes, then mix until smooth.
- Let cool before dipping the cream puffs.
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