The cream puff tree with cream and chocolate is a spectacular dessert for Christmas celebrations, filled with chocolate and lemon custard, then covered with white chocolate, pistachio crumbs, and a touch of red currant that is very Christmasy.
It is an alternative dessert but very appreciated by the little ones and those who, like me, love cream puffs—a delicious and creative idea, with many tasty bites in the shape of a tree, the most representative tradition for Christmas.
You can customize the cream puff tree in various ways according to your tastes; you can fill it with whipped cream or other creams, prepare more flavors, and decorate with icing or dark chocolate.
Making this dessert is very simple, but you need a little patience for preparing the cream puffs; I made them a day before, including the creams, and then filled and decorated them a couple of hours before serving.
My advice is to follow the recipe step by step, both in the quantities of ingredients used and in the cooking method for preparing the choux pastry that you can find here.
For more ideas on Christmas desserts, click on the Collection of my Christmas desserts
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- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 25
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
Ingredients for the Cream Puff Tree with Cream and Chocolate
- 1 cup water
- 5.5 tbsp butter
- 1.2 cups all-purpose flour
- 5 medium eggs
- 2 cups milk
- 2 eggs (medium)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- Half lemon zest (grated)
- Half lemon juice (or limoncello)
- 1 oz dark chocolate
- 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 5.3 oz white chocolate
- to taste pistachio flour or crumbs
- to taste red currants
Tools
- Small pot
- Hand whisk
- Stand mixer
- Piping bag
- Baking sheet
- Oven
- Small pot
- Whisk
- Stovetop
- Bowl
Preparation for the Cream Puff Tree with Cream and Chocolate
Start with the preparation of the choux pastry.
All the tips and the procedure for making dry and hollow cream puffs can be found here Choux pastry recipe and tips
I prepared them a day before and stored them under a glass dome.Proceed with the preparation of the creams for the filling.
You only need one small pot and prepare a single white lemon base cream, then divide and add the cocoa and chocolate.Read the preparation of the white lemon custard
Divide half of the lemon custard into a bowl. Leave the other half in the pot, add the sifted cocoa and dark chocolate, and mix well with a whisk. Cocoa and chocolate cream.Transfer the chocolate cream into another bowl. Cover both creams with plastic wrap and let them cool before filling the cream puffs.
Prepare it in advance, preferably the day before, like the cream puffs, and store it in the fridge.Filling and preparing the cream puffs.
Transfer the lemon cream into a piping bag with a smooth 1/8 inch nozzle and fill half of the cream puffs.
Then transfer the chocolate cream into the piping bag and continue to fill the remaining cream puffs.
Proceed with the decoration.
Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler or for a few minutes in the microwave, mix well, and then pour with a spoon over the filled cream puffs, or dip the surface directly into the melted chocolate.Place the cream puffs on a baking sheet, sprinkle with pistachio flour, cocoa powder for the base, and place a red currant berry on each cream puff. Let the chocolate set before forming the tree.
Preparation for the cream puff tree with cream and chocolate.
Take a plate or tray large enough, arrange the cream puffs filled with lemon and chocolate cream to form a tree. Place in the fridge until ready to serve.
Tips and Variants
To speed up the recipe, you can buy ready-made cream puffs, fill them with ricotta, whipped cream, or hazelnut spread, choosing according to your tastes.
If you love the hazelnut flavor, you can also use this cream to have more flavors.
The filled cream puffs can be stored in the fridge for a few days.
