Name: Cream Puffs with Chocolate Pastry Cream
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 30 cream puffs
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 30 cream puffs (see my recipe); 2 cups whole milk; 6 oz (about 3/4 cup) granulated sugar (or 50 g (about 1.8 oz) of sweetener); 3 3/4 tbsp cornstarch (Maizena) (or rice starch); 8 egg yolks (about 130 g); 1 packet vanillin; 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (about 30 g); 4 tbsp butter (about 60 g); 3 oz 60–69% dark chocolate (about 80 g); to taste chopped almonds (or chopped walnuts or as desired)

Cream Puffs with Chocolate Pastry Cream

Traditional recipe and Thermomix version

Small treasure chests of absolute deliciousness filled with chocolate pastry cream, a true delight for the palate

In Sicily we have Modica chocolate, a renowned Italian product for its quality and authenticity; it has very ancient origins and its roots go back to the Spanish rule of Sicily, when the occupiers introduced chocolate processing in the “County of Modica,” once the largest in the Kingdom of Sicily.

Included is the link to make pâte à choux for cream puffs.

Ingredients

Let’s go shopping

30 cream puffs (see my recipe)
2 cups whole milk
6 oz (about 3/4 cup) granulated sugar (or 50 g (about 1.8 oz) of sweetener)
3 3/4 tbsp cornstarch (Maizena) (or rice starch)
8 egg yolks (about 130 g)
1 packet vanillin
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (about 30 g)
4 tbsp butter (about 60 g)
3 oz 60–69% dark chocolate (about 80 g)
to taste chopped almonds (or chopped walnuts or as desired)

Cream Puffs with Chocolate Pastry Cream

Tools

What we need to make them

2 Pots or the Thermomix
2 Baking pans
1 Oven
1 Piping bag
1 Knife
1 Tray

Steps

Preliminaries for both procedures

To prepare the chocolate pastry cream, start by chopping the chocolate and prepare a bowl full of ice large enough to hold the bowl with the freshly made cream afterwards.
Place the milk and the vanillin on the stove and heat until just about to boil.
Meanwhile, in another small saucepan add the sugar (or sweetener) and combine with the egg yolks.
Whisk everything together,
once the mixture is smooth, add the cornstarch and a pinch of salt.
Now pour a little hot milk into the egg mixture and whisk well, then gradually add the rest of the hot milk while whisking by hand. Return to the heat and cook the cream over moderate heat until thickened.
Melt the dark chocolate together with the butter in the microwave or over a double boiler.
Then fold it into the pastry cream using a spatula.
Cover the cream with plastic wrap directly on the surface and place it over the bowl of ice.
Once cooled you can store it in the refrigerator and let it rest at least 1 hour before filling the cream puffs.
Following this recipe you can make them comfortably at home or you can buy them ready-made.
Click here for full instructions to make them yourself
Put the milk in the Thermomix bowl and cook: with the simmering basket instead of the measuring cup 1 min/212°F/speed 2.
Add the sugar or sweetener, the vanillin, the starch and the unsweetened cocoa, and cook: 6 min/212°F/speed 3.
Add the yolks and continue cooking with the simmering basket instead of the measuring cup: 3 min/194°F/speed 3. Meanwhile, fill a large container halfway with ice and water.
Add the butter and the chopped dark chocolate to the bowl and blend: 30 sec/speed 6.
Transfer the cream to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface.
Place the bowl in the container with the ice water and let cool before transferring to the refrigerator.
With the tip of a small knife, make a hole at the base of each cream puff, then fill a piping bag with the cream and pipe into all the puffs.
With the remaining cream, pipe a small rosette on top of each cream puff, then dip them into the chopped almonds or other crumble of your choice.
And here they are — the Cream Puffs with Chocolate Pastry Cream are ready.