Chocolate Choux Pastry Cream Puffs

Learn how to make foolproof chocolate choux pastry with this detailed, step by step recipe!

My classic choux pastry is one of the most popular posts on the blog. With over 1000 reviews (and counting) across my social media accounts and the blog, it’s a well-loved recipe by my readers. So by popular demand, and after many many (many) hours of recipe testing, I’ve got another doozy to share with you guys today. Chocolate choux pastry! Cream puffs are an incredibly delicious and nifty little dessert to make. But chocolate cream puff, made with chocolate choux pastry is a whole other level of fun. The deep cocoa flavor from the choux pastry is perfectly complemented by the chantilly cream filling. So if you like cream puffs, then you have GOT to try these chocolate cream puffs! It’s a non-negotiable request.

Difference between regular choux pastry and chocolate choux pastry

The best way to add chocolate flavor to the pastry dough is to add cocoa powder. However, the addition of cocoa powder changes the consistency of the dough. Cocoa powder will dry out the dough and make it heavy. This will obviously affect how much the choux pastry is going to puff up in the oven. But with a few adjustments, you can still get perfect results! Also, since the choux pastry dough is dark in color, it’s harder to monitor the consistency of the dough, unlike with classic choux pastry. However, if you’re familiar with classic choux pastry, and how to get the right consistency – this recipe will be very easy for you as well! And I’ll help you get there with this step by step guide.

How to make Chocolate Choux Pastry

Making the water dough

The first step of making chocolate choux pastry is to measure out all the ingredients needed to make the dough. I always prefer using weight measurements, to guarantee consistent results. The water, salt, sugar, and butter are heated in a saucepan over medium heat. Make sure to stir the mixture to allow the salt, sugar, and butter to melt before the water comes to a boil. If your cocoa powder and/or flour has any lumps, it’s very important to sift it to remove all the lumps. Whisk the cocoa powder and flour together so that it’s mixed well too. When the butter has melted, and the water has come to a boil, remove it from the heat. Immediately add all of the flour and cocoa powder mixture and stir it in really well. Allow all of the flour and cocoa powder to absorb the water, and make sure there are no lumps in the dough. You should get a dough that resembles wet mashed potatoes at this point. Return the pot to the heat (on medium-low heat), and cook the dough for a further 30 sec – 1 minute while constantly stirring and moving the dough around in the pot. This is where you need to gauge how long to cook the dough. The dough needs to,

have the consistency of mashed potato (before adding milk and butter), form a ball when mixed (not sticking to the sides of the pot), if you’re using a stainless steel pot, the dough will form a film at the bottom of the pot.

If the dough splits and forms pools of butter and lumps of dough, you have heated it too far. Let this dough cool down for just a few minutes in a bowl before adding the eggs.

Adding eggs to the choux pastry dough

Once the dough is cooled down a little, the eggs are added. Just like with classic choux pastry, it’s crucial to check the consistency of the dough as you mix in the eggs. You may find that the dough here needs to be a little more loose compared to classic choux pastry. This is because of the cocoa powder, which makes the dough heavier, thus needing maybe a little more egg / liquid to help the pastries puff up properly when baking. Whisk each egg and add it to the dough, mixing it in well before adding the next egg. The last egg should be added in increments (I add about 1/3 – 1/2 at a time), each increment mixed in well before adding the next. Just like with classic choux pastry, it’s important to add JUST ENOUGH eggs to get the right consistency! The V test – When you lift the dough with your spatula, the dough should form a “v” shape at the end of the spatula. See photo above. Sheen test – The dough should have a lovely sheen to it, instead of being matte-colored. Flow test – Usually with classic choux pastry, you can run your finger through the dough, making a trough that will hold its shape. If you do this with chocolate choux pastry, you may notice that the dough tends to flow more because the dough is relatively more soft/wet. This is OK though, since the dough will firm up more as it cools down. Once you’ve achieved the right consistency, the dough is almost ready to be used. This step is critical to ensure great results. Place the dough in a container or bowl and cover it with plastic wrap to make sure it’s not exposed to air. I personally prefer to transfer the dough into an uncut or sealed pastry bag, and keep it well wrapped in there, to prevent any contact with air. Now let the dough rest. It’s important that the dough is cooled to room temperature so that it can be piped properly and still hold its shape. I like to let it rest for at least 1 hour at this point.

Piping the chocolate choux pastry

After the chocolate choux pastry has rested and cooled to room temperature, you’re ready to pipe and bake chocolate cream puffs! Attach to your pastry bag a round pastry tip or French star tip, with a diameter of about 1/2 inch. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Unlike with classic choux pastry, you will have to bake these at two different temperatures. 400 F for 5 minutes, and another 25 – 30 minutes at 375 F (depends on how big you piped the pastry). This initial high heat will give the puffs an evaporation boost, helping to expand the pastries. Pipe the choux pastry dough onto a parchment paper lined baking tray. These choux pastries will expand by at least 1.5 times, so keep that in mind when you pipe the dough. Pipe the dough at a 90° angle to the baking tray. That is, the piped dough mounds should be straight, and not be at an angle. Also, make sure the tip of the pastry bag is always just below the tip of the dough mound as you’re piping. Then slowly move the tip up to create a nice and tall pastry mound. This motion will help prevent “ripples” from forming on the piped dough mound, which will result in misshapen puffs. The taller dough mounds will also make puffs that are more round, while flatter dough mounds will not surprisingly result in deflated puffs. Keep the remaining dough in the piping bag until you’re ready to pipe the next batch (i.e. prevent contact with air). OPTIONAL STEPS – Dust the chocolate choux pastry with confectioner’s sugar OR spray the tray with water. Not both. The sugar will make the baked puffs a little sweeter. The water will help create puffs that are a little bigger. I usually don’t do either of these things for chocolate choux puffs, but you can choose to, if you like.

Baking the pastries

Place the choux pastry in the middle of the oven where it gets even heat from the top and bottom elements. In my conventional oven, that’s the middle rack. I also only bake one tray at a time, so that the pastries bake and brown evenly. Bake the chocolate choux pastry at 400 F for 5 minutes, and then lower the heat to 375 F. After 20 minutes at 375 F, rotate the tray for even baking. This will depend on your oven, as some ovens will bake evenly without needing rotation. After a further 5 – 7 minutes, when the choux pastry tops are crisp, quickly prick each of the choux cases. Bake them for a further 5 minutes. This will make the shells crisp and prevent them from deflating once taken out of the oven. Once the chocolate choux pastry is removed from the oven, prick them again to allow the rest of the steam to escape, and to cool down. Remember to preheat the oven back to 400 F before baking the next batch.

Filling the chocolate cream puffs

To make cream puffs with this chocolate choux pastry, you need to make a chantilly cream for the filling. Chantilly cream is simply sweetened, stabilized whipped cream. If you prefer chocolate profiteroles, then you can make my vanilla pastry cream or chocolate pastry cream as the filling. In this post, I make chocolate cream puffs, which are filled with chantilly cream. The sweetness of the chantilly cream is perfect with the extra chocolatey choux puff pastry. I personally LOVE the flavor pairing of the slight bitterness you get from the cocoa, and the sweet and creamy whipped cream. Plus that color contrast between the dark brown pastry shell and the white filling is gorgeous too! You can simply slice the upper third of each pastry shell and then fill the bottom with the whipped cream. Swirl some of the chantilly on top to slightly overfill the bottom half, and replace the cut pastry “lid” on top. See pictures in the post.

What to expect with these cream puffs

These chocolate choux pastry puffs may not puff up as much as the classic choux pastry. But they still do expand while baking. The insides will still be very airy, but they will also have more “webbings” inside. If you’re slicing the pastry shells, you can remove the webbings with your finger before filling the shells. You can also make a hole in the bottom and fill the puffs using a pastry bag and tip.

How to store these for later

You can store baked and unfilled chocolate choux pastry cases in an air-tight container. They can be left at room temperature for 24 hours, or in the freezer for longer. To re-use them, simply warm them in a preheated oven (about 250 – 300 F) for a few minutes. This will make them nice and crisp again on the surface. I usually store unused choux pastry dough in an air-tight container and in the fridge overnight. However, I prefer not to do this for this chocolate version, since this can affect how much they expand during baking.

Why I love this recipe

I love choux pastry! As you can tell from all the choux pastry related stuff I’ve shared on my blog before. It’s one of my favorite pastries to make. So I had to make sure this recipe was foolproof as well. After making many (too many!) batches of chocolate choux pastry, I can say for sure that this recipe is going to make you choux aficionados very happy! 🙂 These chocolate cream puffs are my husband’s favorite version of cream puffs as well! The deep chocolate flavor perfectly complements the sweet, creamy chantilly filling! Plus, these babies are so easy to make, and they look elegant and beautiful! What’s not to love?