Chocolate Cream Puffs

I asked my husband what dessert he wanted me to try my hand at next and although he had zero good ideas, there did seem to be a chocolate theme involved. So, I took things into my own hands and went to the chocolate cookbook we were given as a gift years ago and have never used. Chocolate cream puffs it is and boy are they good. I told R that I was going to go take one over to my mom's house and he made a face like, "Why would you want to do that?" Well, because the two of us don't need 5 cream puffs each! Geez R, just because you only have to work out 4 seconds a week to stay skinny, doesn't mean we're all so lucky. Anywho, without further ado...the recipe.

Chocolate Cream Puffs

From The Chocolate and Coffee Bible
Yields 12 large cream puffs

Ingredients:

For the Puffs:

1 C. All-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. Cocoa powder

1 C. Water

½ tsp. Salt

1 Tbsp. Granulated sugar

½ C. Unsalted butter

4 Eggs

For the Chocolate Pastry Cream:

2 C. Milk
6 Egg yolks

½ C. Granulated sugar

½ C. All-purpose flour

5 oz. Semisweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces

½ C. Whipping cream

For the Chocolate Glaze:

1 ¼ C. Whipping cream
¼ C. Unsalted butter
8 oz. Bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 Tbsp. Light corn syrup
1 tsp. Vanilla extract

Directions:

1.        Preheat oven to 425 deg. F. Grease 2 large baking sheets. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a medium bowl. In a pan over medium heat, bring the water, salt, sugar, and butter to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour/cocoa mixture all at once, stirring vigorously until the mixture is smooth and leaves the sides of the pan clean.

2.        Return the pan to the heat to cook the choux pastry for 1 minute, beating the mixture constantly. Remove from heat.
3.        With a hand-held mixer, beat the 4 whole eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The mixture should be thick and shiny and just fall from a spoon. Spoon the mixture into a large piping bag with a plain nozzle. Pipe 12 mounds about 3 inches across at least 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.

4.        Bake for 35-40 minutes until puffed and firm. Remove the puffs. Slice off and reserve the top third of each puff, return to the oven for 5-10 minutes to dry out. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

5.        For the pastry cream, bring the milk to a boil. Beat the yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Stir in the flour. Slowly pour 1 C. of the hot milk into the yolks, stirring constantly. Return the yolk mixture to the remaining milk in the pan and cook, stirring, until the sauce boils for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until smooth.

6.        Strain into a bowl and cover closely with plastic wrap. Cool. Whip the cream until stiff. Fold into the pastry cream.
7.        Using a large piping bag, fill each puff with pastry cream, then cover each puff with its top.

8.        Make the glaze by heating the cream, butter, chocolate, syrup, and vanilla over low heat until melted and smooth, stirring frequently. Leave to cool for 20-30 minutes until slightly thickened. Pour a little glaze over each of the cream puffs before serving.