Chocolate Cream Puffs are NOT hard to make and I’ll prove it! With just 15 minutes of prep time, you can create this show stopping dessert that’s guaranteed to turn heads.
This recipe was written in partnership with Rodelle. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting this brand that allows me the opportunity to create content for Melanie Makes.
Original content posted February 2014. Updated February 2021.
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It’s been a long time since I’ve made cream puffs. As in, I don’t recall ever having made them for my husband and we’ve been together 13+ years. I vaguely remember going through a cream puff making phase while still living at home. As in, I’d flip through the pages of my mom’s red and white checked Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and find outlandish things to create.
As a teenage girl, making cream puffs seemed pretty over the top. But I’ve now trumped my teenage self my creating this Chocolate Cream Puffs recipe which reigns supreme over my original endeavors.
Are Cream Puffs Easy to Make?
I’m here to set the record straight. If you can stir the contents of a pot with a wooden spoon, you too can make cream puffs! See mention of high school me making them above.
I’m completely confident that my 10 year old daughter could make these Chocolate Cream Puffs with minimal supervision.
What Are Cream Puffs?
A cream puff is essentially a mixture of flour, water, butter and eggs that is then piped or dropped onto a parchment lined baking sheet and then baked until puffed. If you’re feeling fancy, or French, this mixture is called a Pâte à Choux.
It feels a bit pretentious to me to call it that, so I typically don’t. I’ve taken a traditional cream puff recipe a step further by substituting a bit of the flour with cocoa powder to create these Chocolate Cream Puffs.
You likely have all the necessary ingredients to make these Chocolate Cream Puffs in your kitchen already. Flour, butter, eggs, salt water and baking cocoa.
But this is where I want to point out that you want the best of the best ingredients for this simple recipe so that your end result is absolutely delicious. My eggs came from a farmer less than a mile from our house and the Gourmet Baking Cocoa from Rodelle is the only cocoa that I stock in my pantry.
Rodelle’s Gourmet Baking Cocoa is European Dutch-processed for rich flavor and appearance and contains one of the highest levels of cocoa butter on the market. This ensures a superior chocolate flavor and is truly a difference you can taste.
This amazing Gourmet Baking Cocoa is the super chocolatey flavor behind my Dark Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, Chocolate Espresso Eggnog Bars and Slow Cooker Almond Joy Hot Chocolate.
How to Make Chocolate Cream Puffs
[1] In a large sauce pan, add water, butter and salt and bring to a boil.
[2] Add flour and Rodelle Gourmet Baking Cocoa.
[3] Stir with wooden spoon until mixture forms a ball.
[4] Allow mixture to cool for 10 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring with wooden spoon until fully incorporated.
[5] This is what your finished Pâte à Choux will look like. This is where you’ll also make the decision of how fancy you feel like getting with your Chocolate Cream Puffs.
[6] If you’d like your Chocolate Cream Puffs to look more like something you’d see in a bakery, you’ll want to add the dough mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large circular tip. You’ll then pipe approximately two inch mounds, evenly spaced, onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
If you’re looking for the easiest – and fastest! – way to these Chocolate Cream Puffs into the oven and then into your eagerly awaiting belly, you also can simply drop dough by the heaping spoonful onto your lined baking sheet.
I’ve made this cream puff recipe both ways and believe me, they taste the exact same! It’s truly a matter of personal preference on how you’d like them to look.
If you choose to pipe the dough onto your baking sheet, you’ll then want to wet your finger tip and flatten the tip of each dough mound prior to baking.
[7] Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees and allow cream puffs to cool completely prior to filling.
How to Make Chocolate Cream Puff Filling
The best part of these Chocolate Cream Puffs? The filling! Or fillings. Plural. With a S. The world is your oyster and you can fill them with whatever your heart desires. For these photos, I used Honey Rum Whipped Cream.
So easy to create by simply whipping fresh cream in your stand mixer and adding honey, rum and a bit of cinnamon. Again, totally doable and you’ll look like you put far more effort into your finished dessert than you actually did.
You could absolutely use plain whipped cream, pastry cream, custard or even ice cream as your filling. I’m thinking my Biscoff Cookie Butter Ice Cream is going to be my next filling of choice.
Trust me when I say that Chocolate Cream Puffs with chocolate ganache are absolutely heavenly. Specifically my Microwave Chocolate Ganache.
Although you could absolutely substitute my Microwave Nutella Ganache with spectacular results as well. I’d put chocolate ganache on absolutely anything and eat it. It’s absolute heaven. A luscious combination of cream and chocolate and the decadent crowning glory to these cream puffs when spooned on top.
Next, a sprinkling of raspberries around the plate. Bright and tart. A perfect compliment to the ganache and whipped cream filling.
If you’ve tried these Chocolate Cream Puffs or any other recipe on Melanie Makes, please let me know your thoughts in the comments below. I love hearing from you and respond to each and every comment!
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Chocolate Cream Puffs
Ingredients
Chocolate Cream Puffs
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup butter
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 tablespoons Rodelle Gourmet Baking Cocoa
- 4 eggs
Honey Rum Whipped Cream
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons rum
- pinch cinnamon
Chocolate Ganache
- 1/2 recipe Microwave Chocolate Ganache
- powdered sugar for garnish
Instructions
Chocolate Cream Puffs
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large sauce pan, add water, butter and salt and bring to a boil.
- Add flour and Rodelle Gourmet Baking Cocoa and stir with wooden spoon until mixture forms a ball.
- Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool 10 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, stirring with wooden spoon until fully incorporated.
- Add the dough mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large circular tip and pipe approximately 2" mounds, evenly spaced, onto a parchment lined baking sheet OR drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes.
- Let cool completely before filling.
Honey Rum Whipped Cream
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, add whipping cream and beat with a whisk attachment until thickened.
- Add rum and honey and continue whipping until soft peaks form.
To Assemble Cream Puffs
- Slice cream puffs in half with sharp knife. Remove the soft inner portion of cream puffs with spoon.
- Place bottom half of cream puff on serving plate and fill with whipped cream.
- Replace top of cream puff and drizzle with Microwave Chocolate Ganache.
- Garnish with raspberries and sprinkle top of cream puff with powdered sugar.
Nutrition
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