Crunchy Cream Puff Cookies

Light, creamy, and elegant, cream puffs are a delicious pastry that hit the spot year-round. And while we love the traditional version, we also really love cookies and chocolate! This recipe for crunchy cream puff cookies features a chocolate cream puff base that's topped with an irresistibly crunchy cookie and stuffed with a tasty pastry cream filling. Creamy, crunchy, chocolaty, and delicious, these cream puff cookies have us saying, "Om nom nom nom," in a big way!

Yield: 6
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty Level: Moderate

Ingredients:

For the pastry cream:

  • 2 egg yolks
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp corn starch
  • ¾ cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ⅔ cup heavy cream + 1 tbsp sugar

For the cookie dough:

  • ¼ stick butter
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • ⅓ cup flour

For the chocolate choux pastry dough:

  • ½ stick butter
  • ¼ cup milk
  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ⅓ cup cocoa powder
  • ⅓ cup flour
  • 3 eggs

Instructions:

1. For the pastry cream, beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a saucepan and mix in the corn starch, milk, and vanilla extract. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat and then refrigerate for 2 hours. For the cookie dough, cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer and stir in the flour. Roll out the cookie dough between 2 plastic sheets and freeze for 15 minutes. Remove the cookie dough from the plastic sheets, cut out 6 circles that are approximately 2 inches in diameter, and place back in the freezer.

2. For the chocolate choux pastry dough, bring the butter, milk, water, and salt to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the cocoa powder and flour, remove the saucepan from the heat, and let cool for about 10 minutes. Fold the eggs into the mixture one at a time until fully incorporated. Transfer the chocolate choux pastry dough to a piping bag and pipe 6 circles that are approximately 2 inches in diameter onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Place one chilled cookie dough circle on top of each chocolate choux pastry dough circle.

3. Transfer the baking tray to a preheated oven and cook at 350°F for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven, open the oven door, and let the cream puff cookies cool in the oven for 15 minutes.

4. Remove the pastry cream from the fridge. Whip the heavy cream and sugar together, gently fold it into the pastry cream, and transfer the mixture to a piping bag.

5. Poke a hole in the bottom of each cream puff cookie and fill with the pastry cream.

Between the rich chocolate base, crunchy cookie coating, and creamy filling, these cream puff cookies simply can't be beat. You'll never go back to eating plain old cream puffs again!

Get the recipe for the Fun Shortbread Cookie Designs featured in the bonus video.

Comments

Also hefty