Chocolate Shu Cream (チョコレートシュークリーム, Chokorēto Shū Kurīmu)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Medium saucepan
• •Wooden spoon or heatproof spatula
• •Whisk
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Two baking sheets lined with parchment
• •Piping bag with 1cm round tip, or a sturdy zip-top bag with one corner cut
• •Small round piping tip for filling
• •Wire cooling rack

Instructions

1. 1

   Warm the milk

   Set a shallow dish and a piece of plastic wrap nearby. Put the 500ml milk, about half the sugar, and the pastry cream salt in a saucepan. Warm over medium heat until small bubbles gather around the edge. Don't boil it hard. Scorched milk gives bitterness, and chocolate will not kindly hide it.

2. 2

   Whisk the yolks

   In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until the mixture loosens and lightens slightly. Sift in the cornstarch and cocoa powder, then whisk until smooth. Sifting matters because cocoa clumps with real determination, and those clumps become little bitter pockets in the finished cream.

   The starch is not padding. It thickens the custard and steadies it, so the cream can be piped into the shell without running out at the first bite.
3. 3

   Cook the custard

   Whisk about half the hot milk into the yolk mixture in a thin stream, then pour everything back into the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the custard thickens and the first slow bubbles break through. Keep whisking for 1 full minute after that. This cooks out the raw starch taste and gives the cream its clean, spoon-holding body.

4. 4

   Finish and chill

   Take the pan off the heat. Add the chopped chocolate, butter, and vanilla if using, then stir until smooth and glossy. Scrape into the shallow dish and press plastic wrap directly against the surface so a skin cannot form. Chill until cold and firm, at least 2 hours. A warm filling slackens in the piping bag, and a loose filling makes a sad little puff.

5. 5

   Heat the oven

   When the cream is cold or nearly cold, heat the oven to 200 C/400 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Have the flour sifted and the eggs beaten before the pot goes on the stove. Choux moves quickly once the liquid boils, and searching for a whisk at that moment is how comedy enters pastry.

6. 6

   Boil the liquid

   Put the water, choux milk, butter, sugar, and choux salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring once or twice so the butter melts completely. The liquid must be properly hot before the flour goes in, because the flour needs to hydrate all at once. Lukewarm liquid gives you lumps.

7. 7

   Dry the dough

   Take the pan off the heat, add the flour all at once, and stir hard until no dry patches remain. Return the pan to medium heat and cook, pressing and turning the dough with a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula, for 2 to 3 minutes. It should pull together in a smooth ball and leave a thin film on the bottom of the pan. This is the drying step: it drives off enough water for the eggs to be absorbed without turning the paste loose, and it cooks away the raw flour taste.

   That thin film on the pan is a sign, not a mistake. Stop before the dough browns. You want strength and dryness, not toast.
8. 8

   Work in eggs

   Transfer the dough to a bowl and stir for 2 minutes so the fierce heat leaves it. Add the beaten eggs in four additions, beating well after each one, and stop when the dough turns glossy and falls from the spatula in a thick ribbon that leaves a V shape hanging from the edge. You may not need the last spoonful. Eggs give the shell stretch and structure; too few and it won't rise well, too many and it rises, then collapses from its own softness.

9. 9

   Pipe the shells

   Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm round tip. Pipe 12 mounds, each about 5cm wide, leaving space between them. Brush lightly with the beaten egg wash and flatten any sharp peaks with a damp fingertip. The space is not decoration. Each puff needs room to swell, and the egg wash helps the shell color evenly without tearing at the top.

10. 10

    Bake until dry

    Bake at 200 C/400 F for 15 minutes without opening the door. Reduce the oven to 180 C/350 F and bake 15 to 20 minutes more, until the shells are deeply golden, firm, and light for their size. The first heat turns the dough's moisture into steam, which inflates the shell; the flour and egg set around that expanding space, which is why choux becomes hollow. Open the oven early and you let the heat escape before the walls have set.

11. 11

    Vent and cool

    Turn off the oven. Pierce each puff near the side or bottom with a skewer, then return them to the oven with the door cracked for 10 minutes. This lets trapped moisture leave the shell, so the outside stays crisp instead of softening from within. Move the puffs to a rack and cool completely before filling. Warm pastry melts the cream and turns crispness into damp regret.

12. 12

    Fill and serve

    Whisk the chilled chocolate cream until smooth, then spoon it into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Pipe through the hole in each shell until the puff feels pleasantly heavy, not bursting. Dust lightly with powdered sugar or cocoa if you like. Serve the same day, preferably within a few hours of filling, because custard and crisp pastry are good neighbors only for a short visit.

Chef Tips

• •Taste the chocolate before you chop it. If it tastes waxy or flat on its own, it will taste that way in the custard. Milk and egg don't hide poor chocolate; they make it easier to notice.
• •Use cake flour for a slightly more delicate Japanese bakery shell. All-purpose flour is a sensible stand-in and gives a sturdier puff, which is helpful if you're filling them generously.
• •Add the eggs by texture, not by pride. Flour, weather, and egg size all change the last spoonful. The slow V from the spatula is a better teacher than the number four.
• •Don't open the oven door during the first rise. Choux needs strong heat long enough for the shell to set around its hollow center. Peek too early and the puff loses its nerve.
• •Fill close to serving. Many shops fill shū cream to order for a reason: once custard meets shell, the shell begins to soften. That is nature, not failure.

Advance Preparation

• •The chocolate pastry cream can be made up to 2 days ahead. Keep it refrigerated with plastic wrap pressed directly on the surface, then whisk it smooth before piping.
• •The shells can be baked 1 day ahead and stored airtight once completely cool. Recrisp them in a 150 C/300 F oven for 5 to 8 minutes, then cool fully before filling.
• •Filled shu cream is best within a few hours. It can be refrigerated the same day, but the shell will soften as it sits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 100g)