Chocolate and sweet custard wrapped and twisted in golden puff pastry. The perfect indulgent bakery item. You may have previously discovered puff pastry chocolate twists at your local Costa coffee or bakery. Now, with this simple recipe, you can bake your own copycat version at home and enjoy a buttery treat without even needing to leave the house.
What are Chocolate Twists?
You may see Chocolate Twists being called Chocolate Torsades.
Torsades Au Chocolat is the French name given to these delightful pastries, since they originate in France, much like many other sweet pastries.
Chocolate Twists are a sweet bakery treat made from puff pastry. The pastry is layered and spread with pastry cream (creme patissiere) and sprinkled with dark chocolate chips. The layered pastry sheet is then cut into strips and twisted to form its shape. The twists are then brushed with egg and baked in the oven until they are puffed up and golden. Sounds easy right? It really is.
It can be hard to budget and still indulge in a delicious treat sometimes, so making these chocolate twists at home is the perfect way to save yourself some money while still treating yourself when you feel like it.
Chocolate Twists are freezable too. Bake a batch and pop one in the oven when you are getting ready for work to have with your coffee.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- A Copycat Recipe – If you love to indulge in a Costa Chocolate Twist, you can now enjoy them at home.
- You Can Make Them Ahead of Time – These indulgent pastries are freezable and can be baked from frozen.
- Surprisingly Easy To Make – They are simple to make, so this recipe is great for beginners and seasoned bakers alike.
Equipment Needed
- Saucepan – To make the pastry cream in.
- Sieve – Used to strain the pastry cream and make it smooth once cooked. You can also use it to dust the baked Chocolate Twists with icing sugar to decorate.
- Flat Baking Tray – To Bake the Chocolate Twists upon.
- Rolling Pin – To roll out the puff pastry.
- Pastry Brush – To brush the twists with egg before baking. Helping to make them a nice golden brown as they bake in the oven.
Ingredients
- Puff Pastry – You can use ready-rolled pastry or buy a block and roll it out yourself. Other types of pastry such as shortcrust or filo, will not work for this recipe.
- Dark Chocolate Chips – You can also use a chopped chocolate bar if you’d prefer. Milk chocolate or white chocolate or even a mixture will also work as a variation of this recipe.
- Egg Yolks – We only need the yolk of the egg for our pastry cream, but you can freeze the egg whites for other recipes like Pavlova or these Amaretti Biscuits.
- Caster Sugar – Stick to white or golden caster sugar for this recipe. Other sugar may not offer the same texture or flavour.
- Flour – A key ingredient used to thicken the pastry cream. You may see cornflour being used to make Creme Patissiere. However, this doesn’t always freeze as well so stick with plain white all-purpose flour here.
- Milk – Use full-fat milk for the best result
- Vanilla Extract – A subtle flavour that makes all the difference in the sweet custard pastry cream.
- Butter – Use unsalted butter in this recipe.
- Egg Brush – This gives the end result a lovely golden shine when you use a beaten egg to brush over the pastry before baking.
- Icing Sugar (optional) – Also known as confectioners sugar or powdered sugar. We use the icing sugar to decorate the chocolate twists once baked. However, it is only optional.
A Copycat Costa Recipe
If you love to indulge in a chocolatey treat to drink alongside your coffee, Costa offers these puff pastry chocolate twists as a side to a cup of coffee or alternative warm beverage.
Now you can bring Costa to you without the need to leave the house. Of course, we are a little bias, but in our opinion, these are even better than the real thing! You can eat them straight from the oven when the chocolate is still a little melty, which makes them taste even better.
It saves you some money too! Baking a batch of these at home will certainly help you to be more cost effective when money is tight.
Step-By-Step How To Make Chocolate Twists
Step 1: Preheat the oven
- Preheat the oven to 180C (356F).
Step 2: Start making the pastry cream
- Whisk the egg yolk with flour and sugar in a bowl and set aside.
Step 3: Heat the milk
- Pour the milk into a saucepan along with the vanilla essence and warm it over a medium heat.
- Bring the milk to a boil. Once it boils and begins to bubble up, remove it from the heat.
Step 4: Mix the egg and hot milk
- Take a quarter of the hot milk and, while whisking, mix it into the egg mixture.
- Pour this egg mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk and heat it again over a low heat.
- Stir the mixture continuously as it heats up until it thickens. Remove it from the heat as soon as it has thickened.
Step 5: Strain and cool the pastry cream
- Using a fine mesh sieve, press the pastry cream through it to make it smooth and remove any lumps.
- Set the pastry cream aside to cool.
Step 6: Prepare the puff pastry
- Roll out the puff pastry and cut it in half.
- Place one half on a lined baking tray.
Step 7: Assemble the chocolate twists
- Spread the cooled pastry cream over the surface of the pastry.
- Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the surface.
- Take the other half of the pastry and lay it over the top, pressing it down gently to stick the two halves together.
- Cut the pastry into even strips.
Step 8: Twist and prepare for baking
- Take each strip and twist it around twice before laying it back down.
- Leave some space between each chocolate twist to allow room for expansion during baking.
Step 9: Brush with beaten egg
- Brush the surface of each pastry twist with beaten egg. This will help the twists turn golden in the oven.
Step 10: Bake the twists
- Place the twists in the preheated oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes until puffed up and golden in color.
- Remove the twists from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack.
Step 11: Serve or cool
- Dust the surface of the twists with icing (confectioners) sugar.
- Serve the twists warm or allow them to cool before enjoying.
Making Your Own Creme Patissiere
Also known as Pastry Cream. Creme Patissiere is a sweet, thick custard that you will find as a filling in many cakes and pastries.
While you may find many a recipe for chocolate twists using instant custard or custard powder, our aim here, is to make the best tasting recipe we can. One that rivals anything you can find readymade in the shops.
Yes, we admit, it takes a little longer and requires that extra skill, but we highly recommend taking the time with this step and making your own Creme Patissiere. Once you have mastered it, you can use your new skill to create many other sweet cakes and pastries that call for it as a filling.
And believe us, these Chocolate Twists taste so much better this way.
FAQ
Chocolate twists are made from puff pastry which is filled with Creme Patissiere and dark chocolate chips before being baked in the oven. They originate in France and are known as Torsades Au Chocolat.
The yellow filling that is found in a chocolate twist is usually a type of custard or pastry cream known as Creme Patissiere.
For the best results, we recommend freezing the chocolate twists before they are baked. You can then bake them straight from frozen. Just add about 10 minutes to the baking time.
Pro Tips and Guidance
- Freeze Them Unbaked – Chocolate Twists can be frozen unbaked and baked from frozen. Just add an extra 10 minutes to the baking time.
- Save the Egg White – Using only egg yolk in recipes does not need to result in waste, you can freeze the egg white to use for other recipes.
- Try Different Chocolate – Why not try making Milk or White Chocolate Twists for a variation on the original.
Storage
For the best results we recommend eating them on the same day that they were baked.
- Storage: Baked chocolate twists should be stored in an airtight container and eaten within 2 days.
- Freezing: Since they are best eaten fresh, we recommend to store unbaked chocolate twists in the freezer. After twisting, freeze them individually and laid flat on a tray until they are frozen solid. You can then wrap them and store in an airtight container or freezer bag. Unbaked chocolate twists can be kept for 2-3 months in the freezer.
- Baking From Frozen: When you wish to bake a frozen chocolate twist, simply remove one from the freezer and bake for an extra ten minutes in the oven until puffed up and golden.
Check Out These Copycat Recipes
These Italian Parmesan Oregano Bread Rolls are even better than the Italian style rolls you get at Subway. You can fill them any way you want and enjoy a Subway made at home.
You would usually find London Cheesecakes in the South East of the UK in places like Greggs or the supermarket. If you want a British classic but cannot find them in the shops, you can make your own instead.
These Puff Pastry Cheese and Marmite Twists are just like the cheese straws you find in the bakery. However, we have made them with a slight twist on the classic recipe and added Marmite.
Puff Pastry Chocolate Twists
Ingredients
- 375 g Ready Rolled Puff Pastry
- 50 g Plain Dark Chocolate Chips
- 1 Medium Egg Yolk
- 125 ml Full-Fat Milk
- 25 g Caster Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 10 g Plain All-Purpose Flour
- 10 g Unsalted Butter
- 1 Medium Egg , Beaten
- 2 tbsp Icing Sugar, Optional
Instructions
- Preheat the Oven to 170C (356F).
- In a bowl, whisk the egg yolk with the flour and sugar until smooth. Set aside.
- Pour the milk into a pan and add the vanilla essence. Mix together.
- Heat the milk over a low heat and bring to the boil. Once it begins to boil, remove the milk from the heat.
- Add about a quarter of the milk to the egg mixture and whisk together.
- Pour this mixture back into the pan with the rest of the milk and begin to heat again over a low heat, while you stir continuously.
- The pastry cream will begin to thicken. Once it has thickened, remove it from the heat.
- Stir the butter into hot pastry cream until it melts.
- Press the cream through a sieve to make it smooth without lumps. Set aside.
- Roll out the puff pastry sheet and cut it in half.
- Lay one half out flat on a lined baking tray.
- Spread a layer of the Creme Patissiere over the flat puff pastry.
- Sprinkle the surface with chocolate chips.
- Lay the other half of the pastry over the top and press together gently.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the pastry into 6 strips.
- Take each strip and twist it twice. Then, lay it back down on the tray.
- Make sure there is some space between each strip so they can rise and puff up in the oven without sticking together.
- Brush each strip with a beaten egg.
- Place the twists in the oven for 15-20 minutes until they are puffed up and golden.
- Remove the chocolate twists from the oven and allow to cool slightly before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Dust a sprinkling of icing sugar over the top of each one.
- You can serve the twists while they are still slightly warm or allow them to cool completely before serving.
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Recipe Notes
- Chocolate Twists are best eaten on the day that they are made. If you would like to store them, wait until they have cooled and then place them in an airtight container. They will keep for 2 days.
- You can freeze them unbaked. They will store in the freezer for 2-3 months and can be baked from frozen.
- Save the egg white and use in a different recipe.
- You can also use milk or white chocolate chips as a variation.
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