diff --git a/attributes/default.rb b/attributes/default.rb
index 32af518d..a4540949 100644
--- a/attributes/default.rb
+++ b/attributes/default.rb
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 default['rabbitmq']['config_root'] = '/etc/rabbitmq'
 default['rabbitmq']['config'] = '/etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq'
 default['rabbitmq']['erlang_cookie_path'] = '/var/lib/rabbitmq/.erlang.cookie'
+# override this if you wish to provide `rabbitmq.config.erb` in your own wrapper cookbook
+default['rabbitmq']['config_template_cookbook'] = 'rabbitmq'
 
 # rabbitmq.config defaults
 default['rabbitmq']['default_user'] = 'guest'
diff --git a/recipes/default.rb b/recipes/default.rb
index e8e3ef3e..df4549c7 100644
--- a/recipes/default.rb
+++ b/recipes/default.rb
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ class Chef::Resource
 
 template "#{node['rabbitmq']['config_root']}/rabbitmq.config" do
   source 'rabbitmq.config.erb'
+  cookbook node['rabbitmq']['config_template_cookbook']
   owner 'root'
   group 'root'
   mode 00644