Chocolate Eclairs Recipe and Video tutorial

Alright, who loves Chocolate and Pastries – I DO! I mean SERIOUSLY does it get any better??? The CORRECT answer (in case you were wondering)  is NO, it doesn’t get any better.  So today I have a treat for you – Chocolate pastry cream filled eclairs with a chocolate ganache glaze, I mean chocolate and chocolate held together with a pastry, DIVINE!

AND of course a recipe that’s considered difficult (totally not, you’ll see) deserves a video! How to make a pate a choux dough for cream puffs and eclairs along with this chocolate pastry cream!  I hope you love it as much as I do! My kids DEVOURED these, like seriously they were gone the moment I let them try them.

Now if you don’t like the holes in the bottom (it does leave a mess on the plate) you can also poke holes at both ends instead and fill from there.  BUT that can sometimes leave the center empty of filling.  OR instead of poking holes in the bottom and filling from there you can poke holes in the TOP and fill from there covering the holes with the ganache.  BUT it will leave the top not smooth, but with the ridges from the open star tip that wouldn’t matter with these.

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Chocolate Eclairs

Prep Time

30 mins

Cook Time

40 mins

Total Time

1 hr 10 mins

 

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: France

Author: Ashlee Marie

Ingredients

Pate a Choux - Eclair

• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• pinch salt
• 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 lrg eggs you may need an extra egg

Chocolate Pastry Cream

• 4 oz chocolate
• 1 ½ C whole milk
• 1/4 C all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp cornstarch
• 4 lrg egg yolks
• 1 lrg egg
• 1 1/2 C granulated sugar
• 1/4 C Butter softened
• 1 tsp vanilla

Stabilized Whipped Cream

• 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin powder
• 1 Tbsp cold water
• 1 C heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 C granulated sugar or less, taste as you go
• 1 tsp vanilla

Ganache Glaze

• 1/2 C heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 C dark chocolate

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

pate a choux - Cream Puffs

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In medium saucepan, combine milk, water, butter, sugar and pinch of salt.
3. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat
4. Add the flour all at once. Stir until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan and forms a ball. Remove from heat and let cool for three minutes.
5. pour into a mixer add while mixing on low add egg one at a time. Thoroughly mix between each addition. You may use more or less, your looking for a smooth glossy dough that when you plop some off the spatula it will leave a nice thin, smooth peak
6. Use a large round tip to pipe two to three inch lines onto parchment-covered baking sheets.
7. carefully brush with water or an egg wash to remove imperfections (water will eave the cream puffs normal looking, beaten egg will leave it glossy)
8. Bake in 425 degree oven for ten minutes.
9. Decrease heat to 350 degrees. Do not open the oven door. Bake for thirty minutes (depending on size check at 10 and 20).
10. In the last 5 mins of baking pierce the bottom with a skewer or chopstick to allow steam to escape and dry out the inside (I do 2-3).
11. Let cool.

Chocolate Pastry Cream

1. Bring the milk and chocolate to a simmer
2. Sift the flour and starch together, set aside.
3. whisk the the egg, yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth and pale yellow.
4. Whisk in the flour and starch.
5. Pour in about half of the hot milk, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the pan (don’t stop stirring
6. Bring the pastry cream to a boil, stirring constantly, over medium high heat.
7. Reduce the heat to low and stir constantly for about 3 minutes until very thick and smooth and the flour taste has been cooked out.
8. Strain the pastry cream through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl (that’s in a bowl of ice to help cool it faster) and stir in ¼ cup of the butter and vanilla.
9. cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, a few hours

Stabilized Whipped Cream

1. stir the gelatin into the cold water and let bloom 5 mins
2. puree the raspberries and strain to get the seeds out
3. stir in the whipping cream and beat with a mixer
4. as it starts to thicken slowly add the sugar, then the vanilla
5. Microwave the gelatin until melted, about 15 seconds
6. set aside and let cool slightly
7. Keep whipping the cream until it reaches soft peaks
8. While beating slowly pour the gelatin into the cream
9. Beat until you get stiff peaks (don't over beat)

Ganache Glaze

1. Simmer the whipping cream and pour over chocolate
2. stir until smooth, to keep warm use a double broiler

Assembly

1. combine the pastry cream and whipping cream
2. Pipe the filling into the eclairs
3. dip the eclairs into ganache glaze, let set and serve!

Mmmmm ganache glaze.  This is one part cream one part chocolate, so thinner than traditional ganache. Delicious but not too thick.  You can use a spatula to “frost” the top for a smoother finish, but it’s easier to just dip, shake and flip.

For the filling you can use the chocolate pastry cream straight, but it’s super rich and thick, I like combining it with stabilized whipped cream to lighten it up a bit, add as much or as little as you want to get the filling that is perfect for YOU!

So we’re all done! PERFECTION! And much easier than you thought, am I right? SO when you rip the eclair open you should find it filled with wonderful chocolate pastry cream. I’d fill one, to get a feel for it, rip it open to see if you got it right then fill the rest (a “throw away” you get to eat! Doesn’t get much better!