Filled with luscious pastry cream and glazed with chocolate ganache, eclairs are the perfect dainty french patisserie.
Eclairs are a type of patisserie that are filled with pastry cream and glazed with either fondant or ganache. These eclairs are made out of choux pastry dough, a type of french pastry dough that is used to make cream puffs and gougeres. I highly recommend adding the glaze, as it balances out the flavors of the rest of the eclair--making it have just the right amount of sweetness.
For this recipe, I simplified the piping process of the eclairs by piping out straight lines of choux pasty, freezing them, then cutting the right size after frozen, then baking them. Hopefully this makes piping a lot easier for you guys!
*note: if you pipe a line and mess up, you can always scrape it off and put it back into the piping bag to start over ;)
Fast Facts!
includes flour(gluten)
vegetarian
intermediate baking level
No mixer required
piping bag + tip required
Eclair Recipe:
-makes 10-12 mini eclairs-
1 hr 15 min prep time
30-35 min cook time
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Choux Pastry Dough
80g water
80g whole milk
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
73g butter
90g bread flour
160g eggs, beaten.
Pastry Cream
250g milk
66g sugar
60g egg yolks
18g cornstarch
Glaze:
95 mL heavy cream+more if needed, to thin out
5g cocoa
75g dark chocolate
Boil water, butter, milk, sugar, and salt together in a pot over medium-high heat. Add all of the flour at once, then stir vigorously.
Lower the heat to medium, then stir for 2-3 min, or until dough balls up and a skin forms on the bottom of the pot.
Transfer the dough to another large bowl, then beat with a wooden spoon to let it cool down before adding the eggs.
Slowly drizzle in the beaten eggs, mixing between each addition until emulsified.
Transfer to a piping bag with a french star attachment(a round tip can be used but the eclairs will have cracks) and pipe on a parchment lined baking sheet in straight lines. Freeze until firm.
Make the pastry cream: put the milk on low heat in a pot. Cream eggs, sugar, and cornstarch in a separate bowl using a whisk.
Once the milk has reached a simmer, stream the hot milk into the egg mixture. Then transfer the whole mixture back into the pot, and cook for another 5 min, until it has visibly thickened.
Boil, stirring constantly, for another 2-3 min. Then transfer to a bowl and cover with clingfilm, making sure that the clingfilm touches the surface of the pastry cream. Once cool, put it in the fridge.
Preheat the over to 350F.
Using a sharp knife, cut the straight lines of choux pastry into 3 inch segments, then position them on a parchment lined baking sheet so that each segment has an inch of space around it.
Bake for 30-35 min, or until a dark golden brown.
Let the eclairs cool in the oven with the door cracked open.
Fill the eclairs with pastry cream using a piping bag.
Prepare glaze: melt all ingredients in the microwave until smooth. To test the consistency of the glaze, try 'glazing' the back of a spatula, to see how smooth it covers it. Add more heavy cream if the glaze is too thick.
Then, glaze the eclairs by dipping them in the glaze. Take your time with this, as this is what makes the eclairs look professional.
Enjoy! The eclairs are best eaten the day of, but can be stored in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. Keep in the mind the pastry will soften up by then.
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