In class this week we made eclairs so Id thought Id share the process so you could try them out too! They are super fun to make and are DELICIOUS!
Ingredients for Eclairs
- Water 10 oz.
- Butter 4 oz.
- Sugar 1 tsp.
- Salt 1 tsp.
- Bread flour 6 oz.
- Eggs 6 oz.
Ingredients for Pastry Cream
- Milk 16oz
- Sugar 4 oz
- egg yolks 1.5 oz
- 1 whole egg
- cornstarch 1.25 oz
- Butter 1 oz
- Vanilla extract .5 oz
Ingredients for Chocolate Ganache
- Chocolate chips 8 oz
- Heavy Cream 6 oz
First we are going to make the eclair dough. Start off by mixing the water, butter, sugar and salt in a saucepan, bring to a boil until everything is well combined.
Take off heat and add the bread flour, mix well with a spatula then put back on heat for about 1 minute.
Now you can put this into your piping bag and pipe the shape you would like your eclairs to be.
I just did the traditional shape. After piping them take an egg wash and brush the tops and then stroke the tops with the back of a fork.
Place in 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Grab a mixing bowl and a fine mesh strainer and set aside with your butter and vanilla set inside the bowl.
While the eclairs are baking you can make your pastry cream. To do this start by boiling the milk, make sure it doesn’t boil over but you want it hot but not burnt.
In a separate bowl whisk together your sugar and cornstarch. Then add all of your eggs. Whisk until well combined.
Once your milk is up to temperature, you will want to temper it into your egg mixture. Add a little bit of the milk to your egg mixture until all combined. You just don’t want to add it all at once because it could cause your eggs to scramble if you do it slowly they will slowly rise in temperature.
After that is well combined with a whisk pour back into your saucepan and place back on medium heat.
Continuously stir this until it thickens to a custard like consistency. You want to make sure to cook out any starch flavor so make sure to taste it.
Now you will want to strain your custard into the butter and vanilla and mix well.
Set in refrigerator to cool, make sure to cover to prevent a film forming on top of cream.
After your eclairs are done baking let them cool. Take a pairing knife or a piping tip to make 2 holes in the bottom of the eclairs. This is where you are going to fill the eclair with the pastry cream.
Fill eclairs with pastry cream. Start at one end until you can see cream come out the other hole, this way you know you have filled the entire eclair.
I took a picture of one cut in half so you can see when it bakes it creates a pocket inside during the baking process.
Once you are done filling them set aside and start warming up your heavy cream. You want to get this hot so you can put it into your chocolate chips. Once its hot enough put into a bowl with chocolate chips and let sit for about 2 minutes then whisk together.
Dunk your eclairs into the ganache to cover the tops. Set in refrigerator to cool or enjoy right away. Happy Cooking!
Quest Type 