This months Daring Bakers challenge was chocolate eclairs. I have been wanting to try making chocolate eclairs for a while and making them for the Daring Bakers was the perfect opportunity. Chocolate eclairs consist of cream puff pastry or choux pastry, pastry cream and a chocolate glaze. The chocolate eclairs were pretty fun to make. The choux pastry was interesting as the dough is made on the stove top. The original recipe called for a chocolate pastry cream but I decided to go with a simple vanilla pastry cream. The chocolate eclairs turned out really well. The puff pastry was nice and light and airy and the pastry cream was cool and refreshing and full of vanilla goodness. They were a bit messy to eat but so good.
Chocolate Eclairs
Chocolate Eclairs
ingredients
- cream puff pastry
- chocolate glaze (warmed)
- pastry cream
directions
- Slice the eclairs in half horizontally with a serrated knife.
- Place the tops on a rack above parchment paper.
- Spread the glaze over the tops and allow the chocolate to set.
- Fill the bottoms with pastry cream.
- Place the set tops onto the bottoms and enjoy.
Cream Puffs (Choux Pastry)
ingredients
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter (cut into 8 pieces)
- 1/8 teaspoon sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 eggs (room temperature)
directions
- Bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to a roiling boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium and mix in all of the flour, stirring with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together.
- Continue to stir for 2-3 minutes. The dough will be soft and smooth.
- Pour the dough into a bowl and beat in the eggs one at a time.
- Form the dough into the desired shapes on parchment paper lined baking sheets.
- Bake in a pre-heated 375F/190C oven and bake for 7 minutes.
- Stick the handle of a wooden spoon into the oven door to hold it ajar and bake for another 5 minutes.
- Rotate the baking sheet from front to back and bake for another 8 minutes or until the eclairs are puffed and golden brown. (With the door ajar.)
- Let the eclairs cool for a few hours.
Pastry Cream
ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 vanilla bean (sliced and seeds scraped)
- 2 egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch (sifted)
- 1 1/4 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temperature)
directions
- Bring the milk and vanilla bean seeds to a boil in a saucepan.
- Mix the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch in another sauce pan.
- Temper the egg yolks and with the milk and combine.
- Strain the mixture back into the sauce pan.
- Bring the mixture to a boil while whisking and continue to whisk for a minute.
- Transfer the cream to a bowl and set the bowl in an ice water bath to cool while still stirring.
- Once the mixture has cooled some stir in the butter.
- Return the bowl to the ice water bath and continue to stir until completely cooled.
Chocolate Sauce
ingredients
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (finely chopped)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons sugar
directions
- Bring everything to a boil in a sauce pan while stirring.
- Reduce the heat to low and continue stirring until the sauce thickens.
Chocolate Glaze
ingredients
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (finely chopped)
- 2 teaspoons unsalted butter (cut into 4 pieces, room temperature)
- 3 1/2 tablespoons Chocolate Sauce (room temperature)
directions
- Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a small sauce pan.
- Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate.
- Stir in the butter followed by the chocolate sauce.
Take a look at the other Daring Bakers creations.
Kevin,
your eclaires look so good, I bet this was very easy for you, maybe too easy?
Awesome eclairs Kevin! I love the vanilla cream…
Never in a million years could I make chocolate eclairs. Kevin.
Yours look so good.
ohhhh I like how you made round eclairs! Yum!
All the visible vanilla beans in your pastry cream…yum!! Looks fabulous, and I was also eyeballing your corn and avocado salad from you last post. That looks phenomenal as well!
oh gosh…i love the inner part of the puffs…simply heavenly! i’ll just buy these from the store hehehe (i absolutely cant bake eclairs)
they look great! Nice job Kevin
Your choux pastry looks perfect! Love the big holes in it!
Congratulations
Oh Kevin, your eclairs came out perfect!! Great idea to put vanilla ice-cream!
Wow, is this your first time? Very well done, Kevin! I hope you give the chocolate pastry cream a try next time, it’s really good!
Your Eclairs look great and really scrumptious! Great job!
Cheers,
Rosa
You did great Kevin! Glad you finally got to try them. Vanilla is allways a great choice!
Looks great. Gotta love vanilla bean specks in anything.
That looks terrific. I’m trying that out soon. Bookmarking it!! AR will thank u for it. It’s one of his favourite dessert!
You misspelled ‘Bakers’ in your last sentence. But I like ‘Daring Barkers’ more. Um, and also, Eclairs seem to be taking over the world! Might be tempted to make some.
Kevin,
I love eclairs! 🙂
This is favourite dessert of my childhood…. I used to lick out first filling, then eat bottom part and at the end chocolate glazed top 😉
Margot
Mmm they look great!
I just knew your eclairs would look perfectly delicious!
I’ll put the kettle on if you want to bring a couple of those delicious eclairs over……
I love the little black vanilla specks in the cream. Cream puffs look sophisticated, but you’re always reduced to juvenile licking. That’s my fave bit.
Great looking puffs! I love how you showed the light and airy cream puff before filling … I have never made these, yours look really good Kevin.
Kudos 🙂
Never having made either choux pastry or pastry cream (mea culpa!!), I am totally in awe of your eclair efforts, Kevin. When I was a kid I used to list chocolate eclairs as my all-time favourite dessert, especially if they were filled with more chocolate cream 🙂 Yours look fantastic, and you make them sound almost effortless.
Whoa- those eclairs look absolutely AMAZING!!! Better than the ones you would get in a bakery, for sure!!!
You are really ambitious!
Too bad the ferry from Rochester to Toronto has been cancelled. I’d be on the first one to your place just to try these!
Geez, I got out of the DBers at the wrong time, I would’ve been all over this recipe! Looks amazing, and I like that none of the ingredients are that unusual. Most people have all the stuff in their kitchen already, except maybe the vanilla bean.
I think I’m going to have to make these, but one quick questions: After you turn the pan of pastry around in the oven, it says to bake for another 5 minutes, but it doesn’t say if the door should still be propped open or not. How did you do it?
Oops, I meant to write 8 minutes, not 5. So basically, is the door propped open for the last 8 minutes of baking?
Your eclairs puffed up really nicely and the inside looks nice and fluffy! I love the little specks of vanilla bean in your pastry cream… I’m sure that tasted better than my imitation vanilla verson.
javagirlkt’s cookin’: I left the door propped open for the last 8 minutes off baking.
great job, and I would say messy is very often a sign of tasty food.
Brilliant eclairs Kevin! Mmmm with vanilla cream – slurp.
Rosie x
Kevin, you did a spectacular job on making the éclairs – they look perfect!! And hey, the fact that they’re messy to eat is fun ;0)
Messy or not Kevin your eclairs turned out beautifully. The chocolate on top would be enough to cure my chocoholic fix:D
They look lovely!
Kevin your eclairs are fantastic and Iknew that was so!!! Look so yummy, I love vanilla cream to stuff, here many things have it!!!xxGloria
The inside of eclair dough looks so cool Kevin, I’m sure they tasted wonderful.
I have never tackled these wonderful treats – Yours look great especially with the vanilla bean peeking out of the filling.
Yummi!
Your éclairs look great, Kevin!
amazing! when are you opening a bakery kevin? 😀
Great looking eclairs! So puffy and crispy! I used vanilla cream too.
Those look amazing! Wow
These are beautiful. I SO wish I had one right now.
Wow Kevin those look so delicious. I love seeing the vanilla bean in the pastry cream, I wish I had one of these right now.
They look wonderful Kevin. All the vanilla flecks in your cream look fantastic. This was a fun challenge – I had such a great time making them.
hey, yours looks good too…you guys are so good… 🙂
They sure look like vanilla goodness Kevin! Great job, as usual!
These look amazing! Love all of your pictures as well.
You’ve done a good job!
All love all your recipes…
I’ll be back for more…
Great job – you guys really are daring though. You guys do things I wouldn’t attempt to do. You know, maybe one day when I step my game up I’ll join you guys…but promise, no laughing, okay?
-DTW
http://www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com
Great job with the eclairs, Kevin! I like how the vanilla bean speckled pastry cream is oozing out of the choux!
I love Eclairs. You did such a good job.
YOUR eclairs look delicious. I like that they are a bit smaller than others I’ve seen. I’m into smaller goodies right now for some reason. Guess it makes eating one seem less “naughty”. 🙂
Fabulous chocolate elcairs! I love homemade choux pastry there is something very satisfying about making it…..
I love the yelloa custard filling it looks so wonderful!
They look great Kevin. YOu have such a good eye for pics!
Your pastry cream looks stunning, flecked with vanilla beans and creamy.
Unbelievable! I love how light and airy the cream puffs are!
Great job with your eclairs, Kevin. They look amazing!
Wow! Your eclairs really puffed up, didn’t they?!
Very nice job – your pastry cream looks amazing 🙂
WAY TO GO Kevin…just plump like I love them & very delicious looking! Good for you!!
Love the vanilla bean seeds in the filling. These look so good. I just kept having problems with them collapsing, and yours are just like I expected from you…perfect.
Gawn, YUM!
These look awesome Kevin!
Very well done Kevin! The vanilla pastry cream looks exquisite!
Perfect! And that pastry cream looks perfect and delicious!
Good work! Yours didn’t fall like many others, including mine. Kudos!
Kevin your eclairs look so light & they really puffed up great job! I'd love one right now 😉
This was one of the first “fancy” desserts I ever made when I was younger, My mom loved them… Yours look awesome!
Kevin your eclairs look amazing. I loved this months challenge 🙂
i love how you can see the vanilla beans in your pastry cream! well done 🙂
Hi Kevin, ur eclairs look so good..it makes me feel like i cant resists to give it a go 🙂 however, i have a question to ask for the pastry cream process “7. Once the mixture has cooled some stir in the one at a time.” what should we stir in after the mixture has cooled? did we miss something here?
many thanks
poofye: Sorry that should be stir in the butter. If you double the recipe stir it in one tablespoon at a time.
YUM I made these today for Easter! So delicious!
Hi Kevin i always wanted this recipe thnks for sharing……..looks delicious cant wait to try it