Up Your Dessert Options for Your Next Gathering

Published by andbutterfliestoo@gmail.com on January 11, 2017

It snowed again this past Saturday, cold and windy.  Not a good day for outdoor activities where I live but there were other options to consider.  Like baking old fashion, ooey gooey chocolate éclairs.  This was a requirement to make when I was in culinary school.  But you don’t have to a professional baker to brighten someone’s day with these creamy, chocolaty treats.  And when it comes to eclairs, homemade is always best. Your guest will thank you and appreciate the time and effort you took on their behalf. Éclair is an oblong pastry made with choux dough filled with a luscious cream and topped with icing.  The pastry dough known as pate a choux is the basis for a whole family of desserts that includes eclairs and its cousins, cream puffs and profiteroles.  The main difference between a cream puff, which is round, and an éclair, which is oblong, is that you fill cream puffs with straight whipped cream and dust the tops with confectioners’’ sugar instead of chocolate.  Profiteroles are round like a cream puff but get filled with a scoop of ice cream instead of whipped cream.  Both cream puffs and profiteroles are beautiful plated in a pool of chocolate or caramel sauce.  For a creampuff variation, you can fold espresso powder, pureed berries, or chopped toasted nuts into the whipped cream.

In sharing this recipe, I hope you’ll be inspired to step up your dessert game for your next gathering.  You can make each component separately over the course of a few days (or even weeks) and assemble the eclairs when you’re ready to serve them.  All it takes to get started are a few tools, some basic ingredients, and a plan.   I hope you enjoy making this as much as I did!

Until next time butterflies, don’t forget to live out loud!

CHOCOLATE ECLAIRS

Total Time: 3 hrs. 55 min. (Prep: 10 min – Cook: 3 hrs. 45 min) Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients

Vanilla Pastry Cream:

2 cups whole, 2 percent fat, or 1 percent fat milk

½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise

6 egg yolks

2/3 cup sugar

¼ cup cornstarch

1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter

Éclair Pastry Shells:

1 cup water

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoons sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 large eggs, plus 1 extra, if needed

Egg Wash:

1 large egg

1 ½ teaspoons water

Chocolate Ganache Glaze:

½ cup heavy cream

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon light corn syrup

Directions:

Filling: In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and vanilla bean to a boil over medium heat. Immediately turn off the heat and set aside to infuse for 15 minutes. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cornstarch and whisk vigorously until no lumps remain. Whisk in 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture until incorporated. Whisk in the remaining hot milk mixture, reserving the saucepan. Pour the mixture through a strainer back into the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and slowly boiling. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Let cool slightly. Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill at least 2 hours or until ready to serve. The custard can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Refrigerate until 1 hour before using.
Pastry: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, salt and sugar to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, immediately take the pan off the heat. Stirring with a wooden spoon, add all the flour at once and stir hard until all the flour is incorporated, 30 to 60 seconds. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Scrape the mixture into a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer). Mix at slow speed. It is crucial to control the amount of air that gets worked into pate a choux dough. Too much air will make the shells crack in the oven or explode and collapse.  Using a paddle and mixing at a slow speed will keep the air in the eggs and the choux dough at a minimum. When the dough has cooled to room temperature is when you want to start adding the eggs one by one, making sure each egg is completely emulsified before adding the next. Stop mixing after each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix until the dough is smooth and glossy and the eggs are completely incorporated. The dough should be thick, but should fall slowly and steadily from the beaters when you lift them out of the bowl. If the dough is still clinging to the beaters, add the remaining 1 egg and mix until incorporated.

Pate a choux is the best piped at room temperature. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, pipe fat lengths of dough (about the size and shape of a jumbo hot dog) onto the lined baking sheet or onto a non-stick silicone baking mat, leaving 2 inches of space between them. You should have 8 to 10 lengths.
Egg Wash: In a bowl, whisk the egg and water together. Brush the surface of each eclair with the egg wash. Use your fingers to smooth out any bumps of points of dough that remain on the surface. Bake 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 degrees and bake until puffed up and light golden brown, about 25 minutes more. Try not to open the oven door too often during the baking. After removing the pastries from the over, immediately puncture them on the bottom with a tip of a sharp knife to allow steam to escape.  This will prevent sogginess. Place them on a wire cake rack to cool. Fit a medium-size plain pastry tip over your index finger and use it to make a hole in the end of each eclair (or just use your fingertip). Using a pastry bag fitted with a medium-size plain tip, gently pipe the custard into the eclairs.  Eclairs should never be light.  They should feel heavier than they look.

A properly baked éclair retains its puffy shape, with a hollow interior with an outside that is crisp and fairly dry and an all over golden color.  When broken apart, it should have a slightly moist crumb on the inside.  However, if they are removed from the oven too soon, the structure will not be solidified, and it will collapse.  However, when you think they are done take one out of the oven and check it by breaking open and checking the interior walls.  If wet and eggy, return to the oven as necessary. Remove when down and cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate Ganache Glaze: In a small saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat just until it boils. Immediately turn off the heat. Put the chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, add the corn syrup and whisk until melted and smooth. Set aside and keep warm. The glaze can be made up to 48 hours in advance. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use, and rewarm in a microwave or over hot water when ready to use.

Dip the tops of the eclairs in the warm chocolate glaze and set on a sheet pan. Chill, uncovered, at least 1 hour to set the glaze. Serve chilled.