This week's French Fridays with Dorie required us to make that very French treat, eclairs ("lightning"). The recipe was for vanilla eclairs, but the playing around section referred you to a recipe for chocolate pastry cream. I decided to go with chocolate pastry cream and chocolate icing, as I have made vanilla pastry cream many times, and was keen to try something different.
Here are my choux buns before being filled:
They appeared to deflate after being taken out of the oven - perhaps I should have skewered them to let out the steam.
I then filled them with chocolate pastry cream:
For whatever reason, my chocolate pastry cream did not firm up quite enough, so my eclairs ended up being a bit messy (although they tasted good!). I just put ordinary chocolate icing on top of the eclairs rather than making a ganache, as I didn't have any cream. The icing squished the pastry cream out of the eclairs, making them even messier!
I overheard a discussion on the kitchen that "they taste better than they look" - after I had carted my already messy eclairs into work, I'd have to agree with them. This did not stop me from eating 4 of them (2 on the night I made them and another 2 at work) - I made "eclair-lettes" as my pastry tip was not quite as big as Dorie recommended, so this is not as evil as it sounds!
To see how everyone else in the gorup fared with the eclairs, visit the LYL section of the FFwD website.
21 comments:
I love making eclairs although I avoid using butter often, but my daughter wanted some, so I made some recently.
Surprise, surprise you picked chocolate version! lol, just teasing. I am on the fence about these, if I don't work tomorrow, they will probably get made, if I do, they will probably not. I have to say, yours look really good...the guys would have no trouble saying "yes" to these!
Love eclairs Cake law and these look delicious, gloria
Love a good eclair recipe.
Oh my gosh! These are so yummy! I can already taste it from here! I now want eclairs!
Oh I loved these as a kid - a messy eclair is a great eclair - sounds delicious
Well they tasted great and that's what really counts! :)
YUM, yum, yum! Love these with the chocolate filling...I will try that next :)
Hey - when someone brings in eclairs to work there should be no complaining, ever! You can bring a batch to my office any day. They look good.
I also had a bit of trouble with the choux puffing up. Honestly, the only part of the recipe I'll be making again is the chocolate glaze because I prefer whipped cream in my puffs. I'm glad you enjoyed the chocolate pastry cream!
Very challenging recipe, so your efforts are very impressive! And I'd want chocolate in mine, too.
Great job on these; I had fun making them too. Next time, I am going to make the chocolate filling.
Mmm, I love eclairs, but I haven't ever tried to make them. These look very good.
This is something I really want to try making too. I really want to experiment with choux pastry a bit. I think you did a great job on these.
*kisses* HH
Yes to chocolate! An eclair is bound to be messy, but worth it.
I'm going to have to try chocolate next time. I decided to play against my usual inclinations this time. Seeing everyone's chocolate glazes and fillings is making me want to try them, though. I find that even the bakery variety of eclair can be quite messy, so it's the flavour that really counts. Glad you enjoyed them.
Mmmmm....these look incredible! Thanks for sharing!
We love your blog - keep up the great work!
Kate & Rachel
These look good and chocolaty. I had the opposite issue with my pastry cream. It was way to thick, but it still tasted good.
Yours look like they make for delightfully messy eating... what a chocoholic dream!
Next time I make eclairs I'm making chocolate pastry cream. Yum!
Thanks everyone! I want these again right now - I don't care if they were messy, they were good!
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