Sunday, August 31, 2008

Daring Baker's Do Eclairs






I joined the Daring Baker's group this year to try and stretch my skills. I never would have dreamed of making eclairs on my own and was pretty skeptical when I saw the challenge for August, posted by our hosts, Meeta and Tony.
But learn new techniques is just what I have done here and I am just thrilled! The recipe comes from the book Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme. Éclairs consist of 3 elements:
- Pâte à Choux, also known as Choux Pastry or Cream Puff Dough;
- Pastry Cream;
- Chocolate glaze
I halved the recipe, not wanting to be piggy about it, and piped the choux on the baking sheet in little fingers, planning to make mini eclairs.
I baked my pate`a choux according to the recipe, but got tied up on the phone and they baked a minute or 2 over. That somewhat spoiled my idea to pipe the cream directly inside, so I let them cool and cut them in half and spread the filling. Why I didn't pipe the filling on the halves, well, I don't know! Next time I will pipe to make them look so much neater.
I changed it up a bit by using suggestions from the Martha Stewart Baking Book and added a bit of whipped cream to my pastry cream for an eclair that was less heavy. I also made the original chocolate glaze, but made some with butterscotch glaze, knowing how my family loves bscotch!My eclairs tasted pretty dang good! If I ever venture this recipe again, I promise to be neater!!
You can find the original recipe at the hosts websites, listed above.


6 comments:

Bunny said...

Fran your eclairs look so much better than mine turned out! LOL! I love the idea of the whipped cream in the filling and the butterscotch!

An Apron Straitjacket said...

Oh just the thought of the butterscotch makes me drool and I love the idea of the whipped cream. I think I'll steal that idea next time I give these a go. Great job!

BTW, glad to see that you're one of the baking GALS!

Rachel said...

Butterscotch...now why didn't I think of that....Whipped cream sounds a nice alternative too!!

silverrock said...

I'm not sure how neat you'd need these deliciously chocolatey looking cream puffs to be, as I'm sure they vanished into everyone's tummy in no time at all :P Way to go on this month's challenge... the eclairs look soooo goood

Bunny said...

No I'm not stalking you Fran (hee hee) I have an award for you.

The Blonde Duck said...

Stumbled across your blog from Bunny's post. Congrats! Love the eclairs!