Eclairs Recipe

Eclairs Recipe

I've always wanted to try making eclairs at home and never got to try until today. 
An eclair is an oblong pastry filled with cream and topped with icing. The dough, which is called choux pastry dough is piped into an oblong shape with pastry bag and baked until crisp and hollow inside. Once cooled , the pastry is filled with custard and served with icing on top. There are a lot of variations for the filling. You can fill them with custard, whipped cream or chill-outs cream.

Here is the recipe I used:
Makes 24 small eclairs

Ingredients:

For the choux pastry dough:

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 stick butter (8tbsp)
4 eggs
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Vanilla Pastry Cream:

1/4 cup + 2tbsp flour
5 tbsp sugar
3 egg yolks
2 cups whole milk
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Chocolate glaze:

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 teaspoon oli
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set a side. Do not add extra oil to parchment paper.
2. Start making the dough for the choux pastry. Set a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add water, butter, sugar and salt and stir frequently until butter melts. Bring to boil and remove from heat. Add flour and stir vigorously until the mixture turns into thick paste and flour is absorbed well. Place over medium heat for 2-3 minutes and stir constantly to prevent burning. Thin coat will form on the bottom of the pan.
3. Now you need to add the eggs to the mixture, but it will be very hot. You can either wait until it cools down a little, or put it in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on low for a few minutes.
4. When mixture cools down a little, add eggs one by one. Beat on medium speed until the eggs get incorporated.
5. Scoop dough into a piping bag with a large tip (1/2 inch diameter), or if you don't have a large tip you can cut the end of the bag so you get 1/2 inch opening. Pipe 3 inch logs onto the prepared parchment paper. Make sure you make them the same size and leave at least 2 inches between them. (If you don't have a piping bag, you can use a spoon and spoon dough onto parchment paper. They'll look more like cream puffs)
6. Bake on 400F for 20 minustes, then reduce heat and bake for additional 10 minutes on 350F.

Vanilla cream:

Heat milk in a pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Mix together egg yolks, sugar and flour. Add mixture to hot milk and stir constantly until it starts to thicken. When it gets to the desired thickness stop stirring and remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla and stir again. Set a side until it cools to a room temperature.

Chocolate Glaze:

Heat heavy cream over medium heat and bring to a boil.  Pour into a heat safe bowl. Add chocolate and vegetable oil and mix well until it forms a smooth consistency. Set a side and let it cool off.

To assemble the eclairs:

1. Prepare a pastry bag with a small sized round plain tip and fill with vanilla cream. 
2. Make a small hole at the end of each eclair and insert tip. Pipe about one and a half tablespoon of cream into it.
3. Spread chocolate glaze on top of the eclair or carefully dip the top of it into the glaze before serving.

Enjoy!