Eclairs, 3 recipes
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from http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080910123536AAGUA46
Depending on how many people you are serving, you will want to
vary the size of your eclairs. Traditionally, chocolate eclair recipes
come in three varieties:
Small for large dessert platters.
Medium (what you most often see in the bakery window).
It is also possible, although less common, to make one
large eclair. You can serve it on a beautiful dessert plate,
and cut it directly on the dinner table!
Whatever you choose, you will be delighted (and so will
your guests!) with this magnificent French dessert!
Chocolate eclair recipes make everyone smile!!!
Eclair au Chocolat… A delightful French classic!
Preparation Time: 1 hour
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients (for 20 eclairs):
Chocolate Eclairs
Eclair Dough:
2/3 cup Milk
2/3 cup Water
4 oz. Butter
1 cup Flour
5 Eggs
2 tsp. Granulated Sugar
Pinch of Salt
Chocolate Cream Filling:
6 ounces Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
1 cup Milk
4 Egg Yolks
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 cup Flour
Chocolate Icing:
5 ounces Unsweetened Chocolate
2 ounces Butter
1/4 cup Water
How to Make It:
Eclair Dough:
Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
1. In a pot, mix water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt.
Bring to a boil.
2. Once butter has completely melted, take off flame,
and slowly pour in flour, stirring constantly.
3. Put pot back on flame and continue to work it with
a wooden spoon. Continue stirring and kneading with
spoon until the dough dries out and stops sticking to
the sides of the pot.
4. Take off flame. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring
energetically.
5. Fill a baking sac with batter. Butter a baking sheet.
Squeeze out "finger-sized eclairs" onto baking sheet,
well-spaced.
6. Bake for 10 minutes. Then turn oven down to 385
degrees F and bake another 10-12 minutes with the
oven door open.
Chocolate Filling:
1. Melt chocolate (chopped) and milk in a pot, and bring t
o light boil, remove.
2. In a bowl, whisk yolks and sugar until it whitens.
3. Slowly add flour, stirring.
4. Slowly add chocolate and milk, stirring until homogenous.
5. Put back in pot, bring to light boil, stirring constantly,
until cream thickens and becomes smooth.
6. When cream cools off (and eclairs have cooled off as
well), you can begin filling the eclairs: Cut a small slit
lengthwise, and then stuff with cream, using your baking
sac or a small spoon.
Icing:
Almost done! Hang in there! Chocolate eclair recipes are well
worth the time they take!!!
1. Melt chocolate with water in a small pot over a low flame.
2. Once melted add butter, whisking the whole time. Should
look shiny and creamy!
3. Remove from heat. Spread a thin layer on each eclair, using
a spatula.
4. Wait until icing hardens a bit to serve it.
Tip:
Even if you are making fewer than 20 chocolate eclairs, make
the full quantity of dough (it will prepare better!). You can
always freeze what you don't use.
. . . . . . . . .
Notes from others:
-Use bitter baking chocolate instaed of the semisweet to
help cut down the over sweetness of the eclairs. Also use
whipped topping instead of the cream.
-Just bake at 400 for about 30 minutes, or goden brown and
dry. - For the filling, use white chocolate instant pudding and
frozen whipped topping (thawed) and use pastry bag with long
tip to fill rather than cutting off the tips. - For the chocolate
glaze, Mix 1/3 cup cocoa, 1 cup sugar in sauce pan. Add 1 tsp
vanilla, 1 stick butter, 1/4 cup milk. Boil for 1 minute, then set
aside to cool. Dip the tops in the glaze, yummy!
. . . . . . .
from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Eclairs-II/Detail.aspx
Eclairs
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 1/2 cups cold milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons hot water
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet.
In a medium saucepan, combine 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup water.
ring to a boil, stirring until butter melts completely. Reduce heat to
low, and add flour and salt. Stir vigorously until mixture leaves the
sides of the pan and begins to form a stiff ball. Remove from heat.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well to incorporate completely after
each addition. With a spoon or a pastry bag fitted with a No. 10, or
larger, tip, spoon or pipe dough onto cookie sheet in 1 1/2 x 4 inch strips.
Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce heat to 325 degrees
F (165 degrees C) and bake 20 minutes more, until hollow sounding when
lightly tapped on the bottom. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Pierce the ends of the eclair shells right after removing from the oven
to release any steam. This keeps them from getting really soggy on the
inside.
For the filling,
combine pudding mix and milk in medium bowl according to package
directions. In a separate bowl, beat the cream with an electric mixer
until soft peaks form. Beat in 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon
vanilla. Fold whipped cream into pudding. Cut tops off of cooled pastry
shells with a sharp knife. Fill shells with pudding mixture and replace tops.
For the icing,
melt the chocolate and 2 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over
low heat. Stir in 1 cup confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir
in hot water, one tablespoon at a time, until icing is smooth and has
reached desired consistency. Remove from heat, cool slightly, and drizzle
over filled eclairs. Refrigerate until serving.
. . . . . . . .
There are three parts to éclairs: the pastry (pâte à choux), the filling
(crème pâtissière), and the topping (chocolate ganache). If you are
strapped for time you could cut corners on one or more of the parts
by doing things like using frozen puffed pastry for the pastry, pudding
or whipped cream for the filling, or some other frosting for the topping.
Take a look at the recipes before doing so though: none of the pieces
are that hard. There are a few places where you have to bring things
to a boil carefully to prevent scalding, but I've found that if you warm
the ingredients in the microwave before combining them in your sauce
pan you can easily cut 10 or 15 minutes of stirring out of the process.
The one below has some really nice pictures at the link with instructions.
from http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/eclairs
Choux Paste (pâte à choux)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
Combine the water, milk, butter, and salt in a small saucepan.
Bring it to a boil. Stir in the flour and, while mixing, cook
another minute or 2 to eliminate excess moisture. Transfer to
a bowl and let cool for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Beat in one egg at at time. When they have all been beaten in
and the paste is smooth and shiny, set aside to cool. The paste
may be use immediately or covered and refrigerated for later use.
Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière)
1/3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons corn starch
4 egg yolks
1 1/3 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
Combine the sugar, flour, corn starch, and egg yolks in a bowl.
Beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes until the mixture is
thick and pale yellow.
In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. Gradually pour
the milk into the egg mixture, stirring it in as you do so. When
fully combined, pour all of it into the saucepan and bring to a
boil, whisking constantly. Boil for 1 to 2 minutes then remove
mixture from heat. Stir in the vanilla and set aside to cool.
Cover the top with wax paper or parchment to prevent a skin
from forming. This cream may be refrigerated for a day or two
before use or used immediately.
Chocolate Ganache
3/4 cup heavy cream
8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
Heat the cream. Stir in the chocolate and continue heating and
stirring until all of the chocolate is melted.
Eclairs: Assembly
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Form small logs out of the Choux paste on a baking sheet. If you
have a pastry bag with large tips, you can squeeze them out neatly.
I do not, so I just formed the logs with a spoon and my fingers.
These were about an inch across and 3 to 4 inches long.
Bake the pastries for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Reduce the oven
to 350 degrees and bake for another 10 to 30 minutes, depending
on the size of the eclairs you are making.
When they are golden brown, turn the oven off. Poke a hole in the
small end of the eclair and place them back in the oven for another
10 minutes to dry out. Remove the eclairs from the oven and let
them cool a few minutes.
For the topping, dip or dribble the eclairs in the chocolate ganache.
To fill the eclairs, you can either use a pastry bag and squirt the
pastry cream in through the drying hole as I did. Or you can slice
the eclairs lengthwise and scoop the filling inside and place the top
half back on top.
There you have it: chocolate, creamy bliss.
The eclairs keep OK for a few days in the refrigerator in an air
tight container, but they are not nearly as good as when they are
first assembled. Take my advice: make all of the elements in the
same session, bake them up and make a fresh pot of coffee, and
enjoy them immediately. You won't be sorry!
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