Chocolate Eclairs!! Crisp pastry shells filled with light and airy chocolate cream and topped with pure semi-sweet chocolate. A classic!
Hey, let’s have another chocolate treat to celebrate the first official “Chocolate Month” at Baking Sense. This one is a beauty!
Remember when I said that Pate a Choux and Pastry Cream are “essential recipes”? Well, this recipe for Chocolate Eclairs perfectly illustrates exactly why those two recipes are “essential”.
Take the same batter and pipe it into a different shape. Take the same cream filling and flavor it with chocolate. Now you have a new pastry from exactly the same two recipes used to create classic Cream Puffs.
For this chocolate eclair filling, and for the vanilla filling I pipe into Cream Puffs, I like to lighten the Pastry Cream with whipped cream.
If you prefer a more custardy filling you can use straight pastry cream to fill the pate a choux shells. It will take a double-batch of pastry cream to fill 24 eclairs or 24 cream puffs.
Watch the video to see how to make Chocolate Eclairs.
Eileen Gray
Yields 2 dozen eclairs
Serves 12
Crisp pastry shells filled with light and airy chocolate cream and topped with pure semi-sweet chocolate. A classic!
30 minPrep Time
30 minCook Time
1 hrTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 Recipe Pate au choux
- 1 Recipe Chocolate Pastry Cream , chilled (see notes section of the Pastry Cream Recipe)
- 1/4 cup (1 oz, 28g) powdered sugar
- 1 cup (8 oz, 236 ml) heavy cream
- 6 oz semi sweet chocolate , chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F convection or 400°F regular.
- Line two 1/2 sheet pans with parchment paper or silpat . If using parchment paper, put a dab of batter in each corner to glue the paper to the sheet.
- Use a piping bag fitted with a 1 fluted or plain tip to pipe 4" long eclairs.
- Bake until well puffed and golden brown, about 20 minutes
- Remove the eclairs from the oven and turn off the heat.
- Use a paring knife to form a small hole in both ends of each eclair.
- Return the tray to the still warm (but turned off) oven and allow the eclairs to dry for 30 minutes.
- Cool to room temperature before filling (see note).
- Whip the cream with the powdered sugar.
- Fold the cream into the pastry cream in two batches.
- Scoop the cream into a pastry bag fitted with a small, plain tip .
- Pipe the filling into the eclairs from both ends to make sure each eclair is completely filled.
- Melt the chocolate in a small bowl.
- Dip the top of each eclair into the chocolate
- Refrigerate until serving.
Notes
The cooled eclairs can be packed into freezer bags (don't overcrowd or crush) and frozen for up to a month. To use, line the frozen eclairs on a sheet pan and heat in a 350°F oven for 5 minutes. Cool and fill.
You might also like:
Pastry Cream
Chocolate Ganache
Chocolate Layer Cake
Hot Fudge Sauce
Chocolate Whipped Cream
Pate a Choux
Leave a Reply