Hamemade Eclairs!!

I made home made Eclairs!!

 

How beautiful is that??

These are SO good and dont have that lardy taste like the ones you get from a doughnut store or super market. They are baked and made from scratch, so you know exactly whats going in them ;)

They are fairly easy to make, but it is a bit of a process. I managed to make them with my 20 month old daughter under foot, so its not to bad. For someone who is accustomed to baking and has all the 'right' equipment, this process will be a bit easier going, but these are definitely simple enough that someone who has very little baking experience can pull them off and totally impress!! 

So, here we go!!

• CHOUX PASTRY:

• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  
  
• ¼ tsp salt
• 4 large eggs

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly grease a large cookie sheet and set aside.

In medium saucepan, combine ½ cup butter and water. Bring to a boil, stirring to melt butter.
Reduce heat to low and stir in flour and salt with a wooden spoon until the mixture begins to form a stiff ball of dough.

Remove from heat and add eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition to ensure they are incorporated. Work quickly, especially with the first one, to prevent it from cooking into scrambled eggs on the bottom of your warm pan :)

 

This part really tested my stirring constitution!! It was also pretty funny, me trying to stir these eggs in and juggle the camera to get a picture before they scrambled!

With a spoon or pastry bag fitted with a large tip, spread/pipe the thick dough onto prepared cookie sheet into 10 strips approximately 1½ x 4″ each.

 

I went with a pipping bag. But you can use just a ziplock bag, but this dough is pretty thick, so it might bust a ziplock. You could always just spoon it out and try to keep it a bit uniform. Or just make balls and do Creme Puffs [thats what Im gonna do with the left over dough from this batch!]

 

I liked making them flat and wide, they are gonna poof up quite a bit. 

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 and bake another 20 minutes, until puffed and golden and hollow sounding when lightly tapped on the bottom [I have a gas stove and it cooks a bit quicker, so keep an eye on them! You really dont want them to over cook!]. 

When removed from oven, IMMEDIATELY pierce the ends almost through to the other side to let steam escape and prevent any sogginess in the middle. If you are doing creme puffs, you could just poke the top unless they are kinda flat, you just want to make sure they wont tip over and lose their filling. 

 I used the handle of my wooden spoon and it worked like a charm! This hole is also where you will be piping your filling into.

 Let cool completely before filling and icing (this will only take about half an hour).

• CUSTARD FILLING:
• 1 (4 serving size) package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 2 cups milk (or as called for on pudding package)
  
  
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup icing sugar (aka powdered sugar/confectioner’s sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp salt

Combine pudding and milk in a bowl and mix according to package directions. In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in ¼ cup icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, and ¼ tsp salt. Fold whipped cream into pudding.

Scoop mixture into pastry bag [I didnt even bother putting a tip on, I just snipped the tip off the bag. But if you have a tip, go for it!!] and pipe mixture into centers of eclairs until full.Theres probably going to be 'filling' flying and plopping all over the place, but its fun.

 

You can top them with whatever your favorite chocolate ganache or icing is, but heres a quick n easy one!

• CHOCOLATE ICING:
• 2 oz semisweet chocolate (or ⅓ cup semisweet chocolate chips)
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 cup icing sugar (aka confectioners sugar/powdered sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 Tbsp hot water

Melt the chocolate and 2 Tbsp butter over low heat in a saucepan (or in the microwave, stirring after 30 seconds and giving additional 10 second increments as needed until fully melted). Stir in 1 cup icing sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Stir in hot water, 1 Tbsp at a time, until icing is smooth and reaches desired consistency. Drizzle, pipe or spread over filled eclairs.

I just drizzled the chocolate over them. :)

They definitely got my daughters vote of approval!!!