Ingredients
- FOR THE PASTRY:
- 1 Cup & 2 Tablespoons Gluten-Free Flour - MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT! SEE NOTE!
- 2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 tsp. Salt
- 1 Stick Butter (Unsalted)
- 1 Cup Water
- 4 Eggs, Room Temperature
- FOR THE FILLING:
- 5 oz box Instant Vanilla Pudding
- 2 1/2 Cups Milk
- 1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 tsp. Gluten-Free Vanilla Extract
- FOR THE CHOCOLATE TOPPING:
- 2-4 oz Bittersweet Chocolate
- 2-4 Tablespoons Butter
- use one-to-one ratio
Preparation
Step 1
PASTRY:
Preheat Oven to 400 degrees
In saucepan over medium-high heat, boil Butter, Sugar, Water & Salt
Remove from heat, add flour & stir like heck for TWO minutes
Place dough in bowl of KitchenAid Stand Mixer & beat at medium speed for ~1 minute THEN
While mixing add eggs one at a time, giving them time to absorb
Keep mixing until dough is smooth & sticky (if it looks like mac & cheese, keep mixing!). Refrigerate dough for a few minutes to make it easier to work with.
Using a Pastry Bag with 1" tip, pipe out dough into logs on baking sheet covered in parchment paper. ~2 inches for mini-eclairs and ~5 inches for large gluten-free eclairs
Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes
Reduce heat to 325 and bake eclairs for 20-30 minutes longer, until brown.
Remove from oven, place on rack to cool & pierce a few small holes in eclair to let steam out.
FILLING:
Make Vanilla Pudding: Combine Pudding Mix & Milk, let firm up in fridge for at least 5 minutes
Place Cream in KitchenAid Mixer & whip (med-high speed) until soft peaks form
Mix in Powdered Sugar & Vanilla
Fold in Vanilla Pudding
Go ahead & taste it, seriously - this stuff is light & airy & delicious!
CHOCOLATE ICING:
Melt Chocolate in Microwave starting with 30 seconds, mixing, then moving to 10-15 second increments
Add in Butter & stir until melted
Cut Pastry Shells in half lengthwise
Dip top of shell in chocolate (pour chocolate onto plate if needed)
Let chocolate dry for a few minutes, then spoon cream onto bottom & place chocolate shell on top!
Enjoy immediately! Those that you don't eat keep best if frozen.
You must use a Gluten-Free Flour or a Flour Blend that behaves like gluten-y flour! What does this mean? usually Xanthan Gum. We've used Jules Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour 3 times, and each time they turned out exceptional. We used Bob's Red Mill Baking Mix once & they turned out good - puffed just as high, but spread a little wider. Use a flour that has worked for you before (or Jules').
No pastry bag? No problem! Place dough in ziploc bag & cut corner to pipe. Dough too sticky? Put it in the fridge for a few minutes for better handling.
Be Fancy & Gourmet: Call the pastry by it's French Name "Pate A Choux" & make your own Pastry Cream (Martha Stewart Recipe)
Add Fresh Berries to top of Eclair or to plate to pretty it up!
Pastries & Cream can be made ahead of time, but eclairs should be assembled close to eating time.
Variations on the Gluten-Free Eclair:
Use the same dough & filling to make gluten-free cream puffs!
Gluten-Free Mint Chocolate Eclairs: Substitute Instant Chocolate Pudding & add 1/2 tsp Mint Extract to Chocolate
Gluten-Free Maple Eclair - Add Maple Syrup to Cream Filling, Top with Maple Caramel Frosting
Gluten-Free Coconut Eclair - Coconut Filling + Tropical Frosting + Coconut Flakes
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Eclair - Pumpkin Spice Pudding + Cream Cheese Frosting
Gluten-Free Lemon Eclair - Lemon Pudding + Light Lemon Frosting
Gluten-Free Strawberry Eclair - Strawberry Pastry Cream + Light Strawberry Icing