Dark Chocolate Eclair

By cuznvin

Ingredients

• Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
• Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
• (makes 20-24 Éclairs)
• • ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• • ½ cup (125g) water
• • 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• • ¼ teaspoon sugar
• • ¼ teaspoon salt
• • 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• • 5 large eggs, at room temperature
• Chocolate Pastry Cream
• Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by PierreHermé
• • 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• • 4 large egg yolks
• • 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• • 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• • 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• • 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• Chocolate Sauce Recipe
• (makes 1½ cups or 525 g)
• • 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• • 1 cup (250 g) water
• • ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• • 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

Preparation

Step 1

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.
2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.
3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough. You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.
4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.
2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.
2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.
3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.
4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.
5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

[bNotes:[/b] 1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. 2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream. 3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Sauce

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.
2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.