- 120 mins
- 140 mins
Ingredients
- Basic Choux Pastry Dough:
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- Vanilla Pastry Cream:
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/8 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preparation
Step 1
Make vanilla pastry cream according to directions and chill.
Preheat oven to 425F and lightly grease 1 baking sheet.
Spoon the prepared basic choux pastry dough into a pastry bag fitted with a wide, plain tip and pipe 8 5-inch lengths onto the baking sheet.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until the éclairs puff up and turn golden brown. Remove them from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before filling.
Make the chocolate glaze while the éclairs are baking and cooling.
Place the chopped chocolate in a heat safe bowl and set aside.
Heat the heavy cream just to boiling over low-medium heat and remove from the heat immediately. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and stir until it forms a thin, smooth consistency.
Set the chocolate glaze aside at room temperature for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Basic Choux Pastry Dough:
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter in the water.
Add salt and flour, and stir until a sticky batter is formed.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until the batter is smooth.
Vanilla Pastry Cream:
In a small saucepan, warm the milk over low heat until it is just hot enough to steam.
While the milk is warming, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, flour, and cornstarch until the mixture is completely smooth.
Once the milk is steaming, add half of it, whisking constantly, to the egg mixture.
Add the milk and eggs back into the hot milk, continue stirring, and heat it for 1-2 minutes, until the custard reaches 170F on a digital thermometer and is very thick.
Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla extract, and chill before filling pastry.
To assemble the éclairs:
Fit a pastry bag with a medium-sized plain tip and fill it with vanilla pastry cream.
Insert the tip of the bag into the end of an éclair and pipe about 2 1/2 tablespoons of pastry cream into it.
Gently spread 1 tablespoon of chocolate glaze onto or carefully dip the top of each filled éclair into the glaze before serving.