How to Make Chocolate Eclairs
Los Angeles Chef Eric Crowley of The Culinary Classroom goes step by step through the process of creating the eclairs. When creating chocolate eclairs, it is important to set aside three to four hours to prepare the pastries properly. Some pastry filling recipes requires freezing for two hours.
Step 1: Ingredients
Pate a choux (light pastry dough):
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature and sliced
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4-5 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp. granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1-2 cups of pastry cream
- 1/2- 3/4 cup chocolate ganache
Step 2: Equipment
- Since creating chocolate eclairs is a multi-tiered process, you will need different sets of equipment for each stage.
- For the chocolate ganache, you will need a saucepan, a medium-sized bowl and a whisk.
- The pastry dough requires a saucepan, sheet pan, parchment paper, a wooden spoon, a mixer and a pastry bag with a straight tip.
- Equipment for the pastry filling includes a bowl, a whisk, a strainer and plastic wrap.
Step 3: Recipe
- Bring milk, water and butter to a boil.
- Crack each egg into a separate bowl, as you will be adding them one at a time.
- Combine the flour, sugar and salt.
- When the liquid reaches a boil, stir it and pour flour mixture into the pot.
- Stir over the heat until the dough forms a ball.
- Remove from heat, and stir until the dough cools to lukewarm.
- Add one egg at a time to the flour mixture, and stir until absorbed.
- After the eggs have been added, place the dough into a pastry bag, fitted with a straight tip.
- Pipe eclairs onto a parchment paper covered baking sheet.
- Bake at 450°F for 10 minutes, then lower the temp to 375°F and bake an additional 15 minutes.
- Remove from the parchemnt and allow the eclairs to cool.
- Fill a pastry bag or a resealable bag with pastry cream, and pipe the cream inside the eclair. There may be a hole in the eclair already from an air bubble while baking, otherwise, use a knife to make a hole.
- Drizzle chocolate ganache over the cooled eclair.
