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Classic French Chocolate Eclairs Recipe
Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users
Servings
2
Prep Time
30 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Golden brown choux pastry filled with custard and dipped in chocolate, writing this description made me want to eat the best French chocolate eclairs.
Ok, let’s face it, at some point in life we have all got choux pastry that doesn’t puff up? or flat?
There are two reasons why choux pastry goes flat
First reason:
The consistency of the choux bun is wrong; Now it’s hard for anyone to tell how many eggs are needed for the dough because it depends on how much the dough moisture has evaporated. When the milk and water are boiled and flour is added, the dough needs to be cooked on low fire until most of the moisture is evaporated. When the eggs are added, depending on the moisture evaporation, the number of eggs needed for the dough will vary from person to person.
Second reason:
The dough is not cooked long enough; now many people give two temperatures to cook the choux buns, but I am only going to give one temperature and it will come out crispy and not flat.
Can chocolate eclairs be made in advance ?
Eclairs cannot be made in advance, the reason being that when it’s filled with custard it will be soggy.
What is eclairs filled with?
Many people put different creams inside the eclair. Now I will be doing it the classical French way because that’s what I was trained to do when I was studying in institute Paul Bocuse. I carry this recipe from France from my hotel school training days and its a typical French eclair that is filled with crème pâtissière. but this can be also filled with an American buttercream, whipped cream, or a creme diplomat which is a crème pâtissière mixed with whipped cream.
Ingredients
-
Oven
- 50 g Milk Fresh
-
125 g Water Tap
-
2 g Salt Table salt
-
7 g Sugar White sugar
-
56 g Butter
-
94 g All- purpose flour
-
125 g Eggs
- 240 g Milk Fresh
-
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
-
3 Egg yolks
-
67 g Sugar White
-
15 g Corn starch
- 117 g Dark chocolate Chopped
-
1/2 cup Cream Thicken cream, whipped cream
Equipment
Choux Bun recipe
Pastry Cream ( Creme Patisierre)
Chocolate Ganache
Directions
Creme patissiere
Add milk and vanilla to a small pot and place it on a medium fire and let it boil
In a bowl add the egg yolks, sugar and whisk well until light in colour and fluffy, then add the corn starch and mix well
When the milk is boiling add 1/4 cup of milk into the egg mixture and whisk well. once incorporated add the rest of the milk and mix well. Then add the whole mixture into the same pot and keep it on a low fire and keep whisking. The mixture will thicken, then take it off the fire ( Note: you need to keep whisking to avoid the eggs from scrambling)
Cover and refrigerate until completely cooled down
Pour into a piping bag with a small nozzle
Choux Bun ( Pate a choux)
Preheat oven to 200C
Place water, milk, salt, butter and place it on medium heat until butter is melted
Add in the flour and mix well until it forms a ball. keep it on a low fire until the moisture has evaporated or until the dough forms sort of a ball and pulls away from the sides of the saucepan
Remove from the heat. Add in the dough onto a stand mixer with the paddle attachment
Mix on high heat. Add in the eggs little by little, making sure each is combined before adding the next. The Dough should be like a thick paste. (The egg quantity will vary from person to person, therefore you need to make a calculated guess when adding the eggs. If adding the last egg is too much then whisk it and add half of the egg)
Place dough into a piping bag fitted with a 13 – 15mm round nozzle
Line a baking tray with baking paper. Pipe long shaped eclairs
Brush the egg wash on top of the eclairs
Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes
Take it out of the oven and let it cool down on a cooling rack
Chocolate ganache
Microwave the cream until hot, add in the chopped chocolate and mix well
Assembling the eclairs
Use a smaller nozzle to pierce the choux bun in two places
Pipe the custard into the holes, you will feel the buns getting heavier
Dip it in the chocolate ganache and leave aside until the chocolate hardens.
