Monday, August 31, 2009

Daring Bakers August Éclairs

When this month's Daring Bakers' recipe was posted to the forum, I think I could actually hear the collective sighs of anticipation from many of the 1000+ members. My reaction was the same. Éclairs=happy day indeed.

This month's challenge was Chocolate Éclairs from the book Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé and was hosted by Meeta and Tony from What's For Lunch Honey and Tony Tahhan. While the recipe itself seemed like a pretty basic cream puff recipe, it was the amazing chocolate glaze and the fabulous pastry cream that made these taste like the professional bakery version. Our rules this time were that the dough needed to be a pâte à choux and we were to keep chocolate in one of the elements--either in the pastry cream or in the glaze. I'm not going to argue with that. Beyond those two things we were free to choose our flavors.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough RecipeAll recipes from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
• 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
1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to 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 yourhandmixer 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 donot 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.


1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets withwaxed or parchment paper.
2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.
3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip thehandle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in theoven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continuebaking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.


Chocolate Pastry Cream
• 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

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.

Chocolate Glaze
• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.
2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Chocolate Sauce
• 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

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.

I left out one egg as a high altitude adjustment (in hopes of preventing it from rising so incredibly fast only to fall--it seemed to work). I stuck with the chocolate glaze for both and mixed up the fillings a bit. For the first, I substituted 1 cup of coconut milk for the regular and added fresh coconut to the cream. Topped with toasted coconut it was pretty fabulous, even if not traditionally french.
The second filling I made a little more french--in general flavor if not necessarily a traditionally french eclair flavor. On one trip to France I discovered the flavor of violets...as in the little purple flower. It's probably an aquired taste. It was very often paired with chocolate in desserts and I loved it, so much so that I started purchasing violet flavored drinks, jams, desserts and little pastilles everytime I could find them. Someone once asked my why my breath smelled like his grandmother's perfume. I added a bit of the violet syrup "perfume" to the pastry cream and absolutely loved it. Others did not but luckily, there was an abundance of coconut eclairs to be had.


26 comments:

Leslie said...

wow Mary, i wish i was there to taste test. Those look great and i would even be willing to try the violet eclair...i love those little violet pastilles. People always thought i was nuts but they are good.

Grammie/Mom said...

Oh Mary! Those eclairs are right up my alley. I love them and the more chocolatey the better. The coconut would be one I would want to try and I'm sure I'd enjoy the violet too.

Unknown said...

They look fabulous! I like your coconut eclair - an exotic twist to a traditional pastry. It reminds me of the hybrid-pastries I used to get in Mauritius.

Shelby said...

Very interesting about the violet syrup! I love the color of the filling!

Anonymous said...

Oh Mary they look just beautiful! And I love the violet touch, c'est très français!

Anonymous said...

Wow, Violet, that's an interesting choice. I may have to try something like that sometime. Thanks for the idea.

Iron Chef Shellie said...

Thanks for your kind comments on my blog =)

Yours look amazing! I love the idea of violet syrup too!!
x

Michelle said...

How gorgeous are those!!! Love the idea of adding a flavored syrup. I'll keep an eye out of Violet Syrup...even if it is an acquired taste the bottle label is so pretty!

lilmizlynn said...

They look great. Yummy!!! I wld love to try some of your violet eclairs. I never had 1 before.. :)

BTW, I appreciate you stopping by my blog. Thank you. :)

Tiffany @ Lattes And Life said...

Wow, violet. How unique!!!! Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my failed eclairs!! Haha!

Anonymous said...

what a great idea on the filing! love your pics and the eclairs looks so yummy

Katie said...

Yum! I really love the header at the top of your page - did you make it yourself?

Christy said...

That violette sirop imparts such a beautiful hue to your pastry cream!! And glad to see that your glaze worked for you where it didn't for mine! Gorgeous eclairs!!

Anne said...

Ooh, violet filling! That must be delicious! :)

Gina said...

Beautiful eclairs. I'm with previous posters - I'd be willing to try a violet eclair.

Diane said...

Beautiful eclairs. The violet cream sounds interesting. I wish my breath could smell like violets.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful job on this challenge! Your eclairs are lovely!

genkitummy said...

wow! your pastry cream flavor choices both sound amazing! coconut and violet!

Anonymous said...

What an elegant choice for the filling. I'll be sure to remember if I ever find those ingredients around here.

Anonymous said...

Uh...(picking jaw up off the floor...) those are beautiful! Not being a coconut fan nor of flowers in my foods...your pictures made me want to take a new attitude on that! Has someone invented a way to taste things over the computer??They make my mouth water! Fantastic job and beautiful photos...made me think of Leslie Caron in "Gigi"! See what food does to my thinking??!

test it comm said...

Nice eclairs! I like the coconut topping!

Lauren said...

Oh, wow! Your eclairs are gorgeous. And your fillings sound amazing.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! It would be hard for me to deviate from the coconut (a favorite flavor) but I'd definitely try the violet. Thanks for your kind comment on my first DB challenge!

Anonymous said...

your eclairs puffed up beautifully. They look awesome too :)

~Amber~ said...

Your eclairs are beautiful! Great job.

Allie said...

Hi Mary! Your eclairs turned out great as well. Thanks for the comment. I must say sadly no the pan didn't really make a big difference. If anything it gave me the idea of the size they should be, but they stuck a little and wasn't worth the trouble when I can get more on a cookie sheet then the pan. I do have other ideas for the pan so it's not a total loss yet. Happy cooking!