Eclairs

In this post, I will be sharing how to make amazing eclairs with two simple fillings: creamy vanilla pastry cream and smooth chocolate filling.

Additionally, I will provide important tips to ensure your homemade eclairs turn out perfectly. So stay along!

📌 Why I love about this eclair:

• The choux is not overly hard and has a perfect softness.
• You can make 2 fillings at once with some simple steps!
• The vanilla and chocolate fillings are incredibly smooth and creamy.
• You can enjoy it in many shapes and sizes.

They look so cute and fancy! They make for an ideal coffee snack, a thoughtful gift for special occasions, a treat for your family and friends, and so on.

📌 What is choux pastry?

Choux pastry makes delicious desserts such as eclairs, cream puffs, paris-brest, churros, etc. It is one of the essential menus we practice at baking schools.

The dough expands in the oven and creates a pocket inside where you fill all the delicious fillings. But! It can easily fail if you do not know the crucial tips. That is why I am sharing all of them today.

📌 What you'll learn in this post:

In this post, you'll learn essential baking tips such as:

• What makes Choux pastry rise in the oven
• Should we use cake, all-purpose, or bread flour to make choux pastry?
• How to professionally pipe the batter
• How can you quickly turn vanilla pastry cream into rich, creamy chocolate cream?
• How to fill cream in eclairs

... and so on.

Let's get started! 🙌🏻

📌 What's In Eclairs?

Choux Pastry

• Water: The baked choux pastry gets softer with water. And the caramelization gets lighter.
• Milk: The baked choux pastry gets crunchier with milk. And the caramelization gets darker. Water and milk expand as steam when the heat is added in the oven and help to push up the pastry dough.
• Salt: It helps to strengthen the gluten in the flour.
• Granulated sugar: It helps to caramelize the surface more.
• Unsalted butter: Butter adds a richer flavor. It also helps to stretch the dough more in the oven.
• Cake flour: Cake flour creates a softer texture than all-purpose flour. The choux pastry rises slightly better with it, also. Use all-purpose flour if cake flour is not available.
• Egg: The egg contributes a lot to letting the dough rise in the oven. The choux pastry gets smaller when it's not added enough.

Vanilla Pastry Cream

• Whole Milk: Use full-fat whole milk.
• Vanilla Beans: I highly recommend using vanilla beans for its incredible flavor. My favorite is Madagascar vanilla beans. (Rich and sweet smell)
• Granulated Sugar: Sugar is necessary to make smooth and shiny pastry cream.
• Egg Yolks: It helps to thicken the cream and add rich flavor.
• Cornstarch: It helps to thicken the cream as well. It gives a light, slightly jelly-like texture.
• All-purpose flour: It also helps to thicken the cream. Compared to corn starch, it gives a chinkier, slightly heavier texture. I often like to blend cornstarch and all-purpose flour.
• Salt: It adds more depth in flavor.
• Butter (Unsalted): It is optional. It adds richness in flavor and thickens the cream slightly more.

Chocolate Cream

• Vanilla Pastry Cream: Take the amount from a whole pastry cream.
• Dark chocolate: I used 64% couverture chocolate today. Change the ratio depending on how rich and bitter you like. You can also use regular chocolate chips or bars.
• Heavy cream: Use regular heavy cream / heavy whipping cream.

Chocolate Glaze

• Dark chocolate: I used 64% couverture chocolate today. Change the ratio depending on how rich and bitter you like. You can also use regular chocolate chips or bars.
• Oil: Oil helps to let the melted chocolate flow better. Also, the cold chocolate does not get too crunchy by adding it. (No need to add it if you like crunchy chocolate!) I used olive oil. Use any regular oil.

📌 How To Make Eclairs

Now, let me share detailed tips on each step, which are crucial for making eclairs successful.

Preparations:

• Warm eggs to room temperature or until they feel slightly warm.
• Sift cake flour with a fine sieve.
• Set a pastry tip in a pastry bag. (I used B6 pastry tip today. Use any thick pastry tip!)
• Set a silicon mat or parchment paper on a tray. 
• Preheat your oven to 375 F | 190 C.

Step 1: Heat water, milk, salt, sugar, and cubed butter until it starts boiling.

Remove from the heat once the liquids start boiling hard everywhere.

Step 2: Remove it from the heat, add cake flour, and mix until it forms a ball.

Step 3: Heat it again at medium heat while pushing and flipping it constantly.

Step 4: Mix the dough until the temperature goes down slightly.

Remove it from the heat once it's heated enough, and knead a bit with a paddle or spatula before adding eggs - 30 seconds or so.

By doing this, we can make sure that the dough is even. It also prevents eggs from cooking partially. 

Step 5: Add eggs, dividing 3 times.

While the dough is still hot, add the room temperature to slightly warm eggs.

1. Add about ⅓ to ½ of the eggs first and continue mixing until it comes together.
2. Add about half of the rest and mix until it's combined again.
3. And add the rest. Mix until it's evenly combined.

Step 6: Pipe immediately.

Step 7: Spray plenty of water all over the surface.

Flatten the pointy tips by tapping very gently.

Step 8: Bake!

Step 9: Make the fillings.

Once cooled, make two holes on the bottom using any small pastry tip (I used tip 12 this time). You can also use a chopstick or something similar to make the holes.

And insert a toothpick or something sharp to break the skin inside. (so that you can fill as much cream as you can!)

Vanilla Pastry Cream

Make 1 batch of my pastry cream, following the tips and directions.

We are using it for chocolate filling as well. Take the amount for it and fill the rest in eclairs: The rest of the vanilla pastry cream is enough for about 5 eclairs. (length: 4.75 inches | 12 cm)

Chocolate Filling

1. Melt chocolate with a water bath.
2. Add cold (but not extremely cold) heavy cream, dividing 3 times. Clean the bowl and spatula, and make sure the ganache is evenly blended.
3. Add it to the cold pastry cream, dividing it 2 times.

Enough for about 5 eclairs. (length: 4.75 inches | 12 cm)

Before chilling:

After chilling:

Step 10: Fill Eclairs

1. Fill from one of the holes.
2. Next, fill from the other side until the cream starts coming out from the other hole. That means it's packed full!
3. Scrape off the excess cream with a small knife or spatula.

Store it in the fridge if you are not coating the glaze right away.

Step 11: Coat chocolate glaze.

1. Melt chocolate with a water bath.
2. Add oil and mix gently.
3. Dip eclairs in it and remove excess chocolate by adding some vibrations.

And that's it! Eat it right away or chill it in the fridge until you serve.

After the glaze is set in the fridge, it looks more mat like this:

The soft choux pastry and the melty creamy fillings match perfectly together. It is such a simple yet luxurious dessert that, for sure, is making your day.

📌 Uses For Eclairs

Enjoy the delicious eclairs in many ways, such as:

• Special treats for your guests and family
  • Try it with a cup of tea/coffee, and it'll give us the most luxurious time of the whole week we deserve! It is like a little time travel to a cafe in Paris.
• Mini eclairs
  • Pipe smaller and make cute mini eclairs. It's perfect for gatherings where they want to eat something with one bite!
• Cream puffs or other choux desserts
  • Enjoy it in many sizes and shapes; there is no rule here!
  • Compared to my original cream puff recipe, this one makes a slightly softer texture. (The difference is VERY minor. Use whichever you like!)
• Plated desserts
  • If you want to go further for a special occasion, make a custom dessert with it and play with your creativity.

📌 Frequently Asked Questions

📌 VIDEO: Watch How To Make It!

Watch this video to learn how to make eclairs visually and have a deeper understanding of all.

Don't forget to subscribe if you liked it 😉

📌 Other Choux Pastry Recipes

Check out my other choux pastry recipes, such as cream puffs and churros.

I filled the cream puffs with diplomat cream (pastry cream + whipped cream). You can also use the cream for these eclairs!

The amazing homemade churros are so simple to make and incredibly delicious! The recipe differs widely from this one, and I am sharing why in the post.

📌 Printable Recipe

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