Chocolate Eclairs Recipe

Vanilla Pastry Creme Filling

• Milk 
• Large eggs
• Granulated sugar
• Cornstarch – This will help the filling set! 
• Vanilla – I just use regular vanilla here, but you can also use clear vanilla if you want the color to be a pure white. 
• Salted butter – I always use salted butter in my baking but unsalted will work as well. 

Choux Pastry Dough

• Water
• Butter – Again, I prefer salted butter but you can use unsalted and just add an extra pinch of salt to the dough. 
• Salt 
• All-purpose flour – Surprisingly, all-purpose flour works perfectly here! No bread flour needed. 
• Eggs

Chocolate ganache topping

• Whipping cream
• Chocolate chips – I like to use Ghirardelli brand, but any brand of higher quality chocolate will work here.

Filling

1. To make the filling, combine the milk, eggs, granulated sugar, cornstarch and vanilla in a blender until completely combined and smooth.
2. Pour the mixture into a cold pot.
3. Turn the heat on the stove top to medium low, and heat the filling while whisking until thick. You should be able to scrape a silicone spatula down the center of the pan without the mixture immediately coming back together.
4. Once the mixture has thickened, remove from heat and stir in the salted butter.
5. Transfer to a shallow bowl, cover with plastic wrap, making sure that the plastic wrap touches all parts of the top of the filling, and then place in the fridge to set. While the filling sets, make the eclair shells.

Choux Pastry

1. To make the eclair shells, combine the butter and water in a large pot. 
2. Heat over medium high heat until it reaches a rolling boil.
3. Remove from the heat and add in 1 cup of flour all at one time and salt. Stir until a thick paste forms.
4. Add the eggs, one egg at a time, mixing thoroughly in-between each addition with a wooden spoon or heavy duty silicone spatula.
5. Mix until you have a smooth pastry batter.
6. Allow the batter to rest for 15 minutes.
7. While the batter is resting, preheat your oven to 425° F.
8. After the batter has rested, add the batter to a large piping bag.
9. Pipe 4 inch long lines on a silicone lined cookie sheet. Try to use even pressure while holding the piping bag at an angle, this will help your eclairs to be more uniform in size.
10. Bake the eclairs at 425° F for 10 minutes and then without removing the eclairs form the oven, reduce the heat to 350° F and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes, or until they are golden brown.
11. Immediately after they come out of the oven, use a skewer to poke a hole through the pastry lengthwise to help the steam escape from the inside so they don’t collapse while cooling.
12. Once the pastries and the filling are cool, use a small pastry tip, poke 2-3 holes in the top of each cooled pastry and pipe the filling inside, scraping off any excess. Repeat this step until all of the eclairs have been filled.

Making the Ganache & Assembling the Eclairs

1. To make the chocolate ganache, microwave the heavy whipping cream in a large microwave safe bowl until it is boiling.
2. Add the chocolate chips to the bowl and shake so the hot heavy whipping cream is covering all of the chocolate chips. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes.
3. After the mixture has sat, slowly stir until smooth. If unmelted chocolate chips persist, you can microwave for 15 seconds to help any stubborn chocolate chips.
4. Either dip the top of each eclair into the ganache or wait for the ganache to thicken up and use a piping bag to pipe the ganache onto the top of each eclair. (I used the Ateco #789)
5. Store in the fridge for up to 4 days. Enjoy!

Chocolate Glaze for Eclairs

I like to use my simple chocolate ganache here because it is decadent and easy.