When I saw the new Daring Bakers challenge, my first reaction was yippee!!! Finally something from Pierre Herme and that too Eclairs!! It cannot get better than that :) Well of course at that time I had not thought of making coffee eclairs and enjoying them with a brilliant cup of coffee!! And finishing that with a chocolate eclair topped with a delicious chocolate ganache ....
Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)
• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm
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 with
waxed 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 the
handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the
oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue
baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking
time should be approximately 20 minutes.
✅ Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.
✅ Assembling the éclairs:
- Chocolate & Coffee Glazes (see below for recipe)
- Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)
1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the
bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.
2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40
degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of
the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the
bottoms with the pastry cream.
3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms
with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream
and wriggle gently to settle them.
✅ Notes:
1) If you have chilled your glazes, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water,
stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create
bubbles.
2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.
✅ Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)
- 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 the
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 your
handmixer 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 do
not 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 as directed above.
✅ Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.
2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking
sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the
piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.
3) I live in Singapore where the weather is generally warmer and more humid. I had to add an extra couple of tablespoons of flour and take out about a tablespoon of butter from my choux dough and it really worked for me.
✅ Chocolate Pastry Cream
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by PierreHermé
- 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.
✅ Notes:
1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.
2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.
3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.
Chocolate Ganache
Recipe by Jyotsna ... classic and delicious
- 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
Heat the cream over low heat tll it comes to a boil. Take the chocolate chips in a bowl and add the hot cream to it, stirring continuously to melt all the chocolate. When this mixture cools down, it becomes a think and shiny glaze.
White Chocolate & Coffee Glaze
Recipe by Jyotsna ... worth a try ...
- 1/3 cup white chocolate
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon strong instant coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon warm water
Heat the cream over low heat till it comes to a boil. Take the chocolate chips in a bowl and add the hot cream to it, stirring continuously to melt all the chocolate. When this cools down, add the icing sugar to make the mixture thick. To this, add the coffee dissolved in water and stir till the mixture resembles a thick glaze.
✅ Verdict:
Delicious! The chocolate eclairs were chcolatey enough to make anyone go mmmm .... and the coffee eclairs had a definite kick to it! I'll definitely make this again :)
Jyotsna
To start with many thanks to Meeta and Tony for coming up with this amazing challenge and being such gracious hosts! Thanks a lot for giving us this chance to make something that is simple and everyday ... yet we do not take out the time to make it ...
Workwise, it has been a crazy month but this challenge was worth every bit of I time I spent on it ... and yes I did spend a fair bit of it .... my first attempt at eclairs was met with a flat batch ... resembling pancakes more than eclairs. But the second attempt resulted in beautiful puffs of choux pastry ... a colleague had made the eclairs before me and her eclairs were the reason I decided to make the chocolate pastry cream :) It was yumm and worth the effort that would go into making it!
For the glazes, I decided to keep it simple .... one was a chocolate ganache and I cannot give up a chance to add coffee to anything I make so the other was a white chocolate ganache with instant coffee added to give it the extra kick.
And let me also mention here that Pierre Herme has been my idol for a long long time ... the first time I saw him was on a Martha Stewart show and he was brilliant. I then tried to make the fantastic Carioca Cake from his recipe on the show. It was one of the most complex things I had made in my early baking days and needless to say, it was delicious. And it opened my eyes to a world of baking where there are layers of flavor to what you make and you involve yourself in many many steps before you make the final thing. Till that time, my baking had been limited to simpler cakes, brownies, cookies and the occassional bread-making. But he opened my eyes to a world where every dessert had several layers to it and each layer and each step required knowledge and discipline. Thank you Pierre ... you have been a guide and a tutor for me ....
Ok, so here is the recipe for the fantastic Eclairs. The choux and the pastry cream are Pierre Herme's recipes but the glazes are ... well my own concoction!!! And I'm glad they worked well enough for me to want to share them on this post today. Hope you will enjoy them as much as I did!
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