Éclairs

It was well over a year ago that I made my first batch of pâte à choux and it turned out to be way easier and less frightening that I had thought. Sadly, I only made it that one time. Éclairs are my most favorite bakery treat. When I visit a bakery that is the pastry I always get. There are a lot of bakeries out there that completely butcher the gorgeous éclair. Too often they are filled with a horribly gloppy excuse for crème pâtissière and topped with a sugary sweet cake style chocolate frosting. Bleh!

I want an éclair that is filled with a luscious, rich pastry cream and topped with a chocolaty glaze where chocolate, not sugar, is the star of the show. I love the America's Test Kitchen Feed, that is where I first eyed a recipe for éclairs that made them seem simple and easy. I set to work around 3:30 - I was able to bang out the pastry cream and bake the éclairs all by 4:00.  The toughest part was waiting for the éclairs to dry out in the oven for an hour. The only issue I ran in to, which happened when I first made cream puffs last year, was that a couple of the éclairs deflated. It was only two of the eight and once I filled them you couldn't tell all that much. These éclairs are everything I want in an éclair ~ the pastry is light and crisp, the crème pâtissière is smooth and rich and the chocolate glaze, oh so chocolaty! It must be said, I halved the amount of icing sugar in the glaze because after adding half it tasted just right to me and the texture seemed pretty thick so I didn't want to risk it being too thick and sweet.

The éclairs came out great. Perfect, really. I'm very anxious to try other variations of éclairs and profiteroles. I cannot wait to surprise my husband with beautiful, tasty treats tonight. Sweets for my sweet.