Eclairs – Daring Bakers
It’s been a while since I’ve been able to participate in a Daring Bakers Challenge. But I was excited to see this months challenge was eclairs. I’ve never made eclairs but really enjoyed eating them in the past. This month really flew by. I made these eclairs last weekend with plenty of time to write up my post. Then we had some family members in town and I just couldn’t find time to write this up until today. So I am a day late on posting, but better late than never!
I followed the recipe exactly for the dough and the chocolate glaze. For the pastry cream, I was worried that chocolate would make the eclair too chocolatey (is there such a thing? I say no, but hubby thinks there is).
I decided to do a raspberry pastry cream, but didn’t have raspberries on hand at the time I made it. Instead did vanilla pastry cream. For half of the pastry cream, I mixed in some mushed up raspberries after sending hubby to the store for me 🙂 The other half got the vanilla pastry cream.
I myself am not a huge fan of pastry cream. I much prefer whipped cream in the center of eclairs.
As I mentioned, I followed the recipe exactly for the dough. That includes the timing and the propping of the door with a wooden spoon. Based on what other Daring Bakers had said, I decided to cut slits into the eclairs immediately after baking and then letting them cool in the cooling oven. The ones that didn’t deflate were wonderfully hollow.
At first, I had the oven door entirely open but I did notice the eclairs were starting to deflate, so I closed the oven door and then propped it open to let them cool. The eclairs that were very close to the door did deflate while the others did not.
Thanks to our hosts (Tony Tahhan and Meeta) this month for choosing such a great recipe. I definitely enjoyed making the eclairs, although I doubt I’d make them again. It was a significant amount of work and hubby wasn’t crazy about them.
I’m not going to post the recipes here, click through to the hosts’ posts to see the recipe. The recipe I used for the pastry cream can be found here. As I mentioned, I didn’t have raspberries when I made it so I just left them out. Once it was completely cooled, I added 1 pint of smashed raspberries to 1/2 of the cream.
This chocolate glaze was amazing. I made 1/2 of the chocolate syrup recipe and it was perfect for the glaze. The leftover glaze was used on bread and then mixed with whipped cream for frosting.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
this is such a fantastic idea!! I would make cookie dough batter with my friends in middle school… leave out the eggs, and just eat it with a spoon LOL so good!
This looks awesome! Since I’m a huge fan of cookie dough I know I will love this recipe 🙂
Ha – my husband loves the dough more than the cookie as well. I starred these – DEFINITELY making them soon.
Oooh these look delicious!! And combine the best of 2 worlds 🙂
Sues
holy cow! cookie dough + brownie? I think I’m in heaven
what a cool idea for the cookie dough layer. i used to make raw cookie dough (with egg beaters) and keep it in the freezer just for snacking
Yum. I made a similar recipe but I put a thin chocolate ganache on top. It’s one of the best recipes I’ve posted, but I’m a sucker for that raw dough.
I think I might have to agree with your bro and hubby. I love chocolate chip cookies, but it’s the dough that makes me weak in the knees! This recipe is right up my alley.
These look great! I also let my husband lick the beaters, but occasionally I slink behind the counter beside the sink and keep all the batter for myself. He’s usually too involved with TV to even notice.
LOL, oh my gosh! I just noticed this had a anti-Weight Watchers label. How funny!
Those look insanely good!!Thanks for sharing the recipe!
~ingrid
My high school made cookie dough covered brownies back in the day. They had a cult following and always sold out before the last lunch period. I never understood why you needed the brownie when a spoon works just fine.
Oh man. So sinful. Reminds me of the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream “Half Baked. Half brownie, half cookie dough. I can’t say no to that stuff.
Yummmm!! Oh my goodnessIsao adore cookie dough… This combination is beautiful!
sounds delicious!
these brownies looked so good I tried to make them myself! I love cookie dough AND brownies – perfect combo! Yours look much better of course. Here are mine: http://foodiesatworkdotcom.blogspot.com/2009/12/cookie-dough-brownies.html
YUM! These sound great!
AHHHH these look amaaazzzinnngggg. A little late in finding these but yeah I’m gonna need to make them.
-Whitney
AHHHH these look amaaazzzinnngggg. A little late in finding these but yeah I’m gonna need to make them.
-Whitney
I just made these and they got rave reviews at work! Definitely a keeper – thanks, as always, for sharing a great recipe and photos!
The best of both worlds!! These look awesome.
AWESOME,,,,,,,,,,,,Thank you.