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 great idea… and for those who are considering purchasing a DSLR, this will prove to be very helpful too!
I’m in! I have a Canon Rebel. At one point in time, I’d read most of the manual concurrently with a digital photography book. (yeah, I’m nerdy like that) I found it only helps to know where to change the setting if you know the affect will be on your photo. I can’t wait to brush up and learn some new tricks!! Great idea!
This is a great topic! The flash is so frustrating. Do you want people to share about equipment and hacks that have to do with the flash? I have found that various ways of diffusing/bouncing the flash has the biggest impact on my photos.
As far as your food photos go, have you considered constructing a light box out of white foam core and a couple clip lights? It would allow you to take your photos even at night but still feel bright and cheery! Just an idea. 🙂
Amy – feel free to post about whatever you want. The point is to share what you’ve learned about how to make the flash work for you. I’d love to hear what you do when you use your flash.
I have considered a light box. I had one on my Xmas list 🙂 I’m just worried about storing it in our tiny condo. For now, I just wait for daylight but I would like a light box in the future.
Totally understanding the lightbox storage concerns. I’m thinking that I’m going to get some white foam core from the store today and play with making one that breaks down easily into a flat stack. I’ll post my experiment. 🙂
Yea Steph said she was going to make on today. This is the one I had on my Xmas list. I still might get it since it folds up.
Ok, I made a collapsible version of the light box today with your situation in mind. 🙂 Can’t beat that nylon one you’re looking at, but for $6 this one does a pretty good job! Thanks for the challenge! Here’s the light box.
Thanks for the heads up, Jen! This is JUST the kind of help I’ve been looking for when it comes to taking pictures. Great idea for Foto Friday! I’m really excited. 🙂