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. 
A slice of this? Yes please!
Oh my…a slice? I’ll take the whole pan, please. 🙂
I am a firm believer in combining foods that are great. The photos are making me drool!
So amazingly decadent! I love these. So would my boyfriend 🙂
You should simply call these the “Yes, Please” bars.
Those bars look perfect!
Mmmmm, she said trying not to drool.
Yes please is right! I need to make these as soon as possible!
Yours turned out so pretty! I’m so glad you liked them! 🙂
Holy cow! I agree with your husband. I’d beg for those bars, for sure.
Oh, I say “yes please,” too! YUM! Those both sound and look delicious!!! A must make!
xxMK
Delightful Bitefuls
I’ve seen these around and each time I think, MUST bake, soon! This time around is no different except I AM going to make these asap. Thanks for the shove, I mean nudge! 🙂
~ingrid
I’ve made these before and I still think about them. Your pictures are beautiful. I’m adding you to my blog list!
wow! heavenly! –hoteles en veracruzt
I’ll take two! These bars look great. I am saving the recipe!
Wow, these look simply amazing! I think I would say “Yes Please” too!
i just printed this off. SO excited to try it!
My family would go insane for this! Newest follower here!
Lots of yummy love,
Alex aka Ma, What’s For Dinner
http://www.mawhats4dinner.com
These are some of my favorite bars! Yours look great 🙂
Oh wow, these look absolutely delightful! I could probably eat a whole pan 🙂 Happy weekend!
Sues
Yum, yum, yum! I could do some serious damage to those. They look heavenly.
I’ve been browsing your blog and these look delicious! Well, everything looks delicious but I’m a cheesecake girl and my husband is definitely a chocolate chip cookie kind of guy so I can’t wait to try these!
I made these last week. They were amazing!