The Daring Bakers Make Chocolate Eclairs

I was thrilled when Meeta and Tony picked Pierre Herme’s chocolate eclairs for the lastest Daring Baker’s challenge (you can find the recipe on their blogs, or in his book Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme.)  I have been out of town, and have just found the time to get this post up today – please pardon the photos, too, as I’ve been so busy, that staging has been far down on my list of priorities!

I didn’t have any problem making the pate a choux, but I did have to bake them for about 30 minutes, instead of the 20 minutes stated in the recipe.  When I pulled them out of the oven, I cut a small slit in the side of the puffs to help steam escape.  I decided to make Pierre Herme’s chocolate pastry cream, which tasted great but was sadly lacking in the texture department.  I don’t blame Pierre, though, just my technique.  Because we had the option of using either the chocolate pastry cream or a chocolate glaze, I went with the pastry cream and a light dusting of powdered sugar. I also decided to fill a few of the shells with whipped cream, and those were very tasty, too.

My favorite part of the whole thing?  The empty choux shells!  I could eat those with nothing in them, I thought they were that good!    The eggy flavor that some bakers discuss did not bother me one bit in this recipe, so it’s something that I plan to make again.  Perhaps a filling of homemade vanilla ice cream?  Drizzled in fudge sauce?  Definitely something to think about.

To see what the more than 1000 Daring Bakers have been up to, be sure to check out the blogroll.