Sunday, August 31, 2008

Daring Bakers Challenge - Eclairs!

So I skipped out on last months DB Challenge for several reasons but when I saw this months challenge I was definitely in - Chocolate Eclairs from Pierre Herme.  I've never made pate a choux, pastry cream or chocolate glaze so this was all new territory for me.  

The pate a choux (cream puff dough) came together really easily but once I put it in the oven it just didn't seem to want to cook all the way through - I took them out after 20 minutes (12 of them with a wooden spoon propping open the oven door) and they fell flat right away.  I tried to save them by putting them back in the oven and they stayed in there probably another 20 minutes or so before I gave up!  Some were perfect, some were still doughy - I don't know why!  But they all tasted great.  See how nice the ones on the upper left look?  The other tray (upper right) was all flat and didn't rise right - maybe it had to do with the tin foil instead of parchment?


The original recipes called for chocolate pastry cream but I made vanilla using this recipe from epicurious.  It was easy to make and tasty! 

To make the chocolate topping you also had to make a chocolate sauce.  Mine didn't come together right - it was too thin and didn't coat the eclairs like I would have liked.  The whole process was messy and I just made a big batch thinking they'd be great for a party tomorrow and realized that they're best served right after they're filled and will probably be soggy and gross tomorrow.  We'll just have to wait and see I guess!  

Here's the mess I made and the finished product. 



And no, celery salt and tomato aren't in the ingredient list.  I'm cooking a bunch of stuff for a friends party tomorrow and I just hadn't gotten around to putting those things away yet.  I think next time I make pate a choux it'll be savory.  Anyway - back to the kitchen I still have cookies and cheesecake to make!

I'm behind on my blogs and I still have to tell you all about the awesome Cutchogue chicken BBQ.  I'm hoping to get to it this week.

2 comments:

Emilie Roop said...

They look wonderful and I'm sure they tasted even better. :)

Anonymous said...

I'll vouch for them! They were the bomb...
I'm guessing the rest of the daring bakers also have very happy and fat partners...