Thursday, December 4, 2014

eclairs!


I love eclairs. Year ago I made them completely from scratch and practically ate all of them by myself (hence the reason it's been years since I made them again). So when the ABC challenge was to make eclairs with chocolate pastry cream I was instantly excited. 


I've only ever made vanilla pastry cream, and as I read through the recipe I was secretly chiding myself for never making chocolate pastry cream before. I mean, I have a serious love for chocolate, so this should've been a no-brainer. 


I followed the recipe exactly, although I made my eclairs a bit smaller so I got 20 eclairs rather than just 12. The pate a choux dough recipe was different than what I'm used to, but it was fine. I don't think I'd use again though because it was a bit dry (although that could be because I made them small). 


Overall, the chocolate pastry cream was divine on it's own, but once the chocolate ganache was on top all the flavors became one, like a blur. Therefore, I still prefer a vanilla pastry cream over a chocolate pastry cream; I just love that combination of vanilla with dark chocolate.



I didn't really tweak any of the recipes because I wanted to try making it exactly as directed. Here are the links for the chocolate pastry cream and for the pate a choux dough (which will also make cream puffs!).


And as a side note, my husband and I took a minication up to Vermont and just happened to be staying near the King Arthur Flour store and bakery. I thought this was an appropriate picture since this year the ABC Challengers have been baking exclusively from King Arthur Flour. 

13 comments:

  1. Nice post! The food looks delicious.
    The person on the label in last photo looks familiar somehow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mark, and yes it's funny how that label does look familiar ;)

      Delete
  2. Your first photo has me craving one - gorgeous! I'll have to make them again soon. And I love the photo of you at KAF. Did you stock up on their products?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Zosia! And yes, I did buy quite a few things- all wonderful!

      Delete
  3. Looks mouthwatering!! Love the photos. Love your KAF picture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Judy, yes it was fun taking that pic at KAF and I thought everyone would appreciate it.

      Delete
  4. Funny thing about eclairs -- one makes you want more and two make you sorry!! I didn't even want to temp myself -- I made a tiny batch!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's so true- eclairs are dangerous little pastries. I was smart this time, I shared (almost!) all of them ;)

      Delete
  5. So jealous about your trip to KAF and your chocolate eclairs. I used traditional vanilla filling but yours make me wish I had been daring.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was fun trying the chocolate custard and has made me want to try different flavors like butterscotch or caramel... yum!

      Delete
  6. I love your KAF picture. The KAF store, bakery and school are among my favorite places to visit and linger. Glad you were there too!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lucky you!! I'd love to visit the KAF store sometime. Great picture, btw. I love your eclairs. They turned out so pretty. I can see why you would like the contrast between the vanilla pastry cream and the chocolate ganache. Although to me there's no such things as "too chocolaty", that's definitely one thing my hubby commented on.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mouthwatering. It looks absolutely decadent!

    ReplyDelete