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Chocolate eclairs

This might appear to be a straightforward recipe: choux pastry, chocolate confectioner's custard and fondant icing, but in practice it is quite technically tricky and all three stages need care to produce a perfect result.
But don't let that discourage you; there are demonstration videos and I will take you through the whole process, paying particular attention to the most difficult stages.

193,907 34.4/5 for 36 ratings

Last modified on: February 6^th 2011

For 20 eclairs, you will need:

1 250 ml milk
2 3 egg yolks
3 20 g caster sugar
4 20 g cornflour
5 80 g chocolate
6 70 ml milk
7 70 ml water
8 60 g butter
9 70 g flour
10 2 eggs
11 ½ teaspoon salt
12 1 teaspoon caster sugar
13 250 g fondant icing
14 1 teaspoon powdered cocoa
Total weight: 1,063 grams

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Measures:

How long does it take?

Time required

Preparation	Resting	Cooking	Start to finish
2 hours 37 min.	50 min.	25 min.	3 hours 52 min.

At what time?

When will I finish if I start the recipe at a certain time?
When should I start for the recipe to be ready at a certain time?

Work this out...

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 35 min.

Prepare a confectioner's custard (crème pâtissière) with 250 ml milk, 3 egg yolks, 20 g caster sugar et 20 g cornflour. Stop cooking as soon as it begins to thicken, there's no need to overcook it.

You will notice that this recipe is less sweet than the usual version. This is because we will be adding chocolate.

As soon as the custard is cooked, tip in 80 g chocolate broken into small pieces (you can also use chocolate chips).

Stage 2 - 20 min.

Mix thoroughly until you have a prefectly smooth chocolate custard.

Cover and leave to cool with the base of the pan standing in cold water to speed this up.

Set aside.

Stage 3 - 35 min.

Prepare a choux pastry with 70 ml milk, 70 ml water, 60 g butter, 70 g flour, 2 eggs, ½ teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon caster sugar.

Stage 4 - 5 min.

Cut a sheet of cooking parchment to the size of your baking sheet, and mark lines with a ruler about 8 cm (3 inches) long, a few centimeters apart.

These are to help you pipe the eclairs to the right length.

Stage 5 - 2 min.

Turn the sheet over and fix it at the 4 corners.

Preheat the oven to 210°C (420°F).

Stage 6 - 10 min.

Using a forcing bag with a n°10 (10 mm diameter) nozzle, pipe "sausages" of choux pastry 8 cm long following the marks you have drawn.

Stage 7 - 5 min.

Round off the inevitable imperfections with the back of a small spoon dipped in milk.

Stage 8 - 20 min.

Continue until all the choux pastry has been used up, preparing more sheets if necessary. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the eclairs are golden.

Stage 9 - 30 min.

Remove from the sheet and leave to cool on a rack.

Stage 10

Now comes the first tricky stage: filling the eclairs with the chocolate custard.

Use a new forcing bag with a special "filling" nozzle.

Stage 11

When you have filled the bag with custard, take an eclair in your hand and at one end on the top surface, push the nozzle the full length (in the direction of the arrow).

Note: By piercing the top with the nozzle, the hole will be covered by the icing, leaving a perfectly smooth eclair.

Stage 12

Press on the bag to inject the custard, and at the same time, withdraw the nozzle gradually while continuing to fill.

Stage 13

Finish by removing the nozzle when the eclair is completely filled with custard (if it overflows a little, that's normal and shows that it is properly filled).

Stage 14

The short video opposite shows how to fill your eclairs.

Stage 15 - 30 min.

Do this for all the eclairs.

Stage 16 - 5 min.

Melt 250 g fondant icing in a bain-marie while stirring. If you have a thermometer, check that the temperature does not exceed (or barely) 40°C (104°F).

Stage 17 - 5 min.

At this point add 1 teaspoon powdered cocoa and continue stirring until you have a smooth brown icing.

Stage 18

Now comes the second tricky stage: icing.

Remove the bowl of icing from the bain-marie and place on a tea-towel folded in 4.

Take an eclair and dip the top in the icing.

Stage 19

Lift the eclair and turn it to remove any excess icing, then stand it level immediately as the icing sets very quickly.

Stage 20

The short video opposite shows how to ice your eclairs.

Stage 21 - 30 min.

Do this for all the eclairs.

Keep in the fridge, but take them out an hour before serving so that they are not too cold.

Remarks

You might well be surprised to see that your icing doesn't have the same deep chocolate colour as on eclairs that you buy, but I think commercial bakers must use a special colouring to achieve this (too) rich colour.

You can vary the flavours and make classic coffee eclairs, of course, but give your imagination free rein. I recommend you try lemon eclairs (lemon-flavoured custard and yellow icing), surprising with their yellow colour and, above all, their distinctive taste.

Nutritional information

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).

Source

Home made

More recipes?

This recipe uses (among others)

	Fondant icing: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Chinois, Arizona cupcakes, ... All
	Milk: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Dipping bread with cheese, Mouna, Chocolate tart, Savoury mini-madeleines with 2 cheeses, Lemon Confectioner's Custard, ... All
	Chocolate: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Chocolate cream with a crunch, irish coffee mousse, Chocolate thins with toasted nuts, Chocolate tart, Moist chocolate cake, Chocolate sauce, ... All
	Water: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Mustard baps, Bacon rolls, Quick chicken curry, Natural leaven, Butter cream, ... All

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Your 3 comments or questions on this recipe

Dear, JH, I have never been able to "master" the art of choux pastry. But, your steps may just change that. Thank you so much for sharing. They look heavenly...
Posted by Louise february 15^th 2011 at 13:43 (n° 1)
How to fill ice cream instead of custard?
Posted by Anonymous august 1^st 2012 at 16:03 (n° 2)
Same way, but you should cut choux pastry in two before putting ice cream in. Maybe you are talking about profiteroles?
Posted by jh august 1^st 2012 at 16:52 (n° 3)

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