Okay, I have a confession. If you couldn’t already tell, these are actually eclairs. Choux really only refers to the dough used to make eclairs, while eclairs are choux dough doused in chocolate and loaded with custard (an improvement if you ask me!)
But to continue my Alphabet Around the World Challenge, which has been neglected for far too long, I needed a recipe that started with a C, and Choux fits that criteria!
This recipe was actually very simple, although a bit time consuming, and the results were delicious! I’d shy away from calling any recipe with choux foolproof, but this one seems to be very close to that! 🙂
Alphabet Around the World: A, B, C
Choux Pastry Puffs
recipe adapted from here
- 1 cups + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- In a medium saucepan, bring the water, butter, sugar, and salt to a rolling boil.
- Once boiling, immediately add all the flour, and stir until combined.
- Continue cooking about a minute, or until it forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan (internal temperature should be 80 degrees C or 175 degrees F).
- Remove from heat.
- Allow to cool until 50 degrees C (120 degrees F).
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition.
- Put the dough into a pipping bag (or plastic bag with corner cut).
- Pipe the dough onto baking trays. They will puff up during baking so separate each piece by 3 inches.
- Spritz the baking trays with water, and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until dark golden brown.
- When the eclairs are removed from the oven, cut small slits into the sides to allow steam to escape.
- Let cool completely.
Easy Vanilla Custard Filling
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Bring to a boil a pan filled with about 2-3 inches of water.
- In a glass or metal bowl, whisk together all the ingredients except the vanilla.
- Place the bowl over the boiling water.
- Whisk for about 20-25 minutes, or until the custard thickens considerably.
- Remove from heat, whisk in the vanilla, and then let cool completely.
Chocolate Glaze
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- In a saucepan, heat the chocolate and heavy whipping cream until a smooth chocolate mixture forms.
To assemble the Eclairs
- Cut 3 slits in the side of each eclair. Twist the knife when you cut them to form a more circular hole.
- Place the cooled vanilla custard in a pastry bag (or plastic bag with corner cut), and then pipe into each slit until each cavity is filled.
- Either brush or dip the eclairs into the chocolate glaze, then place on a baking rack and allow to sit until hardened.
- Enjoy!
Chomps of Life 