Hi everyone, its Natasha of Natashaskitchen.com and on today's episode we will
master the art of eclairs. And there is nothing like homemade eclairs, filled
with vanilla pastry cream and dipped in chocolate glaze. We start with a classic
choux pastry. It sounds fancy, but it's really simple. In a medium saucepan
combine half a cup of water, half a cup of milk, 8 tablespoons of unsalted butter,
a teaspoon of sugar and a quarter teaspoon of salt. Bring that to a boil,
then take it off the heat and use a wooden spoon to stir in 1 cup of flour.
Once the flour is incorporated, place it back over medium heat and continue
stirring constantly for one-and-a-half to two minutes. You'll see a thin film
form on the bottom of the pan and the dough will be smooth. Transfer the dough
to a large mixing bowl and beat on medium speed for about a minute to cool
the mixture slightly. Now add 4 large eggs, one at a time, allowing each egg to
fully incorporate between each addition.
Once all of the eggs are in, beat the dough until it's smooth and a thick
ribbon forms when you pull up on the egg beaters. That looks perfect. Now transfer
that to a large pastry bag, fitted with a half inch round piping tip and this is a
great time to pre-heat your oven to 425˚F.
Now pipe about 18 to 24 inch long and 3/4 inch wide strips, keeping them 1 and
1/2 inches apart, to allow room for expansion. Bake those in the center of a
preheated oven at 425˚F for 10 minutes, then without opening the
door reduce the temperature to 325˚F and bake another 30
minutes or until golden brown. Transfer those to a wire rack to cool completely
while making your pastry cream. I'm using the real vanilla bean here and you
really only need half. Split that in half and then scrape out the seeds. Transfer
those to a medium saucepan along with 2 cups of whole milk and bring that just
to a boil, stirring to prevent a film from forming on the top. As soon as that
comes to a boil, remove the vanilla bean and take it off the heat. In a separate
large bowl whisk together 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of corn starch and a pinch
of salt. Add 4 egg yolks and whisk until smooth, creamy and lightened in color.
It starts out looking grainy and impossible and it does take a couple
minutes, but it will get there. See how that's really well combined. That's
exactly where you want it to be. Now, while whisking constantly, gradually add
the hot milk mixture in a steady stream until all of it is incorporated. Transfer
that back to the same saucepan and whisk constantly until it starts to boil then
whisk another 30 seconds until the cream is thick and pudding-like inconsistency.
And boy, does this smell good? Transfer the pastry cream to a
medium bowl and if you're using vanilla extract,
you'll whisk in two teaspoons at this point. Add four tablespoons of unsalted
softened butter and quickly whisk that into your cream cover with a sheet of
plastic wrap directly over the surface of the pastry cream. Let it cool slightly
at room temperature, then refrigerate for 30 minutes or until chill and because
the pastry cream is a make-ahead recipe, I have a batch that I made the other day
that is ready to go. Now that the Eclair shells are at room
temperature, I'm using a small, sharp pastry tip to poke two to three holes in
the bottom of each one. Fit a piping bag with that same tip and any tip that's
small and pointy and sharp will work.
Also to make your chilled pastry cream smooth again, all you need to do is whisk
it together. Transfer that to the piping bag and fill each eclair. Scrape off
any excess cream. If you've overstuffed, then chill those in the refrigerator
while you make your chocolate sauce. This is our very popular, two ingredient
chocolate ganache. Weigh out four ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips into a
small mixing bowl and cover that with half a cup of piping hot, heavy whipping
cream. Let that rest for two minutes, then whisk from the center outwards until a
smooth sauce forms. Dip the top half of your filled and chilled eclairs into the
chocolate sauce, allowing any excess to drip off.
Keep the eclairs refrigerated until you're ready to serve. All right, these
have had time to set and I cannot wait any longer. I'm ready for my Eclair! Okay,
let's take a big one. They're all big. This one looks promising.
Mm-hmm... and I'm gonna cut this in half because I want you to see what's inside.
Look at that perfectly Hollow, just like they should be and totally loaded. I
can't wait, I feel like I need an espresso on the other hand. These feel
fancy. Okay, here we go. These are so good! If you've never made eclairs at home, or
tried freshly baked eclairs, you just haven't lived! Oh man! I love that
combination of that semi-sweet chocolate and the crust is just barely sweet and
that filling... my goodness! You guys, this is quite possibly the best custard that
I have ever tried. I love the real vanilla flecks in there. It makes it feel
fancy, but it really tastes super good. Yeah, I'm gonna inhale this. If you guys
liked this recipe, give us a great big thumbs up below. Make sure to subscribe
to our Channel and we'll see you next time.
Hey, before you go, if you're looking for more ways to satisfy your sweet tooth,
check out some of our favorites right over here and there and click below to
subscribe. And when you do, click that little Bell icon, it looks something like
this and you'll get notifications every time we post a new recipe. We'll see you
next time.