- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Total time
- 50 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- EASY
- Calories
- 1320 kcal
Quick summary
“Classic French pastry prepared with hollow and crispy choux dough, filled with velvety semi-sweet chocolate ganache and finished with mirror glaze for a sophisticated dessert with contrasting texture.”
What you need to know
- Pre-cooking the flour in the pan gelatinizes the starch allowing uniform expansion by steam in the hot oven.
- The gradual introduction of eggs into the warm dough controls the exact viscosity to maintain the tubular shape when baking.
- Baking without opening the oven door at two hundred degrees ensures a firm hollow structure without risk of deflating.
Ingredients
Main
- 1 cup of water
- 100g of butter
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- 500ml of fresh heavy cream
- 200g of semisweet chocolate
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 100g semi-sweet chocolate
- 50ml of heavy cream
Instructions
Principal
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- In a saucepan, mix the water, butter, sugar, and salt. Bring to the heat until the butter melts.
- Add the wheat flour all at once and mix until a homogeneous dough forms, cooking for 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let the dough cool for 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one by one, mixing well after each addition until the dough is smooth and shiny.
- Place the dough in a piping bag and form strips of about 10 cm on the greased baking sheet.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until the eclairs are golden and cooked through.
- Let cool before filling.
- For the filling, melt the chocolate and mix with the heavy cream and sugar until you get a smooth cream.
- Fill the eclairs using a piping bag with a fine tip.
- For the topping, melt the chocolate with the heavy cream, mix well, and cover the eclairs.
- Serve and enjoy!
Chef's tips
- Add the eggs one by one and check for the ribbon stage before pouring the last egg so as not to soften the choux pastry.
- Let the baked éclairs rest with the oven ajar for ten minutes to dry the inside completely.
- Make two small holes in the bottom base of each cold éclair to introduce the filling without breaking the outer shell.
Variations
- Flavor the creamy filling with a tablespoon of strong instant coffee to create the traditional coffee version.
- Replace the ganache topping with white fondant decorated with thin shavings of tempered dark chocolate.
- Add a tablespoon of Grand Marnier or Cointreau orange liqueur to the warm ganache to give a noble citrus perfume.
Substitutions
- The dark chocolate in the filling can be replaced by milk chocolate, reducing the sugar dose by half.
- The heavy cream can be swapped for classic pastry cream patissière based on milk, egg yolks, and starch.
- The butter in the dough can be replaced by culinary margarine with a lipid content greater than eighty percent.
How to store
Keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to three days. Serve chilled or wait ten minutes out of the refrigerator so that the chocolate ganache reaches a fluid and pleasant creaminess in the mouth.
Can it be frozen?
Freeze the already baked and dried choux pastry shells, without filling and without topping, in a sealed plastic bag for up to ninety days. When ready to use, heat for five minutes at one hundred and eighty degrees to restore crispiness.
What to serve with
Accompany with a cup of unsweetened espresso, cappuccino with dense milk foam, a glass of red port wine, or a glass of amaretto almond liqueur to contrast with the intensity of the cocoa and the filling.
Frequently asked questions
Why did the éclairs wilt after coming out of the oven?
Were removed before the complete drying of the internal walls; keep in the oven until golden and dry.
Which tip to use to shape the éclairs?
Use a wide one-centimeter plain round tip or open star tip to create grooves that facilitate expansion.
Can I stuff in advance?
Fill at most four hours before serving to prevent the moisture from the cream from softening the crunchy crust of the dough.
How to prevent the topping from becoming opaque?
Keep the ganache warm when covering and avoid over-mixing to avoid incorporating air bubbles into the mixture.
