Chocolate Eclair's

I remember as a kid drooling over the chocolate éclair's in the bakery windows.  You would buy one and you got one of two things.  If it was just your mass produce it type bakery you got mock cream YUCK! if it was a real bakery they had either real cream or crème patisserie or if you were really lucky you got both!

Then I had an éclair in France when I was 17 and wow I have never looked back!  And I have not found a bakery in Australia that can compare to true French pastries.  I have this wonderful facebook page that I visit on a daily basis to see wonderful photos of France and they regularly have photos of the Patisserie windows full of their glorious wares.  Yes I do drool over them.

I had a little drama unfold in our house whilst making the Choux for the éclair's, we got a new kitten the same day and well it has been cat drama central since.  My first batch I took my eye off for less than 5 minutes and it went runny, so make sure that you have a drama free house while making the Choux at least.

 

This is Smudge, the cause of cat drama central.  She can climb on Lala's cooking stool but is too small to see over the bench.

40g butter
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup plain flour
2 eggs
100g dark chocolate
600 ml whipped cream


Pre heat oven to 220C.


In a saucepan heat water and butter until simmering.  Dump the flour into the saucepan all at once and beat with a wooden spoon over the heat. At this stage you are cooking the flour taste out of the flour.  Keep beating until this paste comes to a ball with no lumps,  when it comes to a smooth ball you can dump the flour mix into your food processor fitted with a steal blade or your mixer bowl.  I find the food processor is the easiest.  Add the lightly beaten eggs to the processor and turn on, allow to go for about 30 seconds to a minute or until mixture thickens and is combined.


Spoon mix into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip or a Ziploc bag, snip the corner off the Ziploc to desired size, remember choux almost triples in size.  Depending on the desired size of the eclair's, pipe to 3 inches for mini eclair's or 6 inches for large or Man sized.

Bake for 8 minutes at 220C then turn the oven down to 180C for a further 10 minutes, turn the oven off and allow the éclair's to stand in the oven for a further 10 minutes with the door slightly ajar.  Remove from the oven and cool completely.

 

To Ice just melt 100g dark chocolate and dip the top into the melted chocolate,  allow to harden.

 

When ready to serve cut open and fill with whipped cream.