I made eclairs a few years ago and they didn’t quite turn out. We had some friends over who wanted to learn how to make them so he and my husband had a little tutorial. While I didn’t actually make the eclairs pictured I “oversaw” the whole process to ensure quality control (😉) and making notes as they went.

Start by making the pâte à choux which is just boiling the milk, water, butter, salt, and sugar together, then stirring in flour and cooking it on the stove for a few minutes until it leaves a bit of a film on the pan. This takes 5 minutes and you have to constantly stir the mixture so prepare for your arm to get tired unless you do a lot of arm workouts.

From there, you’ll blend in the eggs and once the dough cools a bit, pipe it onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. This was the part our friend was most apprehensive about, but they looked great! The key is to push the dough out from the top of the piping bag. They used a dough scraper to ensure they were all the same length. Then you’ll bake these until they’re golden brown.

While those are baking or cooling, you can make the diplomat cream — which is just a fancy name for pastry cream folded with whipped cream. First you’ll whisk eggs and cornstarch, then boil milk and cream with sugar, salt, and vanilla. You’ll temper the egg mix with some of that hot milk, then cook it all together until it thickens. Let it cool, add butter, then once it’s completely chilled, fold in whipped cream. Note: You can make this part the day before if you want. If you’re in a pinch for time then you can also use vanilla instant pudding mixed with a little table salt, vanilla paste, and whipped cream. It’s not quite as rich but we made multiple batches over the course of two days so it was easier.

Once your eclairs are cool to the touch, poke little holes in the bottom to let the steam out so they don’t get soggy. When they’re fully cool you’ll fill them with the cream. For the ganache, you’ll mix equal parts chocolate and heavy cream and then one quarter part of corn syrup. We used a loaf pan for the ganache to make dipping the eclairs in. Ideally you’ll let these set up before eating but sometimes you need to do a little taste test.

While I’ve only made eclairs once, my husband has made them a few times and said this particular recipe was his favorite. The eclair shells got nice and crispy making it less likely for the eclairs to get soggy. Very very good and we will for sure make these again!

Baking Ease	8
Time Spent	8
Taste	10
Visual	10

Recipe Used: Helen Rennie