chocolate eclairs

Total Time: 1 hr 45 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 10
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 6 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup flour
• 3 eggs (room temp)
• 8 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate or 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 8 ounces heavy cream

Recipe

• 1 pastry cream (make a day ahead and up to a week ahead): pour milk into saucepan, add scraped vanilla bean including pod.
• 2 sift cornstarch, flour and sugar into a bowl.
• 3 whisk egg yolks in another bowl.
• 4 add dry ingredients to egg yolk and whisk until smooth.
• 5 take yolk mixture, milk and butter to stove.
• 6 heat milk until just simmering, stir about 1/2 cup of milk into yolk mixture, pour yolk mixture into pan with milk and heat on med low until it comes to a boil.
• 7 stir constantly with wooden spoon.
• 8 let boil, stirring, for 1 minute.
• 9 turn off heat and stir in butter until completely melted and incorporated.
• 10 pour entire contents of pan thru a strainer into a shallow stainless bowl.
• 11 cover with plastic wrap, pressing directly on to cream.
• 12 chill until cold and firm.
• 13 pate a choux: preheat oven to 375.
• 14 place water, butter, sugar and salt in heavy saucepan and bring to boil.
• 15 add flour all at once and stir until mixture comes away from sides and forms a ball.
• 16 remove from heat.
• 17 put mixture in mixer with a paddle and mix on low to cool to warm, not hot.
• 18 add eggs one at a time, beating well to incorporate each before adding the next.
• 19 after last egg is added, beat until smooth.
• 20 with a piping bag and round tip, pipe mixture on to a parchment lined sheet pan.
• 21 you can make as big or as long as you want.
• 22 they will about double in size when cooked.
• 23 bake at 375 until they become,brown, light and hollow.
• 24 cool.
• 25 dark chocolate ganache: bring cream to a simmer.
• 26 pour over chopped chocolate, let sit for 2 minutes, stir until melted and smooth.
• 27 assembly: take finished pate a choux and punch a hole in one end with something like a chop stick.
• 28 put pastry cream into a piping bag with a narrow round tip and squeeze cream into hole to fill up pate a choux.
• 29 when ganache has cooled enough to leave tracks in itself when drizzled back into the bowl it is ready to use.
• 30 dip filled pate a choux into ganache to coat.