Classic French Chocolate Eclairs & Profiteroles

Eclair or Profiterole is a classic French choux pastry shell with moist & sweet pastry cream (creme patisserie) / custard with a garnish of chocolate glaze / ganache.  Profiteroles are round balls whereas Eclairs are oblong in shape.

Classic French Chocolate Eclairs & Profiteroles

1. Servings: 16 Nos.

2. Time: 2 Hours

3. Difficulty: Medium

4. Print

Ingredients

For Choux Pastry Eclairs / Profiteroles

1. Milk – 120 ml

2. Water – 120 ml

3. Sugar – 2 tsp

4. Salt – 1/2 tsp

5. Flour (Maida) – 150 gms

6. Unsalted Butter – 115 gms

7. Eggs – 4 nos (at room temperature)

8. Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

9. Confectioner’s sugar – 50 gms

For Pastry Cream / Custard

1. Egg Yolks – 3 nos

2. Egg – 1 no

3. Unsalted Butter – 40 gms

4. Milk – 450 ml

5. Granulated Sugar – 100 gms

6. Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

For Chocolate Glaze / Ganache

1. Dark Chocolate Compound – 100 gms

2. Fresh Cream – 50 ml

Directions

For Choux Pastry Eclairs / Profiteroles

1. In a heavy bottom pan on medium take water and milk together

2. Add salt, sugar as well as butter. Allow the mixture to reach just simmer. Make sure that salt, sugar as well as butter melts in water, milk before it comes to boil

3. Meantime sift the flour and keep aside

4. Just when it simmer (first bubbles come to surface), take the pan away from heat, add sifted flour at once together.

5. Mix the flour well in milk & water mixture so that there are no lumps

6. Keep the pan again on medium heat while mixing the contents continuously

7. Continue to cook the flour mixture till any remaining water is evaporated (another 2-3 minutes). The indication to know the mixture is cooked is when there is skin formed on the bottom of pan, if using stainless steel pan.

8. Take the pan off the heat and transfer the batter to a medium sized bowl

9. Allow the batter to cool

10. Meantime, break 4 eggs in a bowl and mix well, keep aside

1. Pre-heat the oven at 190 degrees centigrade

2. Once the batter is cooled, add eggs in 4-5 additions while mixing the batter well with every addition.  Add the eggs until batter gets a very good sheen

3. Make sure that the batter doesn’t get runny. You can test the proper consistency of the batter when you pass your finger through the batter and the edges don’t collapse. Another test to check consistency is when your silicone spatula when dipped and raised straight from the batter forms V shape at the end of spatula

1. Fill the batter in a piping bag fitted with 1/2 inch french star tip or round tip

2. Line the baking tray with parchment paper. Spread little water on the paper surface using silicone brush.

3. Pipe 4-5 inch long eclairs on the parchment paper

4. I also made profiteroles by piping the batter in the form of small cones

5. Sift confectioner’s sugar on the piped eclairs. It will give good caramelisation to eclair surface

6. Bake the eclairs for 25 minutes

7. Open the door of the oven. Using tooth pick or a skewer, quickly prick each eclair on one end

8. Continue baking for another 10-12 minuets until eclairs turn darker golden brown. Bake the eclairs little longer so that they hold shape well

9. Once the eclairs turn dark golden brown, turn off the oven remove them from oven and quickly prick them from the other side using tooth pick or skewer.

10. Allow eclairs / profiteroles to cool

For Pastry Cream / Custard

1. Heat the milk over medium heat in a sauce pan

2. Meantime, in a bowl mix well 3 egg yolks,1 egg, cornflour, sugar and vanilla essence

3. When milk simmers, add half of this hot milk in the continuous flow into the egg mixture while continuously whisking the eggs. This is to temper the eggs which avoids curdling of the eggs

4. Add the milk, eggs mixture to remaining milk.

5. Continue cooking egg, milk mixture while whisking continuously

6. In 4-5 minutes, the mixture will start getting thicker

7. Continue whisking till custard comes to boil

8. Remove from heat, add the butter and mix well

9. Pour the custard in a bowl and immediately cover it with cling film making sure that the film completely touches the surface of the custard. This will avoid skin formation on top of custard

1. Allow it cool and then fill it in a piping bag fitted with a 1/4 inch round tip

2. Using small knife or small piping tip, make 2 holes in the bottom of the cooled eclair (only 1 hole in bottom of profiterole)

3. Using the piping bag, fill in the custard inside the eclair / profiterole through the holes made

4. Keep the custard filled eclairs / profiteroles on a plate aside

For Chocolate Glaze / Ganache

1. Chop the chocolate compound coarsely and put in a microwave safe bowl

2. Heat the chopped chocolate in microwave for 30 seconds

3. Take it out, mix well and heat is again for 30 seconds

4. If chocolate has melted and has a gloss / sheen, it is properly tempered. (If it is not melted then heat it again in stages of 10 seconds while mixing it well with each heating)

5. Pour fresh cream into the melted chocolate and mix it well

6. Shiny chocolate glaze / ganache is ready

7. Dip each of the eclair / profiterole (top side down) so that top gets covered evenly with ganache.

8. Keep chocolate coated eclairs on a parchment paper until ganache sets

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