Eclairs, Because Chocolate Always Wins!

Seeley asked me a few days ago what I was going to make for my post this week.  I said I might do a breakfast something, but with Hubby being out of town it could possibly be overruled by chocolate.  Well, chocolate won.  Really, when you’re home all alone, what’s better than spending a few hours in the kitchen followed by indulging in some serious chocolaty goodness?  On the downside, just about every dish in my house is dirty now, and I’m going to have to work my way through the huge pile that is climbing out of the sink before Hubby comes home tomorrow.  Forget about that for now, though, let’s just stick with the fun part. 

Here’s what you’ll need for the pastry cream filling:

1 cup milk
⅓ cup sugar
½ cup cream
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 Tablespoon flour
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 Tablespoons butter

In a smallish saucepan, combine the milk and sugar.  Stir them together and turn the heat on medium low. 

In a separate dish, whisk together the cream, flour, and cornstarch.  It will be kind of thick and pasty. 

Add the egg yolks and whisk to combine. 

When your milk comes just about to a simmer, add a little bit at a time to the egg mixture, whisking as you go. 

When you’ve added ½ cup or so, go ahead and pour the whole thing back into the pan. 

For this part you need to stir constantly switching between a whisk and a spatula to scrape the sides and bottom.  It will thicken fairly quickly. 

When it does, pour it through a mesh strainer into a bowl. 

Use your spatula to gently push it through. 

Now is where you add your butter and vanilla.  I used a teaspoon each of vanilla bean paste and vanilla extract. 

See the little seeds?  I like the way they look, but I prefer the flavor of the Mexican vanilla extract, so I use them both. 

Cover the custard with plastic wrap, placing it directly on the surface, then cool and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. 

Next comes the pate a choux.  It’s pronounced like pot a shoe… basically it sounds like a sneeze.  I don’t speak French, so I have no idea what it actually means and I’m not going to bother looking it up.  In my world it means the pastry used to make éclairs and cream puffs.

Here’s what you’ll need for the pate a choux (bless you!):

½ cup butter , unsalted – otherwise omit salt
1 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups flour
4 eggs, at room temperature

Combine the water, butter, sugar, and salt in a pan over medium heat. 

Bring that to a boil and pour in the flour.

Stir with a wooden spoon until it comes together into a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan. 

Remove it from the heat and dump it into a bowl.  I’m using my stand mixer, but if you have Popeye arms like Seeley, you can definitely just do it with a wooden spoon. 

Allow it to cool for about 10 minutes, stirring, well smooshing might be a better word, every so often.  Add the eggs one at a time.  At first, it’s going to turn into a slimy, curdled, mess.

Keep stirring.  It will eventually come together. 

When the egg is completely incorporated, add the next one.  You’ll have to go through this process with all four eggs.  Eventually you should end up with something that looks like this. 

Scoop it into a piping bag with a very large round tip.  You can even just cut the end off of the bag and not use a tip if you don’t have one big enough. 

If you haven’t preheated your oven yet, now’s probably a good time.  Turn it to 425°.  I like little éclairs, so I piped lines about the size of a finger.  I also made little round piles which will be used for making cream puffs.  After this one, I also did a pan of larger ones.  Do whatever size you want, but keep in mind they’ll double in size.

I know, they’re a mess.  Don’t worry, just wet your fingertip and press down all the little points. 

See?  Much better.

Now into the oven.  425° for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350°.  Don’t open the oven door.  There’s magic happening in there. 

Cook them for another 25 – 35 minutes, depending on what size you made.  When they’re ready, they’ll be a nice golden brown.

Turn off the oven and prop the door open with a wooden spoon. 

Leave them in there for 30 minutes.  This is important to allow them to dry out so you don’t have collapsed, soggy éclairs.  After the 30 minutes, remove them to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Now it’s back to the filling.  Whip ¼ cup heavy cream until you have stiff peaks.  (am I the only one who still cracks up at that phrase?)

Pull your custard out of the fridge and mix it until it’s nice and smooth.  Dollop on half of the whipped cream. 

Gently fold it into the custard.  Down through the middle with your spatula, then up the side and over the top. 

Follow it with the other half, and continue folding until it's completely incorporated.  Scoop it into a pastry bag fitted with a more medium sized tip this time. 

Insert the tip into the end of each éclair. 

Squeeze the bag gently.  You’ll be able to feel as the cavity fills with pastry cream. 

For cream puffs, the tops are usually cut off. 

Fill that cavity with pastry cream, and put its hat back on. 

I decided to fill some of them with chocolate mousse.  I made about a quarter of this recipe, minus the add-ins, and put it into a pastry bag. 

Then just fill like you did with the cream. 

If you don’t want to use chocolate mousse, you’ll need to double the pastry cream recipe to have enough to fill all the éclairs.  When they’re all filled, place them into the fridge to wait while you make the ganache.  Place 1 ½ cups chopped chocolate or chocolate chips in a bowl.  I used milk chocolate.  Bring ½ cup heavy cream to a simmer and pour it over the top. 

Allow it to sit for 2 minutes, then whisk until it turns into a smooth, creamy consistency.  Take you éclairs back out of the fridge. 

See?  I told you I made bigger ones too.  Now take each one and dip the top side into the ganache.  Obviously you can’t do that with the cream puffs, or the tops will fall off. 

Allow the excess to drip off, then turn it back upright.

Then just place it back onto the pan.

What do you mean there’s one missing in the back corner?  Well, someone had to check and make sure they were alright… didn’t they?  Oh, they’re more than alright.  Perfectly tender shell filled with the most amazing pastry cream and topped with fudgy chocolate ganache. 

Mmmmm… creamy chocolaty goodness.  I’ll excuse you while you wipe the drool away. 

*If you're not going to eat these within 24 hours of making them, freeze them immediately and then just allow them to thaw at room temperature for 2-3 hours before you want to eat them. 

So what’s your favorite thing to make when you’re lonely?

Pea Soup... It's Green!

In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, I decided to make something green this week.  Now if you’re anything like me, when you hear the words pea soup, you automatically think of split peas.  Well, pea soup can be made with fresh peas and it’s a nice, vibrant green with the sweet flavor of fresh peas.  I used frozen peas, but with spring on its way, take advantage of the season and use some fresh from the farm or your own garden. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 lb. of peas, frozen or fresh will work
2 – 2 ½ cups chicken stock
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon dried dill
Juice of half a lime
Salt and Pepper to taste

As good as this soup is, it’s even better with homemade croutons, so I’ll show you how to make those first.  They’re so easy and delicious, you might never go back to store bought croutons again.  Start with some good bread, a baguette or some ciabatta work well.

Cut the bread into bite size pieces. 

I had about 4 cups or so of bread cubes.  In a large ziplock bag, put 3 tablespoons of olive oil. 

Sprinkle in ¼ teaspoon or so each of cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Feel free to change this up with whatever spices you like.  Mix the spices into the oil and add the bread cubes. 

Seal the bag and shake until everything is pretty evenly coated, then dump them onto a sheet pan. 

Place the pan into a 225° oven.  If you didn’t preheat, that’s not a big deal this time.  Just turn the oven on and put the pan in anyway.  You don’t want to cook the bread cubes, we’re just trying to dry them out so they’re crunchy.  It took mine about 30 minutes.  When they’re crunchy, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool on the pan. 

I told you they were easy.  Now let’s return to the soup.  Dice your onion and put it, with a tablespoon of olive oil, in a saucepan over medium heat. 

Sprinkle it with a pinch of salt and stir it around, allowing it to sweat for about five minutes.  When the onions are translucent, add the minced garlic. 

Cook that, stirring frequently, for another two minutes then sprinkle on the cumin. 

Stir and cook that for one minute then add the dill. 

And finally, pour in two cups of chicken stock. 

Bring that to a boil and simmer for five minutes, then pour in your peas. 

As you can see, mine were still frozen.  Either way is fine.  Bring it back to a boil and cook the peas just long enough to heat them… about two minutes.  Turn the heat to low and squeeze in the juice of half a lime. 

You could pour it into a food processor or blender at this point, or even eat is as is.  I pulled out my new immersion blender and went to town. 

Once it’s pureed, it’ll probably be a bit on the thick side. 

Stir in enough chicken stock to get the consistency you like.  See?  It’s green! 

Top it with a few of your delicious croutons and enjoy! 

What’s your favorite green food?