Edit: Ugh! I set this to automatically post while I was in Europe and it didn’t. Wordpress must hate me.

It’s the end of the month and what does that mean for baker blog world!? The Daring Bakers challenge is due of course and for once I remembered to get it done on time! Since I lost track of time and missed the last two challenges I MADE SURE I had this one done early! Oh and it doesn’t stop there! Not only did I finish this challenge within the first week of July, but I also made it THREE times! I would have made these bad boys a fourth if I hadn’t run out of gelatin because the recipe is just that amazing. My family went through these so fast that they would be completely gone by day two. It was insane.

The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

Oh and I have decided that I’m going to try and start this new thing. You see, my favorite types of food blogs are the ones that try to capture as many steps as possible. I’m a very visual person so I love being able to see how everything is supposed to look as you go along. As fantastic as a final picture looks, I really love being able to tell if my mix looks correct and to see what kind of techniques others use so I want to try and do this as well. Beware, this blog is about to get rather picture heavy!

Begin by blending all of the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, then add the butter.

At a low speed, mix until it has a sandy look!

Add the eggs and mix until well combined!

Mold the dough into a disk-like shape (it really doesn’t matter), wrap in clingform, and chill for 1 hour up to 3 days.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease or line a cookie sheet. Lightly flour your surface and roll out the dough to around a 1/8th inch thickness.

Find a cookie cutter that’s about 1 to 1-21/2 inches and cut away! I actually found that I liked the cookies more when I used a 1 inch cookie cutter. They felt really big when I used a larger one, but whatever works for you!

Place you’re lovely little dough pieces on your prepared sheet and bake for ten minutes (or until golden brown).

Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature. On my second and third batch I spread a layer of peanut butter on each cookie. It made them taste even better!

Anyway, begin to prepare your marshmallow! I’d like to note that I found THIS video very helpful when making marshmallows if it’s your first time.

Now, in a saucepan combine water, corn syrup, and sugar. Allow to boil to the soft ball stage or until it’s around 235 degrees.

Dissolve gelatin in cold water. Remove your syrup from the heat and mix in the gelatin.

Whip the egg whites into soft peaks form! This should take a couple minutes.

Pour the syrup mixture into the egg whites and add vanilla extract.

Continue whipping until stiff and when it gets that fantastic shine. It’ll be slightly runny, but not too runny. It should be able to hold some sort of shape without turning back into a blob. Transfer to a piping bag.

Pipe a kiss on top of each cookie.

If you want a more uniform look there was another method suggested by Audax Artifex, which I tried on my second batch.

You can fill a tray with flour, icing sugar, or even cornstarch and loosely stamp your marshmallow shape into it. Then fill the holes with marshmallow and allow to sit for up to 2 hours or until stiff enough to move.

I found this method helpful to get a perfect dome shape, but I sort of sucked at getting the bottom flat so my second batch was still kind of funky. On my third try I used an open star piping tip and piped the marshmallows in a swirl.

Create your chocolate glaze. Line a cookie sheet with parchment and begin to dip your marshmallow cookies into the glaze one at a time. Use a fork to scoop them out and to allow any excess chocolate to fall off. The marshmallow shouldn’t melt. I did find that when I accidentally burned the chocolate the marshmallows melted almost instantly, but when done correctly they were fine.

Let set until the coating is firm (about 1-2 hours). I put mine in the fridge overnight because I happened to finish mine at around midnight each time. It was also insanely humid where I live so there was no way the chocolate would ever fully set at room temperature.

All done and boy were they delicious! I swear to you, that layer of peanut butter did wonders. Somehow marshmallow, cinnamon cookie, peanut butter, and chocolate all go so well together. I would never have known! I really want to try other combinations now!

Here’s the inside of the first batch without that fantastic peanut butter layer. I also made the mistake of making my cookies too thick. Woops! Still very delicious though.

In all, this challenge was fantastic. It’s not too hard, but surprisingly incredibly delicious and addictive. Your family won’t be able to keep their hands off these little cookies! Oh and don’t forget about the Milan cookies too! I never got a chance to make them, but from everyone elses pictures they looked amaazzzinnggg. Mmm. God I love cookies.

Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies

• 3 cups (375 grams/13.23 oz) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cups (112.5 grams/3.97 oz) granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 12 Tablespoons (170 grams/6 oz) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs, whisked together
• Homemade marshmallows (recipe follows)
• Chocolate glaze (recipe follows)

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Note: If you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Homemade Marshmallow

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) sugar
• 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 egg whites , room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.
4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.
5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.
6. Transfer to a pastry bag.

Chocolate Glaze

• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

Milan Cookies

• • 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

I know, I know, I’m an incredible slacker, but it’s finally time for an update! I have a few things that I need to address and then I’ll get down to business with my Daring Bakers stuff (because that’s really all anyone cares about)!

First off, I know I was super excited about joining Tuesdays with Dorie. I know I bought the book as an excuse to bake more. I know that I got lucky because they closed off membership. I know, I know that I should really be more active with it, but I’m just so busy with school that if I actually do want to bake on the weekends, then it’ll be something I’m craving and not a TwD recipe that I have to make.

I did, however, attempt the Thanksgiving Twofer Pie over break, thinking it’d be my amazing contribution to Thanksgiving dinner, but I failed miserably at it. I’ve never had a fancy for any type of pie so it was my first time every bothering to make one. The recipe sounded so simple; the hardest part was making the crust, which really wasn’t all that complicated (it tasted amazing by the way). However, when I took my pies out of the oven they weren’t, let’s just say, the most appealing things I’ve ever seen. Frankly, at least to me, they looked kind of disgusting, but my dad assured me that it was just funky because the sugar crystallized a bit on the top. No biggy, right!? Not quite.

I thought it’d be smart to have a taste test and although they tasted alright (the vanilla was a bit overpowering), they just weren’t worth it. My pies lacked the nice smooth, silkiness of a pumpkin pie and were strange and crumbly. Oh well! At least I can say I’ve made pie before!

Now, does this explanation mean I’ll make an effort to attempt more TwD recipes? Probably not. The recipes chosen for this month are actually appealing to me, but who knows how many I’ll get around to. (Plus my sister makes like thirty bazillion sugar cookies in December so I doubt I’ll be trying any cookie recipes)!

Secondly, I have a lot of recipes I’ve tried, taken amazing pictures of, and started posts on. I’ve just been too lazy to actually complete them. I’m not going to make any promises, but I’m going to try and them up because I’ve made lots of yummy things should definitely be shared with the world!

Okay, now for the only thing people probably care about, my cake for November’s Daring Bakers!

The fantastic hosts of this month, Dolores, Alex, and Jenny, chose Shuna Fish Lydon’s signature Caramel Cake, which was published in Bay Area Bites! Shuna, of Eggbeater, is a pastry chef that has been baking and cooking professionally for over 15 years. Along with this cake challenge, they also gave us the option to attempt Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels, which I would have loved to try, but I wasn’t about to buy golden syrup because I’d probably never use it again.

Now I must admit that I was a little intimidated by this challenge because I had never been successful with caramel in the past and am still not after making this cake. I actually almost didn’t even make this cake because I was so frustrated after failing FOUR TIMES at making the caramel syrup that I didn’t want to bother with it anymore. My first attempt became hard as a rock when it cooled. On my second try I was overly cautious and didn’t use enough heat, which caused all of the water to evaporate, leaving me with crystallized, white sugar. For my third try I turned the heat back up, but this time I cooked it for too long and it ended up being burnt. Sadly, after burning it, I foolishly repeated the mistake from my second attempt again.

After wasting eight cups of sugar I was ready to give up, but figured, “Hey I’ve come this far! What’s two more cups?” and decided to give it another go. This time I needed to be ready! I needed to have a clear vision of what I was supposed to be looking for while making the caramel syrup. I am a very visual person when it comes to baking and the recipe provided obviously didn’t include any pictures so I took it upon myself to watch multiple caramel tutorials on youtube. Let me tell you, they were incredibly helpful! I’d definitely suggest watching some for anyone that has trouble with caramel.

Most people seemed to stick to the basics when it came to this cake and didn’t get too fancy, but since I’m not much of a light frosting on light cake type of person I felt that my cake needed some chocolate. Between my cake layers I added dark chocolate mousse covered in a blanket of caramel syrup and then cheated by frosting the cake with a different caramel buttercream. The frosting we were required to use was more like a brown butter frosting and I absolutely hate how that tastes so I wasn’t about to use that. Finally, I poured a dark chocolate ganache over the cake and also piped it around the top and bottom.

In the end was this cake everything I hoped for? Not quite. I obviously have not yet mastered caramel and I think my syrup was a bit underdone because it didn’t have that amazing sugary goodness that caramel usually has. However, I wasn’t about to try again and my lame caramel syrup definitely caused the cake to lack flavor. Between you and me, the beautiful caramel syrup you see dripping down the sides of the cake in my pictures was secretly the kind you get at the store. I felt like the cake needed it added because it had absolutely no caramel flavor to it at all.

Overall my sad little cake was nothing to write home about and less than a fourth of it was eaten before being thrown out. From reading everyone else’s posts about how amazing this cake was I’m sure it was meant to be great, but it frustrated me so much that I doubt I’ll ever try it again. I’m so bitter towards this recipe that I’m not even going to post it. Instead you can go to Shuna’s post on Bay Area Bites or visit the DB blogroll and read the many posts about it.

Having completely missed last month’s Daring Bakers challenge, I could not wait to get started on October’s. I was even more delighted when I saw that this month’s challenge was to make our very own pizza dough! The crackers from last month seemed like a neat change from the usual sugar filled recipes, but pizza dough was even better! The point of the Daring Bakers is to challenge ourselves with recipes we wouldn’t regularly attempt, right? Pizza dough seems like such a common recipe, but for me it was far from being on the top of the list of things to try next.

Pizza dough isn’t really something I ever thought I would want to take on again. You see, I had made a very miserable attempt at pizza in the past, when I was completely naive to baking, and it turned out so terrible that I just threw it all away. Of course, thinking back on it, I realize the majorly stupid mistake I had made; I thought I could make an entire pizza from scratch within an an hour or two. Obviously, knowing much better now, that isn’t really possible when you want to make the dough yourself and I can now understand why mine had turned out to be a gross mess of tasteless doughlike mush.

Rosa of Rosa’s Yummy Yums hosted this month’s challenge in honor of Sherry, a daring baker that passed away in July, and I am now very thankful that she stuck to Sherry’s pizza dough idea. Where I live it is almost impossible to find decent pizza so I am now very glad to know that I can easily make my own and actually enjoy it. This pizza dough was actually so good that I wouldn’t mind eating it completely plain and I’m also pretty sure that it would make excellent bread sticks!

The original recipe for this pizza dough came from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread” by Peter Reinhart and Natalia of Gluten A Go Go also provided us with a gluten free version.

Basic Pizza Dough

Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter)

• 4-1/2 cups unbleached high-gluten (%14) bread flour or all purpose flour, chilled – FOR GF: 4-1/2 cups GF Flour Blend with xanthan gum or 1 cup brown rice flour, 1 cup corn flour, 1 cup oat flour, 1 ½ cup arrowroot, potato or tapioca starch + 2 tsp xanthan or guar gum
• 1-3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon Instant yeast – FOR GF use 2 teaspoons
• 1/4 cup olive oil or vegetable oil (both optional, but it’s better with)
• 1-3/4 cups water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
• 1 tablespoon sugar - FOR GF use agave syrup
• Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting

DAY ONE

1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).
2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.
   FOR GF: Add the oil, sugar or agave syrup and cold water, then mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough.
   
   NOTE: If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time.The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water. The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C.
   
   
3. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.
4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).
   
   NOTE: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.
   
   
5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.
   
   NOTE: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.
   
   
6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.
7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.
   
   NOTE: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil(a few tablespooons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.

DAY TWO

1. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.
   FOR GF: On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the number of desired dough balls from the refrigerator. Place on a sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle with a gluten free flour. Delicately press the dough into disks about ½ inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil. Lightly cover the dough round with a sheet of parchment paper and allow to rest for 2 hours.
2. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).

   
   NOTE: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.
   

3. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.
   FOR GF: Press the dough into the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter – for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough).

   
   NOTE: Make only one pizza at a time. During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping.
   In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully,then try again.
   You can also resort to using a rolling pin, although it isn’t as effective as the toss method.

4. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter – for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.
   FOR GF: Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.
5. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.
   FOR GF: Place the garnished pizza on the parchment paper onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for about 5-8 minutes.

   
   NOTE: Remember that the best pizzas are topped not too generously. No more than 3 or 4 toppings (including sauce and cheese) are sufficient.

6. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 5-8 minutes.
   FOR GF: Follow the notes for this step.

   
   NOTE: After 2 minutes baking, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180°.
   If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone or jelly pane to a lower shelf before the next round. On the contrary, if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone or jelly.

7. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.

For now, I’ve only made two pizzas. One for my dad with pepperoni and mushrooms and one for me with my unoriginal favorite vegetarianfriendly toppings of mushrooms and black olives. Both used mozzarella cheese and were sprinkled with a decent amount of basil and thyme to add some extra flavor. The rest of the dough was safely placed in the freezer for future pizza making fun.

Dad’s mushroom and pepperoni pizza. (As you can see he likes to layer the toppings.)

A piece of my pizza with mushrooms and black olives. Mmm!

After secretly stalking and anxiously awaiting the reveal of new challenges for months, I finally went and joined the Daring Bakers for myself! It was a good thing too because for this challenge we had to make chocolate eclairs, but not just any chocolate eclairs! Oh no, sir! These sugarcoated little creatures come from none other than Pierre Hermé, a famous and fantastically gifted French pastry chef that’s an inspiration for me and I’m sure for many, many more.

Before I go any further, I’d like to note that I wrote this entire entry and then Firefox screwed me over and I lost it all. Yes, Firefox, I am very angry at you right now! If your rival IE didn’t suck so much I’d probably make him my new best friend instead. WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THAT, FIREFOX!?

Anyways, this challenge was hosted by Tony and Meeta. You can go to their blogs in order to view the original recipe because it is incredibly long and I am feeling way too lazy to post all it. (However, do not let the length discourage you from making these eclairs because they are fantastic and definitely not as hard as they seem. In fact, I’d say this is was one of the easier challenges I’ve seen the Daring Bakers do so far.) Their posts are also much more graphic than mine would have ever been and having a visual is always a good thing when baking something foreign.

For this challenge we were allowed to change one of two things. We could choose our own glaze OR our own filling, but we couldn’t change both. I decided to change the filling because I hate having too much chocolate (although I definitely regret this choice). Instead of the chocolate pastry cream (which sounded deliciousss), I made a vanilla bean one. Also, because my favorite donuts are the ones with maple glaze, I made that as well to stripe over the eclairs.

I thought I’d really like this vanilla pastry cream, but it just reminded me of the pastry cream that they use in donuts, which I have never been a fan of. Actually, now that I think about, I’ve never really liked cream filled anything.

Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream

(From Joy of Baking)

• 3 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup granulate sugar
• 1/8 cup all-purpose flour
• Scant 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1-1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1. In a medium-sized stainless steel bowl, mix the sugar and egg yolks together with a wooden spoon. (Never let the mixture sit too long or you will get pieces of egg forming.)
2. Sift the flour and cornstarch together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste. Set aside.
3. Meanwhile in a saucepan combine the milk and split vanilla bean on medium heat until boiling. (The milk will foam up to the top of pan when done, so watch carefully.) Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. (If you get a few pieces of egg (curdling) in the mixture, pour through a strainer.) Remove vanilla bean, scrape out seeds, and add the seeds to the egg mixture.
4. Place the egg mixture back into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly. When it boils, whisk mixture constantly for another 30 – 60 seconds until it becomes very thick and it is hard to stir.
5. Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Cool. If not using right away refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days. Beat before using to get rid of any lumps that may have formed.

Maple Glaze

(From Pastrywiz)

• 1-1/4 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1. In a bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Gradually whisk in enough maple syrup to make a smooth, thick glaze. (I think I actually added more confectioners sugar than required.)

Although these eclairs were good, I do not think I’ll ever make them again, or at least not for myself. Like donuts, I am not a fan of anything cream filled and eclairs were no exception. I’m really not sure why that is. Maybe I just don’t like pastry cream?

If you’re really interested in making these for yourself I’d definitely suggest going to the Daring Bakers’ Blogroll and visiting some of the other blogs. Everyone gets so creative and I’m sure there were MANY variations to these eclairs that would suit almost everyone’s fancy.