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.