Irresistible Eclairs

by greg patent
photos by kurt wilson

Why beat around the bush? Chocolate éclairs have it all if you’re going for broke with dessert. Forget sinful, decadent and all those silly adjectives designed to make us feel guilty when we eat something rich and joyful. How can you enjoy something if that demon “guilt” is taking up precious space in your brain? And how often are you going to wrap your mouth around a chocolate éclair anyway?

Ever since I was very young, chocolate éclairs fascinated me. Hunger for something sweet drove me to our neighborhood bakeshop nearly every day, and I almost always bought a cookie or a cupcake on my way home from school. Then one day something new appeared in the display case. Here were these golden log-shaped pastries that had been split; the bottoms were filled with something that looked very creamy and very chocolatey, and the tops glistened with a smooth, shiny chocolate glaze. I plunked down my two bits for one (remember, this was a long time ago!) and bit into it.

The crisp pastry yielded willingly to my bite. Some of the filling oozed out the sides, but most of it made it into my mouth. The contrast between the pastry and the thick chocolate custard was pure heaven. The gooey icing, less sweet but more intensely chocolate than the filling, made the éclair so irresistible that I gobbled the whole thing down in a flash.
I craved another but didn’t have enough money. I made a vow that from then on I’d save up and only buy chocolate éclairs. There was nothing in the world better to eat. If I could only make them myself, I could have them whenever I wanted. But they seemed beyond my 12-year-old abilities as a baker, so I thought I’d do the next best thing: Read about them.

At the time, we had just one cookbook at home, “Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book.” And wonder of wonders, there was a recipe for chocolate éclairs on page 231. I learned that the pastry was actually a dough used to make cream puffs (pate à choux). You just shaped it into cylinders instead of mounds.

But how was I to do that? The instructions said to “put the dough through a pastry tube or shape with spatula into 12 fingers 4 (inches) long and 1 (inch) wide.” What was she talking about? Pastry tube? Fingers? But the recipe for the filling was even more of a disappointment. There wasn’t any chocolate in it! The only thing chocolate in the éclair was the icing. And that wasn’t really IN the éclair, but ON it.

How could Betty Crocker call these chocolate éclairs? She should have called them Practically Chocolateless Éclairs. I felt completely defeated and cheated. I’d just have to keep buying them for now. And just as well, since I knew that was the only way I could have them as an everyday special treat.

It wasn’t until decades later, after I had my own kids, that I found what I consider the very best recipe for chocolate éclairs in “Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Chocolate Desserts” (Knopf, 1980). The pastry shell is the classic one for cream puffs – crisp, yet tender – and the filling is super delicious and chocolatey, a combination of a chocolate pastry cream and a chocolate Bavarian (made with gelatin). The glaze is fudgy and not too sweet. These chocolate éclairs were even better than the ones I had eaten as a kid!

Chocolate éclairs take time to make. But what you wind up with is a work of baking art that not only looks gorgeous but will make you shiver with pleasure. And what does the word “éclair” mean? A quick trip to my French dictionary gave the answer: “Eclair – a flash of lightning.” Now everything made sense. I had bolted down my first chocolate éclair with the speed of light. You will, too.

Greg Patent is a Missoula food writer and regular contributor to Missoula magazine and the Missoulian. Visit his website at www.gregpatent.com, or email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Kurt Wilson is photography editor of the Missoulian.

1 cup water
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (3 ounces), sliced
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (5 ounces)
4 large eggs, warmed in a bowl of hot water for 10 minutes

Put the water, butter, salt, and sugar into a 2 1/2 to 3-quart heavy saucepan and set over medium heat. Crack the warmed eggs into a bowl and beat them lightly with a fork. When the butter is melted, raise the heat to medium high and bring the liquid to a rolling boil, stirring occasionally. The entire surface should be bubbling furiously.

Immediately take the pan off the heat and dump in the flour. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the flour is completely incorporated and forms a smooth mass of dough. This is called a panade.

Reduce the heat to medium, return the pan to the heat, and stir and cook the panade for 2 to 3 minutes. Press and spread the dough with the wooden spoon to flatten it and increase the surface area to speed evaporation of excess moisture. The dough should film the bottom of the pan with a very thin layer

Take the pan off the heat and continue stirring the panade with the spoon for a minute or two to cool it slightly. Pour on about 1/4 cup of the lightly beaten eggs and mix them in. At first you’ll get a mess looking like lumpy scrambled eggs

But keep stirring and beating gently until the egg is incorporated and the dough becomes thick and smooth.

Continue adding the egg in three more installments, beating in each until smooth. After the last addition, beat about one more minute until the pate a choux is thick and glossy and holds its shape on the spoon with an inch or more of the dough hanging down 2 or 3 inches. The choux paste is now ready to use.

Adjust an oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Using a pencil and ruler, draw parallel lines lengthwise on a sheet of baking parchment 5 inches apart. Turn the paper over and set it on a heavy 14-by-17-inch cookie sheet. Fit the pastry bag with the plain tube. Fold down a deep cuff on the outside of the bag. To support the bag, put it into a tall bowl or glass and scrape the pastry into it. Unfold the bag and twist the top over the pastry. Holding the bag at a slight angle to the sheet, with the tube almost touching the paper, press out strips of dough 5 inches long and 3/4 to 1-inch wide, leaving 1 1/2 inches of space between strips. At the end of each strip, retrace your movement with a quick jerk to cut off the pastry neatly. Or, if you’re uncertain about doing this, use a small knife to do the job.

Bake the éclairs for 20 minutes at 425 degrees, and don’t open the oven door during this time. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking another 30 to 55 minutes, until éclairs are golden brown and crisp all over (including the sides, which are the last part to dry out). About 5 to 10 minutes before they’re done, reach into the oven with a small sharp knife and stab the tops of the éclairs in 2 or 3 places to release any steam. Cool the pastries on a wire rack. When completely cool, use a serrated knife to slice the tops off each éclair, leaving a deep case to contain the filling. Keep original tops and bottoms together. With your fingers, scoop out soft dough from the inside of the shells. Make the glaze.

Chocolate Glaze
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons water

Melt the chocolate in a small pan or metal bowl set into a skillet with a shallow layer of simmering water. Stir occasionally until chocolate is smooth. Whisk in the sugar and 3 tablespoons water until completely smooth and remove from the water. The glaze can’t be too thick or too thin. When you spread it over the éclair tops, it should stay put. Let the glaze cool for a few minutes, then adjust its consistency with droplets of water if necessary.

Pick up a rounded teaspoon of the warm glaze, place it on an éclair top, and spread it with the back of the spoon to cover the top with a thin layer. Let stand while you prepare the chocolate filling. The glaze will be shiny at first, but it loses its sheen when set.

Chocolate Filling
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup whole milk
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Sprinkle gelatin over the water in a small cup. Just leave it alone – don’t stir – as the gelatin soaks up the water. Melt the chocolate in a small pan or metal bowl set into a skillet with a shallow layer of simmering water. Stir occasionally until chocolate is smooth, and remove from the water.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar. Gradually add the milk, whisking until smooth and free of lumps. Cook over medium heat, stirring with a heat-proof rubber spatula, until the liquid boils and thickens into a thin white sauce. Cook 1 minute, stirring, and take the pan off the heat.

Whisk the yolks just to combine in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in half the hot sauce, then whisk the yolks into the remaining hot sauce. Set the pan on medium low heat and stir with a rubber spatula for a minute or two to cook the yolks and thicken the sauce a bit more. Don’t actually boil the sauce.

Take the pan off heat and whisk in the melted chocolate and soaked gelatin until very smooth and the gelatin is dissolved. Whisk in the vanilla and butter.

Prepare a large bowl with ice and water about 2 inches deep. Set the saucepan in the bowl and stir the sauce gently with a rubber spatula, making sure to go all around the sides and bottom, until it’s cool and just beginning to thicken. Take the pan out of the ice bath while you whip the cream.

Put the cream into a small bowl and beat until it holds a soft shape, not until it is really stiff.

The chocolate mixture should be thick like a mayonnaise. If not, put the pan back into the ice bath and stir until it is. Then beat with a whisk to make sure it’s smooth. Take the pan out of the ice bath and fold in the whipped cream. The filling should hold its shape when you press it out of a pastry bag. If not, refrigerate for a few minutes.

Equip a large pastry bag (16 to 18 inches) with a plain round tip with a 5/8-inch opening. Fold down a deep cuff on the outside of the bag. To support the bag, put it into a tall bowl or glass and scrape the chocolate filling into it. Unfold the top of the bag and twist the top closed.

Set the pastry case bottoms onto a kitchen towel and press out generous strips of filling to fill the cases. Then press out a second strip of filling over the first, mounding it high Set the glazed tops gently over the filled éclairs, arrange the éclairs on a tray, and refrigerate until serving time. Éclairs should be served the day they’re made.