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Chocolate Eclairs
Shape cream puff mixture on well greased sheets in oblong pieces about 4 inches long, and 1 1/2 inches wide, placed 4 inches apart. As soon as they are done treat same as cream puffs. Ice with chocolate or vanilla frosting. When icing is cold, cut the eclairs on the side and fill either with whipped cream, a custard, or preserved fruit.
This is a companion entry to the book's cream puff recipe, so the paste itself is assumed rather than repeated. The critical points are the bake and the drying-out step folded into "treat same as cream puffs."
- The pasteCream puff mixture is choux paste: water, butter, flour cooked to a ball, then eggs beaten in one at a time until the paste falls from the spoon in a thick ribbon. It should be piped or shaped while still warm, not cold.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given at all, here or by reference. On a modern oven the usual approach is a hot start, around 425-450F for roughly 15 minutes to force the steam and lift, then a drop to about 350F for a further 20-25 minutes until the shells are deep gold and rigid; judge by the shells rather than the clock.
- The hinge: dry them outThe hinge -- "As soon as they are done treat same as cream puffs" throws the reader back to the cream puff entry, so follow whatever that recipe directs. In practice this usually means piercing each shell as it leaves the oven to release steam and returning them to a turned-off or very low oven to dry; shells left damp inside are apt to soften and sink.
- Greased sheetsWell-greased pans were standard here, but choux spreads on a slick surface. Parchment gives a better foot and no sticking, and needs no grease at all.
- ShapingA piping bag with a large plain or star tip gives more even oblongs than a spoon, and a star tip's ridges help the shell expand without splitting. The 4-inch spacing is not excessive; these swell considerably.
- Don't open the ovenA draught in the first fifteen minutes deflates the shells before the walls have set. Judge by colour through the glass.
- FillingsWhipped cream, pastry custard and preserved fruit are all suggested. Cream- and custard-filled eclairs must be refrigerated and eaten the same day; the shells soften within a few hours of filling, so fill as close to serving as possible.
- YieldWorking from a typical cream puff paste of about 1 cup water, 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup flour and three to four eggs, expect roughly 12 to 14 eclairs at these dimensions; the book's own cream puff quantities govern.