Chocolate Eclairs | Baking with Dorie

The name éclair means “flash of lightning;” they are elongated. (I like word games, such as Wordle and Spelling Bee, so any word trivia would get my attetion.) In general, you can call them cream puffs, which come in different shapes and forms. There are quite a few of cream puff recipes in Baking with Dorie and we’ve done several of them. Here Dorie’s chocolate eclairs uses cocoa powder for the pastry shells. She fills the éclairs with chocolate pastry cream and top them with a chocolate glaze.

I won’t want to follow the same script. What I do differently is to fill the shells with whipped cream aerated with a whipping siphon. It’s fast to do but a little tricky to get it right (like proper chilling and shaking). I’ll take it like another day in the test kitchen. The results show: the éclairs look sloppy and the kitchen is an utter mess. However, the chocolate éclairs are delicate and irresistible.

If there is one thing I’d change about the dough: the use of bread flour or the combination of all-purpose and whole-wheat flour will result in a sturdier shell. A sturdier shell also means a firmer surface on which the glaze can easily spread and a crispier texture that I prefer. More like this.

Here is a list of key reminders in making the éclairs:

• The dough/batter roughly adheres to a ratio of two-part water, one-part butter, one-part flour and two-part egg (plus salt for flavor) by weight.
• Combining water, butter and flour with heat on the stovetop until the starch gelatinizes, the mixture quickly becomes stiff and dough-like. Dorie says: “You must dry the dough — it’s what makes it puff in the oven.”
• Eggs are beaten in gradually until the dough thins out and forms something more like a batter. A mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment) is preferred in beating the eggs into the dough for a better rise.
• It’s best to shape the dough as soon as it’s made.
• Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes. When they were done baking, turn off the heat and leave the shells in the oven for 10-15 minutes with the door ajar.