Éclairs & profiteroles
- Charlotte Pedersen
- Jun 18, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 3, 2024
Take 3
Recipe
No changes here. I used the same choux pastry and crème diplomate as take 2.
How it turned out
Third time is the charm! Once I adjusted the size, everything came together.
What I learned
They will grow in size a lot. Trying to heed my advice from the last attempt, I made sure to pipe 3" long, 1" thick éclairs. On the baking sheet, they looked so small. But I trusted the process, and sure enough, they puffed up to be the perfect sized éclairs.
Crème diplomate has a short shelf-life. I had extra filling, but because of the whipped cream, it only lasts about 5 days in the fridge. And because of the corn starch, you can't freeze it. I ended up throwing out about a quarter of the batch because it was too liquidy. Next time, I'll make slightly less or consider another quick dessert I can use it for so it doesn't go to waste.
Bad piping is easily fixed. I was having a hard time piping clean lines for the éclairs. I would flick the piping bag quickly when I finished a 3" line, but it gave the éclairs a long rounded tail. Eventually I learned that pressing the tip of the piping bag into the baking sheet cut the line cleanly. I also learned I could easily clean up the misshapen lines in the egg wash stage — brushing them generously with egg first so it doesn't stick, and using a fork to manipulate the shape back into a clean line.
Take 2
Recipe
Same as below, except this time I piped them bigger. I baked them for about 10 minutes longer because of the larger size.
I also made crème diplomate for the filling:
Make 1/2 portion of crème pâtissière via Claire Saffitz - "Dessert Person"
Make stabilized whipped cream:
1/2 the amount of heavy cream as whole milk used in the crème pâtissière (in this case, 1/2 cup heavy cream to 1 cup whole milk)
1 tbsp of vanilla pudding powder for every 1 cup of cream (in this case 1/2 tbsp)
1/4 cup of powdered sugar for every 1 cup of cream (in this case, 1/8 cup)
Take crème pâtissière out of fridge and whip in a stand mixer until smooth
Add in 1/3 of whipped cream. Keep mixing until incorporated
Add remaining whipped cream. Mix until incorporated
How it turned out
I loved the crème diplomate. It still had some richness from the pastry cream, but the whipped cream made it so soft and light. It was also able to fill the shells more fully.
This will be my go-to filling from now on.
What I learned
Bigger is not better. I piped them longer and fatter this time. I think the 4" length was good, however I would change a few things with the width. In order to get them fatter, I cut the hole to be 1" wide, but I also piped much slower to get the dough to widen out in the middle. I think the 1" diameter would have been fine if I just piped as normal, without trying to manipulate the width even more with my piping pressure. Because they were so fat, many of them collapsed in the middle once they were taken out of the oven.
Scoring is critical. The éclairs expanded in the oven and developed cracks along the sides and tops, making them resemble baguettes. I think this happened because it wasn't scored well enough to control the direction of the rise. Next time, I'd either find a 1" star tip, or make sure that when I score with my fork, I do so very well.
Make more filling. I didn't want to have a lot of extra filling, because the leftovers only last a few days in the fridge, and I wanted to minimize waste. I figured I could halve the pastry cream amount since I was adding whipped cream to the pastry cream. However, I only had enough diplomat cream for half of the shells. (Perhaps because I could pipe more into each one?) At any rate, next time I'll make a full batch of filling.
An even bake is key. Likely due to other reasons mentioned above (size and scoring), the éclairs in the middle of my tray collapsed once taken out of the oven, while the ones on the outside held their shape. I think next time I'll put less éclairs on a sheet and bake them lower in the oven to be sure they all bake evenly. I also won't be opening the oven until at least 30 mins in, so I don't prematurely let out steam.
Take 1
Recipe
Pâte à choux & crème pâtissière
Claire Saffitz - "Dessert Person" With help from Claire's YouTube videos for technical tips and visual cues:
Chocolate ganache glaze
^ Substituting honey for corn syrup.
How it turned out
I am so pleased! There were minor things I'd do differently, but a huge success overall.
I was particularly interested to try this recipe because it consists of 3 classic baking elements that I haven't made before. So it was great to have all 3 work out and come together well. It opens a lot of doors to try new things with choux pastry, pastry cream, or ganache.
What I learned
Preparation is key. Having the baking sheets prepped with lines to follow and circles to pipe within took the guesswork out of a very crucial step. It's timely, but worth it.
Pipe large choux. Piped at a 1/2" diameter, the puffs were the perfect size. But the éclairs were a little skinny and short. I think I should have cut it to 1" (instead of 3/4") and really took my time dragging the dough so they got a little fatter. I also think next time I'd make them 4" long instead of 3". Practice will make perfect when it comes to piping consistent pastries.
Make small holes. I used a 1/2" piping tip to poke the holes into the bottoms of my pastries. The holes were a little too big, because when you bit into the filled pastries, the cream would get squeezed out. I think I'll go smaller next time.
Pick the type of cream you like best. I learned you can choose what kind of filling you'd like to pipe into your choux:
Pastry cream - which I used and was delicious. But I would need to make a double batch to fill all of the choux.
A fortified whipped cream, like what I use for my vanilla swiss rolls.
A combination of the two (aka crème diplomat).
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