eclairs eclairs ECLAIRS!

while home over break, i wanted to take advantage of my fully equipped kitchen and bake something that i didn't think my tiny kitchen at school could handle.  i also wanted to make something brand new that i had never attempted before, and try it out on my family before i fed it to my friends.

i'd had a crummy day at work and came home one afternoon ready to bake.  for christmas from my lovely grandmother, i got a beautiful kitchen aid hand mixer with all sorts of fun attachments-- making the possibilities endless.  after a quick inventory of ingredients in the kitchen, i decided to make eclairs.

i was a bit intimidated to make eclairs because the dough is particularly finicky.  it's one of those things that has about a 10 second time window where if everything doesn't go exactly right, the whole batch is ruined.  but, fear not-- i made them perfectly on the first try-- which means you can too!  it really is much simpler (and less daunting) than i originally thought.  let's get started!

what you'll need for the dough:
1 c. skim milk
1 stick butter (room temp if possible)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 c. AP flour
3 eggs (plus 1 more in case you need it)

The dough is nearly fool proof, if you have all your ingredients out, measured, and ready to go.  It just takes a few steps.  First, in a medium pot, add your milk, sugar, salt, and butter.  Bring it to a rolling boil while you stir.

Now here's where you need to work quickly: when the mixture hits a boil, immediately take it off the heat and add your flour, stirring constantly and quickly until all the flour is mixed in.  Put the pot back on the heat and keep stirring the dough for about 30 seconds to sort of "cook out" the raw flour flavor.  At this point, i took my dough out of the hot pan and put it in a large glass bowl, spreading it out up the sides to help it cool.

*Note: why does this dough need to cool?  We are going to finish it off by adding eggs in the next step.  If you added cold eggs to a hot dough right off the stove, as soon as the eggs hit the heat, they would start to cook.  No one wants scrambled eggs in their eclairs!

After about 10 minutes of cooling down, its time to add the eggs! (and time to use my mixerrrr!!)  One at a time, crack each egg into the dough, making sure to mix on medium-low speed and incorporate each egg completely before you add the next one.  Depending on your dough, you might need to use 3 or 4 eggs.  After three eggs, if the dough doesn't easily fall of your beaters in a slow, but thick ribbon, add your 4th egg.   and voila!  you just made choux dough!  

pop this mixture into a piping bag, or a gallon-size zip bag and snip a small hole in the corner.  on a lined baking sheet (preferably lined with silpat), pipe small (or large) eclair shapes with the dough, about an inch apart.  

bake these beauties in the oven for 10 minutes at 425 degrees, and then back down the oven to 375 and bake them for another 15 minutes (keeping an eye on them through the door of the oven).  beware: do not open the oven door while the shells are baking!  if you do, just like a souffle, the eclairs will deflate.  you'll know they are done when they are puffed up and golden brown on the tops.  

while the shells cool, its time to make the filling.  you can make a serious custard filling if you'd like, but for me its too many calories and too much work.  instead, i took custard-flavored jello cook & serve pudding and reduced the milk from 2 cups to 1 1/4 cups to make the end product thicker.  at the very end, just before filling, i gently folded in some cool-whip to the custard for creaminess.  

now, to fill these bad boys, you can either fill them properly with a pastry bag and a tip, or just poke a hole in the front of the eclairs, pop your filling in another ziplock bag, and fill them that way.  

but wait, where's the chocolate?!  don't worry, i definitely made ganache :]  its a two second process:  take a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and melt them down in the microwave with a few tablespoons of heavy whipping cream (or whole milk).  Once melted, add more cream until it gets to a silky and shiny consistency.  either dip your eclairs right in the chocolate, or drizzle the tops! 

these will be a HUGE hit at a cocktail party, baby shower, birthday celebration, or just for a casual tea with some girlfriends!  i hope you enjoy them as much as i did!