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E is for Eclairs


When it's a dessert day, Spencer will unload the dishwasher without whining. We cleaned up the kitchen, cleared off the countertops, got out the step stools, and put on our aprons. After measuring the flour, salt, and water, we realized that I haven't been shopping since before spring break and my butter supply was gone. So we put on our shoes and went to go buy some. Since we were out anyway, we went ahead and did all the errands.  By the time we were home, Julie was hungry and tired. We fed her lunch and let her take a nap. I'm a little sad that she didn't do this project with us, but she was not disappointed to wake up to fresh eclairs.





Spencer felt really strongly about cutting the butter into three pieces before adding it to the water. I'm not sure where he came up with this idea, but he was adamant that it was necessary. The eclairs turned out pretty good, so maybe he knows something I don't.

I tried to take a shortcut for the filing and use a box of instant chocolate pudding. It wasn't quite enough to fill all the eclairs, so I ended up making real vanilla pudding for the rest. Those were significantly better. Next time I'll skip the instant pudding and just start with the real thing. -L



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I thought Isaac would get bored with this multi-step recipe, but he stuck with it.  Vanilla pudding or pastry cream is typically used to fill eclairs, but we opted for a chocolate filling.  It involved pasteurizing eggs, and so we used our infrared thermometer.  It is his new favorite kitchen tool/toy.  He wanted to check the temperature of everything, all afternoon.  Then I caught him trying to sneak it up to his room.



When it was time to assemble the eclairs I thought it would be easiest to put the chocolate glaze in a squeeze bottle.  Unfortunately, a small piece of chocolate got stuck in the opening and caused Isaac to have to squeeze extra hard.  He squeezed so hard the top popped off and chocolate exploded all. over. everything.   Dipping the eclairs in the glaze ended up being a much better option.  -H




Printable Recipe here

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