Daring Bakers: Eclairs

August brought a new challenge from the Daring Bakers: eclairs! I was beyond excited. I've loved eclairs ever since I was a little girl. My mom claims making them, but I don't remember that :)

The recipe was to make 24 eclairs, and I knew for sure I did not want to be the sole consumer of these marvelous things. I decided to have a potluck and invite a few friends over. And then I set out to bake the eclairs.

The recipe, which you will find posted on Meeta's blog, was very straight-forward and I loved that I was able to make the chocolate glaze and the filling a day ahead. Both the glaze and the filling were easy to make and tasted delicious. In fact, I still have the leftovers sitting in my fridge...wonder how long they will last ;)

Then, on the day of the potluck, August 24th, after cleaning my apartment, scrubbing bathroom floors and making a white bean dip, I set out to make the dough for the eclairs.

The process of making the dough in a pot from milk, butter and flour was new to me, but seemed to work out well. Once I added the eggs, the dough seemed a bit thicker than I thought it would be, but I decided to go ahead and continue the process. Shaping eclairs was quite a "to do." And I definitely did not end up with 24 eclairs: more like 13 with a few random round ones.

Following Tartelette's advice, I froze the formed eclairs, and defrosted them while the oven was heating up. Once in the oven, the eclairs appeared to do nothing: I was worried. And then, all of a sudden, they browned and rose: they were gorgeous! I was thrilled and did a little happy dance.

But then, just as I was about to take a few pictures, they completely deflated, as did my mood. My mom thinks I did not bake them long enough. I was devastated. With no time to remake them, I continued with the recipe.

Right before deflation happened....

I cut the eclairs in half and discovered that the insides were still wet. The clock was ticking, my friends were coming over soon, and I wanted to nix the entire idea. Then I got a hold of myself. I put the cut eclairs back into the oven in order for them to finish baking.

I then used a pastry brush to "paint" the tops with the chocolate glaze, filled the other half with the filling and put the two together.

They did not turn out as beautiful as I had hoped, but the taste was definitely good. I think all my friends liked them (they even took the leftover eclairs home).

Here's a picture of a mini puff I made: I think they are "funner" to eat than a full eclair :)

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