Chocolate Eclairs

Another wonderful recipe from Elvira Cavallari are her famous chocolate eclairs. This eclair version is more homey and rustic than the perfect, pristine one you’ll see in glass display cases. In my humble opinion, I’ll take approachable and delicious over too pretty to eat any day. The recipe isn’t difficult, but there are three separate steps that can make it seem more intimidating than it actually is so don’t let that stop you. Start off with baking the buttery shells, then you make the custard filling and top it off with the chocolate frosting. It will make 30 small eclairs so you can serve them for a shower, holiday get-together or a small dinner party and just freeze the rest. They freeze beautifully!

Enjoy. They are definite crowd pleasers!

Servings: 30
Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
Difficulty: intermediate
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Ingredients

Shells

1/2 cup butter
1 cup boiling water
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs unbeaten

Custard Filling

1 package vanilla pudding mix (not instant) I used Jello Cook and Serve 3 oz package
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 pint (1 cup) heavy whipping cream

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup soft butter
3 oz. melted unsweetened chocolate, cooled
3 cups confectioners sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
about 3 Tb milk

Directions

Eclair Shell

In a medium pan over the stove melt butter in boiling water.
Lower heat and add flour and salt all at once.
Stirring rapidly, stir until mixture lowers side.
Remove from heat and add 1 egg at a time.
Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.
Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.
Allow to cool and begin making the filling.

Custard Filling

Prepare 1 package Jello vanilla pudding mix in a small saucepan on the stove using only 1 1/2 cups whole milk instead of 2 cups according to the directions on the box.
After pudding has reached the right consistency, cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour or until cool.
Whip 1/2 pint heavy whipping cream into pudding.

Chocolate Frosting

Mix butter and chocolate together. Blend in sugar. Stir in vanilla. Add enough milk until frosting is smooth.
Slice each shell lengthwise in half.
Frost each eclair with frosting.
Use a spoon to fill custard into each shell.
Refrigerate eclairs until ready to serve or freeze for up to 1 month.

Enjoy!

These were immediately eaten after this photo was taken. I have to make sure they pass the taste test! 😉

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