Éclairs with a Dark Chocolate Ganache and Coffee Pastry Cream

So, let me preface this by saying I bit off way more than I could chew on Saturday. I decided to conquer another one of my kitchen fears and make eclairs for a party that night, and also make cupcakes for a brunch I was attending on Sunday. Typical Amy fashion, I decided to make too much for the first time and just made everything really complicated. Maybe one day I'll learn? (If I tell myself this everytime but never change does it continually decrease my chances?)

I'll post about the cupcakes later, which were wonderful. But for now... The eclairs! They were very tricky! Which is both annoying and satisfying at the same time. I would say I was fine with how they came out as a first attempt, but look forward to continued practice to perfect them. I also had several problems while making them, resulting in me not bringing them to the party like I was supposed to, but instead bringing them to school on Monday two days later. Blurg!

I've made the basic components of an eclair before but never together: pate a choux, ganache, and pastry cream. I decided on a dark chocolate ganache (because, yum) and a coffee pastry cream. This is the first time I've tried to make a flavored pastry cream, and I ran into a couple problems. I can't figure out exactly why, but my pastry cream did not set. It could be because of the different formula, or perhaps I just did not thicken it enough. Either way, you can imagine my dismay when I went to pipe the cream into the eclairs as I was about to leave for the night and realized that the pastry cream wasn't set! Argggh!

To prepare for these pastries, I read a really awesome (if you're a nerdy perfectionist like me) tutorial online by Iron Whisk. It really breaks down the minute details of making the perfect eclair. Seconds blooper of the day: after reading very carefully and very carefully preparing everything, I realized that the recipe given only yields about 10 eclairs! Not enough for the party! Blurggers! (A new exclamation I'm trying out)

http://www.ironwhisk.com/2014/06/tutorial-eclairs-choux-paste/

Anyhow, I ended up ganaching the pastries on Sunday and filling them Monday morning. You shouldn't fill them until the day they will be eaten because otherwise they will get soggy. The shells definitely were not as crispy as when they came out of the oven on Saturday but I still got plenty of compliments at school (the teachers are my guinea pigs!). Someone even commented that they looked like they came from a bakery! I know I can do better, but to already give that "bakery quality" impression is a success. Despite all the frustrations!

Here I've compiled the recipies I've followed. You'll find numerous recipes for pate a choux out there, and they are all very similar, but I liked the recipe from Iron Whisk a lot. If you read the section about the pate a choux recipe the author explains why a mixture of water and milk is important, as well as sufficient salt and the correct type of flour. Fascinating right?! (Just nod.)

You can really have a lot of fun with these guys. Next time I make them if like to try a few different varieties at once with different colored ganaches. So pretty!

You'll need about 2 hours, not including the time needed for the pastry cream to set. That needs to be done at least 3 hours beforehand.

1. Make the coffee pastry cream. I followed this epicurious recipe here. You'll need to do this at least three hours ahead of time. This recipe makes enough for about 20 Eclairs. If you plan to use all of it, you'll have to double the pate a choux recipe below. Or half it! 

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/espresso-pastry-cream-4642

2. Make the pate a choux shells. Scroll to the bottom of the Iron Whisk Tutorial and follow step by step to make the éclair shells. This recipie makes about 10 eclairs. I could've copy and paste it for you… But now you might be more inclined to read through:)

http://www.ironwhisk.com/2014/06/tutorial-eclairs-choux-paste/

3. After the shells cool, pipe the pastry cream in to the pastries. I used a 1/4 inch round tip and piped from the 2 original slits I made into the bottom of the shells to keep it from deflating. Pipe until it begins to ooze out - there's nothing worse than a bare eclair!

4. Prepare the ganache. Heat 1 cup heavy cream to a simmer. In a bowl, put 4 oz dark chocolate of choice (I used Ghiardelli 60%) and 1 tbsp light corn syrup. Pour hot cream over chocolate mixture and let sit for a few minutes until. The chocolate is all melted. Stir to combine.

5. "Ganache" the eclairs. Place the eclairs face down into the ganache, rolling them side to side to cover the top fully. Using your fingers, wipe off excess ganache and make the side lines clean.

6. Top with your choice of garnish! I used chocolate sprinkles, only to realize later that I had some freshly toasted coconut sitting right there... A real missed opportunity!