If you have sweet tooth, I bet you love French pastries. So far, I have never met anyone who love sweets but dislike a good French pastry. Delicious éclairs, citrusy madeleines, colorful fruit tarts, and delicate macaron cookies all sound mouth watering. Now, there are many French bakeries in Boston area, including Paul Bakeries from Paris. If you live around Boston, you can easily purchase those delicious French pastries. However, even though many American people enjoy eating the French pastries, when it comes to making a French pastry from scratch, it can sound a little bit (or very) intimidating.

Fortunately, I was trained by an extremely talented French chef, Chef Delphin Gomes, when I was at Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. I gained a solid understanding of the science behind baking and the skill sets for me to survive in the commercial kitchen when I was in CSCA. What's the first French pastry we learned when we were students? Pate A Choux! It may not sound familiar to you, but I'm sure you've had a cream puff, éclair, churros, Gougere, Paris-Brest or profiterole.

Typically, Pate A Choux dough contains butter, water, flour and eggs. Most of people have those ingredients at home. Now, go to check our your pantry and fridge. It's very likely you have all those ingredients, and you can start to make Pate A Choux right away. I have my Pate A Choux recipe as one of my pocket recipes. It is so easy to memorize. You just need to remember, "one one one one four."

Eclairs Recipe

Name: Eclairs Recipe
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Ingredients: One stick of butter (8 oz used a bench scraper to cut it into small pieces); One cup of water; One cup of flour; One pinch of salt; Four eggs; 2 cups whole milk; 6 egg yolks (can use pasteurized yolks ( 3 ounces yolks)); 2/3 cup granulated sugar; 1/4 cup cornstarch; 1 tablespoon unsalted butter; 1 tablespoon vanilla extract; 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips; 1 cup heavy cream (boiling)

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Servings6

AuthorMelissa Lee

Ingredients

Pate A Choux Dough

One stick of butter 8 oz used a bench scraper to cut it into small pieces
One cup of water
One cup of flour
One pinch of salt
Four eggs

Pastry Cream Filling

2 cups whole milk
6 egg yolks can use pasteurized yolks ( 3 ounces yolks)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Ganache

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream boiling

Instructions

To make Pate A Choux

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
Bring butter, sugar, salt, and 1 cup water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Using a wooden spoon, quickly stir in one cup flour all at once. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture pulls away from sides and forms a ball.
Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until slightly cooled, until you don't see any steam. Raise speed to medium; add whole eggs, 1 at a time, until a soft peak forms when batter is touched with your finger. If peak does not form, lightly beat the fourth egg, and mix it into batter a little at a time until the mixer is smooth, shiny and pipable.
With a pastry bag fitted with a start piping tip, pipe dough onto cookie sheet in 1 1/2 x 4 inch strips.
Bake in the preheated oven until hollow sounding when lightly tapped on the bottom. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To make Pastry Cream Filling

In a medium saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat.
In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the cornstarch and whisk vigorously until no lumps remain.
Whisk in 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture until incorporated.
Whisk in the remaining hot milk mixture, reserving the empty saucepan.
Pour the mixture through a strainer back into the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and slowly boiling.
Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. Let cool slightly.
Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming.
Chill at least 2 hours or until ready to serve. (The custard can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Refrigerate until 1 hour before using.)

To make Ganache

In a medium bowl, pour the boiling cream over the chopped chocolate and stir until melted.

To Assemble the Eclairs

punch two small holes under the eclairs shells
pipe pastry cream into the shells
dip top of each eclair into chocolate ganache; let excess drip off before turning over. Transfer to a wire rack to allow the ganache to set.

Notes

Once you have the basic pastry cream, you can always flavor it to your liking. For example, you can add some espresso powder and coffee extract, you can add some melted chocolate, or you can add some delicious alcohol, such as Grand Marnier or apple brandy. You can also use different kinds of chocolate to make your chocolate ganache. Just remember the right ratio is 1:1. One part of chocolate and one part of heavy cream. You can use white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, bittersweet chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate. I would highly recmmond using high quality chocolate for baking, such as Valrhona or Callebaut.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @cookingbeautifullee on Instagram and hashtag it #cookedbeautifullee.

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Melissa Lee

Cheif Entertainment Officer

Melissa is 100% MIT (Made in Taiwan), where she worked as a food writer. She’s also worked alongside renowned chefs like Ming Tsai and Joanne Chang, honing her craft and gathering stories along the way. Part story-teller, part educator, and part food lover, Melissa brings a special blend of experience, skill, and enthusiasm to her work. She blends her Asian background, her new home of New England, and love of food and culture to bring joy, optimism, and inspiration to food lovers and fun-seekers everywhere.

What sparked your passion for the industry?
The desire to make things by hand. The joy of sharing delicious, hearty food with students. The opportunity for people to get connected via cooking and baking. When a child smiled broadly and told me it’s the best scone he has ever made and eaten, it really made my day!

In your opinion, what’s the most important course?
Well, I usually take a peek at the wine list first. I like tapas style, so the course doesn’t really matter. Cheese and charcuterie are always a good place to start. And since I’m a pastry chef, there is always room for dessert!

Bill Gates is picking up your tab, where would you go?
Noma, Copenhagen.

How to Make Eclairs at Home: My Easy-to-Follow Recipes