In my mind, other than a macaron, the Éclair is the ultimate Parisian pastry. Even better, Éclairs don’t give you the toothache you sometime get from a Macaron. They are really nice with the crunchy choux and sinfully silky pastry cream. I admit that Éclair is one of my favorite dessert and one of my big enemies when im on a diet. Its really hard to resist an Éclair. Imagine a foot-long éclair over the top filled with pastry cream and smothered with thick chocolate on top. Sometimes you just cant finish it, sometimes it gives you wave of regrets. But you just love it. But when you make your own Éclair the only pain you get is the waiting and stopping yourself from eating the pastry cream spoon by spoon. So, see for yourself what happens…

Éclair
via Paris Pastry

- Pâte à Choux (see recipe below)
- Pastry Cream (see recipe below)
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 2 ¼ cups heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. With a ruler and a pencil, mark lines about 3 ½ inches long on the parchment, spacing them 1 ½ inches apart. Turn parchment over, marked side down. Fill pastry bag fitted with a ½-inch plain tip with Pâte à Choux; pipe along the lines on the prepared baking sheets. Gently smooth tops with a moistened fingertip to ensure even rising.
- Bake for 10 minutes; reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Continue to bake until pastries are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes more. Transfer pastries and parchment to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Place chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Heat ¾ cup cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until bubbles begin to appear around the edges, about 5 minutes; pour mixture over chocolate. Let stand 5 minutes, then stir until smooth. Let cool, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
- To fill the pastries, insert a wooden skewer into one end of each shell. (I cut the pastries side ways open and filled them using a teaspoon)
- In a medium bowl, stir the Pastry Cream to soften. In another bowl, whip the remaining 1 ½ cups heavy cream to stiff peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the Pastry Cream in two batches to lighten. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a ¼-inch plain tip, and pipe to fill with the whipped Pastry Cream.
- Dip the top of each Éclair into the chocolate glaze; let excess drip off, and place, coated side up, on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. (I doll-upped the chocolate glaze with a teaspoon over the éclairs) Refrigerate Éclairs in a single layer in an airtight container until glaze is set, about 10 minutes or up to 1 day.

Pâte à Choux

Ingredients:
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs, plus 1 large egg white

Instructions:
- 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 flour. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture pulls away from sides and a film forms on bottom of pan, about 3 minutes.
- Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until slightly cooled, about 1 minute. 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 remaining egg white, and mix it into batter a little at a time until it does.

Pastry Cream recipe

Ingredients:
- 2 cups whole milk
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped
- pinch of salt
- 4 large egg yolks
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Instructions:
- In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, ¼ cup sugar, vanilla bean with seeds, and salt. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a simmer.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, cornstarch, and remaining ¼ sugar. Whisking constantly, slowly pour about ½ cup of the hot-milk mixture into the egg-yolk mixture. Continue adding milk mixture, ½ cup at a time, until it has been incorporated. Pour mixture back into saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until it thickens, about 2 minutes. Remove and discard vanilla bean.
- Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixture fitted with the paddle attachment. Add butter, and beat on medium speed until the butter melts and the mixture cools, about 5 minutes.
- Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours or up to 2 days. Just before using, beat on low speed until smooth.