One of the dessert ideas that had been nagging me was finally brought to fruition Monday before last: chocolate éclairs from scratch. I've only ever made these twice: once in 2013, and again in 2014. So these rascals were way overdue to make another appearance at the Roediger House. I had high hopes of nailing them, mind you, and followed as closely as I could the very clear, very specific directions from Dini Kodippili's version. Clearly, she's worked out a lot of the kinks and, while it might seem like a fussy approach for something that disappears so quickly down the waiting recipient's gullet, I was convinced that hers was the path worth following.
A lot of the directions and guides seemed to make sense, like using a French star tip to help the baked pastries with their structure.
But the final product was not better than what I've done before. The shells were much less well-puffed, meaning that they could hold less of the fancy pastry cream I'd made. I certainly enjoyed the four I sampled that evening...but I doubt it'll be the recipe that I'll reach for again.
"Perfect Classic Chocolate Éclairs," by Dini Kodippili of The Flavor Bender. [Published 10 March 2019 / Updated 01 December 2019]
Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream filling was based on "How to Make Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière Recipe)," by Kristina Razon of SeriousEats.com. [Updated 20 December 2020]
Coffee-Caramel Pastry Cream filling was based on "Coffee Pastry Cream Recipe," from Elizabeth Waterson of Confessions of a Baking Queen. [Published 14 April 2020]
No comments:
Post a Comment