
Here's the money shot.
Now that I have your attention,
I'll continue with the recipes.
After making the brownies for Maxine's birthday,
I had a few that I kept for Mr. Hawthorne,
Youngest Hawthorne, and me.
Even though Mr. Hawthorne hid them,
Youngest Hawthorne immediately found them.
They were all consumed within minutes.
The next day,
Mr. Hawthorne wanted me to make
another batch of brownies,
since he didn't get enough.
I didn't feel like doing brownies again,
so I decided on making cream puff pastry,
or pate a chou.
(And that's
pate with an upside down
v or
accent circonflexe over the
a
and the
e with an
accent acute.)
So, it looks like it's going to be
eclairs and
profiteroles.
I hope Mr. Hawthorne won't be too disappointed.

My ingredients for the pate a chou:
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups unbleached bread flour
4 large eggs

I combined the water, milk, and salt,
placed over heat,
added the butter and brought it all to a rolling boil.

The liquid must be boiling rapidly
before you add in the flour,
all at once.

Stir the paste constantly until it
pulls away from the sides of the pan.

Mash the paste down against the pan bottom
and cook for 1-2 minutes,
flipping over and cooking for another 1-2 minutes.
I removed the mixture from heat
and let it cool to to 140 degrees or less
so the eggs wouldn't cook when they got added.

I beat each egg,
then added them one at a time,
stirring until each was completely absorbed
and the paste was smooth,
before adding the next.

Beat until the dough is smooth and shiny.

I used my pastry bag and tip
to make the profiteroles.

I didn't have a large enough pastry tip for the eclairs
so I used Aunt Sandy's brilliant tip of
cutting the tip off a storage bag and piping.
She truly is the
smartest thing on the block.
I
never would have thought of that.
Thanks, Sandy!

Here's everything ready for the oven.

But first, I brushed the pastry lightly
with an egg glaze -
1 egg mixed with 1 TB milk.

I baked these in a preheated 425 degree oven
for 15 minutes.
Then I turned the heat down to 375.
The larger eclairs I baked for 15 more minutes.

The smaller profiteroles
I baked for 10 minutes.

Next, I'm making a creme patissiere
for the filling.
(And that's
creme with an
accent grave
over the first
e
and
patissiere with an
accent circonflexe over the
a
and an
accent grave over the first
e.

My ingredients:
2 cups light cream
(I used 1 cup milk and 1 cup heavy cream.)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
2 TB cornstarch
4 egg yolks
pinch salt

I added 2 TB of the sugar to the cream.

Added the vanilla and
brought the mixture to a boil.

In a small bowl,
I mixed the eggs and added the rest of the sugar
and the pinch of salt.

And stirred in the cornstarch.

I stirred in 2-3 tablespoons of the
hot liquid to the egg mixture to temper.

Then added the egg mixture back to the cream,
stirring briskly and cooking until thickened.

Wallah!
Creme patissiere.
This is rich, buttery, vanilla-ey,
and just plain wonderful.

I sprinkled a little sugar over top
to prevent a skin from forming,
then refrigerated until slightly cool
before filling my pastries.

I piped the creme patissiere
into each end of the eclairs.
Next time, I think I'll slice the eclairs
and spoon on the creme so I get a more even filling.

And I sliced the profiteroles
and piped the creme onto them.

Here are all my little filled pastries
waiting for a chocolate topping.

My ingredients:
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 ounces Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips

I combined all in a sauce pan
and brought it to a boil.

Then I drizzled the chocolate over my pastries.

Enjoy the pictures.

And they tasted better than they looked.
Ummmmmm, uhhhhhhhh, ooooooooh baby . . . . . . . . . . .sorry, I'm okay now. Uh, they look really good Rosie. The unbaked eclairs looked like albino poopies.
ReplyDeleteCan I come have breakfast with you?
ReplyDeleteCrap! Now I'm craving eclairs. So unfair.
ReplyDeleteRosie, on a 1-10 scale with 1 being difficult and 10 a breeze. What would you say making the eclairs were?
ReplyDeleteI need to make over 100 for a shower and am thinking I may need to purchase them, if they are really a pain. I will not be filling with cream, however, just using as base for a petite sandwich. Can you freeze these after baking?
Thanks,
Deb
Hey Deb,
ReplyDeleteI'd give 'em a 5 or a 6. They're really not a pain - they just take some effort and they're totally worth it.
Also, I would recommend getting a pastry bag and decorative tips for piping the eclairs out. Makes for a prettier eclair.
I would think these would freeze very nicely.
Good luck and let me know how they turn out.