Recently, I joined a group of foodie bloggers that challenge eachother once per month to attempt feats of culinary greatness. My first act as a daring baker: Chocolate Eclairs! Lucky me! I got to try something I love during my first try.The recipe called for a standard pate e choux with chocolate pastry cream
and chocolate glaze. Because it was allowed by the rules, and a have a 'nilla loving hubby, I used Martha Stewart's vanilla pastry cream. I was very proud, as I tempered my eggs, they didn't break at all! I was certain I was going to have vanilla scrambled eggs! Unfortunately, while hubby was stirring the combined pastry cream, it got all chunky (not whisking hard/fast enough). As I incorporated the butter, I whisked it smooth again. Unfortunately, it never set up enough to pipe. Despite being a little bit runny, it tasted fantastic.
Next step: Pate a Choux. Everything looked beautiful, and all instructions were followed to a T. I didn't feel like investing in a pastry bag and tips, so as you see here, I improvised with a ziplock. However, after removing the beautiful little ecairs from the oven, almost all of them went sadly flat. Hubby and I tasted one of the flat ones and it was so eggy, he described it as sweet scrambled eggs. I kept the 4 that worked, because I had to for the challenge, and as an 
experiment, made a half batch of Better Homes and Gardens' version of Cream Puff Dough. WOW! Super puffy, not eggy, and perfect!Next step: Glaze. I intended to make the Glaze Recipe provided, but after a day full of sick moody baby, two attempts at dough, and trying to make travel planse, it felt unnecessarily complicated to me. First I was supposed to make a chocolate sauce. THEN create the glaze using that sauce and a bunch of other stuff. Again, I opted for Martha and her simple chocolate ganache. No muss, no fuss, and perfect- thick and shiny. Good dark chocolate taste.
All in all, it was fun! The final product looks a little
sad, but tasted great. The eggy taste of the first pastry disappeared once all the elements were together. I'll definitely try that recipe again, and do it better. First, I'll bake them on my silicone mat, to prevent the overbrowning and sticking to the wax paper. I'll also bake them longer. They were just starting to be golden when I pulled them out and I don't think they'd set up in the middle, resulting with the flattening.
The second pastry dough was great, though not nearly as sweet- and made beautiful cream puffs. The recipe made puffs that were WAY too big in my taste. Next time I'll make them smaller and experiment more with filling. Perhaps a sausage and mushroom filling for a dinner dish? Fill with ice cream and top with hot fudge?I feel confident now to call myself a Daring Baker. Check back every month for the next challenge! Weeeeee!
