I was excited to become a member of the Daring Bakers and couldn't wait to start my first challenge.
When I finally saw what the challenge was, I was a bit disappointed because I have made eclairs so many times before and was looking forward to trying something new. My disappointment quickly changed though when I saw that the recipe was one of Pierre Hermé's. I love everything that Pierre Hermé stands for and am looking forward to trying more of his recipes.
I thoroughly enjoyed making these. The choux pastry was easy to work with and turned out quite well. I found that I had to bake mines slightly longer.
The pastry cream....OMG...what can I say about it other than I absolutely loved it. It was the first time that I made chocolate pastry cream and have discovered something else to crave. The chocolate really came through in this recipe so you want to make sure that you use good quality chocolate. It was smooth, silky, chocolate decadence. I'm going to use this as a base for lots of other recipes.
I wasn't too crazy about the glaze since I found the chocolate sauce unnecessary(and a waste for me since I just threw away the leftovers because I didn't know what to do with it). While I think it tasted great I thought that the chocolate sauce weakened the glaze somewhat - maybe it was something that I did wrong. I find a simple chocolate ganache (without the addition of the sauce) perfect for eclairs. I made two batches of these and for the second batch I used the glaze recipe without the sauce.
Overall I enjoyed making these and found them absolutely delicious and quite indulgent. Thanks Tony and Meeta for a lovely challenge. I can't wait until I can get a copy of the book so that I can try other recipes by Pierre Hermé.
Looking forward to the next challenge.
13 comments:
Congrats on completing your first DB challenge!
I agree... it's puzzling the recipe calls for making so much chocolate sauce (1.5 cups) where in the end we only end up using 7 tablespoons (about 0.5 cups).
Good job!
I totally agree that the chocolate sauce was a waste of time...but they were still yummy!
While I didn't love the pastry cream I agree with you about the glaze - ganache I think would have been better. Welcome to the group :)
cheers to your completing your first challenge--glad it was somewhat "new." welcome to db!
I didn't understand the addition of the chocolate sauce either. I should have baked mine longerk, too. Glad you decided to go ahead and make them!
Thanks guys for the great welcome. Would you believe it my first challenge and I had trouble uploading my pictures. Thinkit was my slow connection at home.
I wasn't sure what to do but I decided to go ahead and post. I've uploaded them now from my computer at work so I'm a bit relieved.
Anyways loved the challenge and I think I ate a bit too much of them.
Congrats on completing your 1st DB challenge. Your eclairs looks great! :)
Looks good- I COMPLETELY agree about the chocolate sauce. I substituted store-bought chocolate sauce for the glaze. Shhh! :)
I took one look at that glaze recipe and thought, "no way!" It seemed ridiculously overcomplicated. I just made a simple ganache.
Your pastry cream looks AMAZING! So do your eclairs. Great job!
Decadent indeed, these eclairs look devilishly delicious and full of chocolatey goodness! Way to go on your first DB challenge, can't wait to see what next month has in store.
Thanks guys for the lovely comments.
Tanya I absolutely loved the pastry cream. I used Callebaut dark chocolate and I think that made all the difference.
Don't worry Jodie you secrets safe by me...lol.
Great job your eclairs look fantastic. The pastry cream is absolutely fantastic!
Thanks Ruth. For me the pastry cream was my favourite part.
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