Last night, I reunited with a long lost friend--my oven. Between moving and the start of school, I didn't have much time to spare to hang out in the kitchen and bake. Lucky for me that Meeta and Tony picked Chocolate Eclairs for this month's Daring Bakers challenge, which didn't involve multiple, elaborate steps, so I was able to complete it at the very last minute.
I've made choux pastry before, so the dough quickly and easily came together. My brother wanted rounds rather than elongated fingers, so I made cream puffs instead of eclairs. I didn't have any trouble the last time I made the puff pastry, so I was very surprised when my little cream puffs all of the sudden flattened. It was amazing because they looked so golden and fluffy one minute, and then all of the air went out of them with a whoosh. I was a little saddened because I followed all of the directions as outlined by Pierre Herme and had no idea why they fell flat, but I knew that the taste would be fine and soldiered on.
I filled each puff with vanilla cream and topped them with chocolate glaze. I roughly followed the Pierre Herme recipe provided to us because I really didn't see the reason for making a separate chocolate sauce to be used in the making of the chocolate glaze. I just merged the two recipes together and made some pretty luscious topping. The chocolate glaze was definitely a nice touch, taking the cream puffs up a level.
I like a cream puff from time to time, but I get tired of them rather quickly. They are usually too rich for me, and these cream puffs were no different. They tasted great, but one will do for me. Fortunately, my brother is home for the long weekend and will eat just about anything.
Now it's back to studying for me. I hope you all enjoy Labor Day weekend (if you're in the States)!
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What IS with the whole sauce/glaze thing? Hate it that your pastry fell flat, but the cream puffs are still cute. And yummy, I'm sure.
Love the puffs!!! Werent they delish!!??
Love your little puffs! Great job!
I did puffs, too! Mine deflated, too! :-) Yours look fantastic, though...no flatness detected.
It's a good thing you had a helper to eat all those tasty looking cream puffs. They look great.
Ah, brothers - always willing to lend a helping hand with dessert eating. I'm with you, though - one is enough for me too!
Good to see you still found the time to make it! Looks great.
A lot of people had problems with their choux deflating, so I don't think it was you - it was a weird recipe. Either way, they look really good! Great job.
I love the idea of cream puffs. They look so appealing. Very nice job.
I think your puffs came out lovely! Mouth watering too! Any collapsing is due to not enough baking time, as the interior is rarely finished in only 20 minutes. I baked mine for 40, so they didn't collapse, but they were too 'eggy' for my taste.
I can't seem to take my eyes off of the lovely mound of chocolate on the top of these! They look fantastic.
Where is mine?
Those cream-puffs look amazing... I would definitely choose one of those over a plain ol' donut, anyday. Way to go on this month's challenge, you rocked it!
Your cream puffs look yummy and puffy to me!
Love cream puff.
your puffs look luscious! i thought the glaze was a little too involved too and next time will just use dorie's recipe
They look so puffy! Great job!