Éclairs and Cream Puffs

Formula: yields 1# 8 oz. (about 40 Éclairs)
1# 8 oz. Éclair paste (pâte à choux)
1 1/8 qt. Pastry cream
8 oz. Chocolate ganache

Tools: piping bag, 804 tip, parchment paper, spatula or bowl scraper, calm and patience

MOP:
Fold a parchment paper in fourths, length wise. Unfold and lay this as flat as you can on a sheet pan. Fill your large piping bag with Éclair paste and paste down the corners of your parchment. Using your 804 tip and a large piping bag (at least a size 14) pipe "fingers" diagonally leaving about 2" space between each finger. Use the same motion for Langue du Chat cookies or for individual lady fingers as you would for Éclairs. If you have a tail on your Éclairs wet your finger with water and press the tail in.
They should be the length of 1/4 of the pan, 3-4 inches, and should be about 3/4" wide. Pipe them diagonally and stagger the next row.


Bake at 400°F Convection until they turn golden. Drop the oven temp to 275°F and let bake until the bottoms and the tops are the same golden colour.

In a deck oven/conduction oven you want to bake it at 400-425°F and then drop it to 300°F. You want to set the deck oven at 6-10-10.

Let cool completely before filling.
When cooled. Turn the Éclairs over and poke two holes in the bottom. You can also poke holes on either end but you will not be covering the holes and for presentation it looks cleaner to have holes on the bottom where the customer can not see them easily. Make sure your pastry tip can fit snug in the hole.

Fill your pastry bag with pastry cream. Keep filling until you feel the cream come out the other end, or the end you are piping in from. If you feel the Éclair start to give, stop immediately and proceed to fill from the other end.
Refrigerate (this step is optional. It makes it easier to dip the Éclairs, and if you are not serving them immediately it will preserve the moisture in the product to glaze it before service).

When you are ready to serve the Éclairs, hold the bottoms and dip the top into ganache. You want to only have a thin strip down the

top, so you can still see the shape and all the sides of the Éclair. Wipe off any excess chocolate so nothing is dripping down, you can also use your finger to patch up any holes in the chocolate. Let the chocolate dry and serve.

Unfilled and uncut Éclairs can be held in the refrigerator for one week, can crisp up in the oven before use.



Cream Puffs:
Line sheet pan with parchment paper. Paste down ends if baking in a convection oven. Using an 804 tip, pipe dollar coin sized round mounds of dough, about 1 1/2" in diameter. To do this apply steady pressure until you reach the size mound that you intended, stop pressure and cut off in a quick circular motion to create the smallest tail possible. Wet your finger and press in any "tails" made from piping.

Bake at 400°F Convection until they turn golden. Drop the oven temp to 275°F and let bake until the bottoms and the tops are the same golden colour.