Sunday, August 31, 2008

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Eclairs



The Daring Bakers have struck again. This time it is chocolate eclairs.

My efforts this month were very rushed. As is this post. Life is just like this sometimes.



The rule was that we must make use of at least one of a chocolate sauce recipe or chocolate custard recipe. I chose the chocolate sauce and then decided to use a canolli filling - ricotta, pistachio, stem ginger and finely chopped chocolate. I found the recipe here.

Overall, they came out very well. For some reason half the eclairs on each tray collapsed after taking them out of the oven. Which I found very odd. It's not as if their cooking conditions could be that different to their fellow traymates.

If you wish to see more eclairs a few million more can be found through the Daring Baker Blogroll. Thanks to Meeta and Tony for a great challenge. The full recipe can be found on their blogs (shortly if not already).

39 Comments:

At 4:42 pm, Blogger Cynthia's Blog said...

I cannot believe how many people said half of their recipe fell flat in the oven. I wish a science major would solve this mystery. Your eclairs are so pretty.

 
At 5:08 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

MMM! the filling sounds incredibel!

 
At 8:25 pm, Blogger Shelby said...

Your filling sounds so delicious! The eclairs look great.

 
At 9:29 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

might be rushed, but nonetheless gorgeous.

so so pretty!

xx fanny

 
At 2:34 am, Blogger Rachel said...

Interesting filling!!!

 
At 2:40 am, Blogger Sara said...

mine collapsed too. but they still tasted great.

 
At 3:23 am, Blogger David T. Macknet said...

Poke a hole in the end when you pull them from the oven. They'll not deflate that way.

They look good!

 
At 3:39 am, Blogger Libby said...

mmm, pistachio sounds perfect! nice work.

 
At 3:47 am, Blogger Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Half of mine collapsed as well...but oh well they still tasted the same:D Great work with this months challenge..yiour photos make me want to dig right in!!!!!!

 
At 3:48 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The eclairs look great:-)
X M

 
At 4:22 am, Blogger Eileen said...

Your filling sounds delicious. I bypassed the chocolate pastry cream also. Just too much chocolate for my tastes. They look great!

 
At 5:09 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

your eclairs turned out beautiful and don't look rushed at all. bummer some fell that seems to be a common occurrence around the db blogsphere.

 
At 6:28 am, Blogger Lauren said...

the ricotta filling is a stroke of genius! great job!

 
At 6:49 am, Blogger Tablebread said...

Hmm, half fell? You might try putting more than one temperature gauge in your oven in different locations to see if it's off. This is not unheard of in electric ovens.

 
At 7:24 am, Blogger Maggie said...

Great looking eclair and I like the sound of the canolli filling. My eclairs fell while cooling but my cream puffs stayed puffed.

 
At 8:15 am, Blogger Antonio Tahhan said...

yum! I love your use of ricotta in the filling (and anything with pistachio is always a favorite of mine!).
Beautiful job! Thanks for baking with us!

 
At 8:15 am, Blogger Unknown said...

Looks like your eclairs turned out great! I love the picture with the spoon. :0)

 
At 9:14 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

OH yea, ricotta in the filling! Most excellent!!

 
At 9:38 am, Blogger Lynn said...

For someone that was rushed, you did a great job. I am impressed.

 
At 12:49 pm, Blogger Katie B. said...

Your filling sounds so tasty!! I can just imagine it!! YUM!

 
At 1:23 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The results still look fantastic even rushed. Glad you were able to find the time to make it and share your results.

 
At 2:58 pm, Blogger T’s Treats said...

oh my that canoli recipe sounds amazing!! for rushing they look awful beautiful!

 
At 4:10 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your eclairs look delicious. What wonderful photos!

 
At 5:26 pm, Blogger grace said...

leave the gun, take the cannoli. :)
a cheese filling is a great idea, especially spiked with pistachios. very clever. :)

 
At 11:19 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love your filling idea! Gorgeous!

 
At 1:46 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love your take on the filling!

 
At 2:01 am, Blogger Laura said...

Oooh, I love the filling you used. Thus far I have only seen chocolate filling.

 
At 2:17 am, Blogger Shayne said...

canolli filling thats a good idea for a filling. I am really enjoying all the fillings people used this month.

 
At 3:45 am, Blogger Jenny said...

Nice job, rushed and all.

 
At 6:22 am, Blogger Andrea Meyers said...

A canolli filling sounds perfect! A great choice, and your eclairs look beautiful. Nicely done!

 
At 8:22 am, Blogger Shandy said...

WoW! Well, for being hurried, your eclairs look wonderful! Yummy =D

 
At 9:59 am, Blogger lynne said...

Your eclairs look wonderful--nice idea for the filling. I too had one tray of eclairs fall while the other didn't (both cooked at the same time.) I think the ones that fell were slightly larger and therefore maybe undercooked, so with still-soft dough and no heat to expand the air in the dough, they fell. Who the heck knows, though. They tasted good both ways!

 
At 7:52 pm, Blogger Lisa said...

Collapsed or not, they look great, especially the glaze.

I think the reason for so many DBer's collapsed shells is because there are too many eggs in the recipe. Eggs cause pastry to rise dramatically then deflate a bit, which is normal, but if there are too many eggs in conjunction with flour and fat, it would make sense that the shells would collapse entirely when out of the oven and cooling, kind of like a souffle.

I took extra measures to insure mine didn't collapse, after reading about other's 'collapses', but I'll stick with my old standby pate a choux, with less eggs!

 
At 8:02 pm, Blogger Lisa said...

I forgot to add, the baking time in the recipe was too short, which can also cause the collapse, since the interior is not fully cooked and dry. In most recipes for pate a choux ,the pate a choux is baked for 'at least' 30-40 minutes (NOT 20) usually setting the temp high, and then lowering it after a certain amount of time, and letting them finish at that temp.

 
At 2:56 am, Blogger Deborah said...

Gorgeous eclairs, and the filling sounds delicious!

 
At 7:57 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

whaow :) the second photo is terrific !!!! great job !

 
At 9:41 pm, Blogger giz said...

In the end your eclairs do look pretty amazing. I was sorry to miss this challenge - thought damn and I'm missing an easier one - now I'm thinking, maybe not so much.

 
At 4:04 pm, Blogger silverrock said...

Ricotta + pistachio + ginger... wow, I wouldn't think that three such strong ingredients would work together. But the filling sounds delicious and I'm sure it was. Way to go on this month's DB challenge :)

 
At 3:22 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

They look beautiful and the filling sounds gorgeous!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home

Subscribe to A Cracking Good Egg by Email
Australian Food Bloggers Ring
list >> random >> join
Site Ring from Bravenet