As a teenager, I worked in a restaurant in my hometown. It was there that I learned many excellent baking “secrets” from a lady that loved to make delectable candies and desserts.
Here is a recipe that can be varied to make a number of delicious desserts and appetizers. We’ve actually created an entirely separate tutorial for Eclairs
Preheat Oven to 400F
Combine 1 C. Water & 1 stick of Butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring the water and butter to a rolling boil.
Add 1 C. Flour and stir until the mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat and transfer to a mixing bowl.
If using a Mixer, turn on medium and add 4 eggs, all at once. Otherwise, use a hand mixer to completely blend in the eggs.
The mix should be creamy as pictured below, rather than choppy looking. Drop dough by scant 1/4 c. cupfuls onto an UN-GREASED cookie sheet. Makes 12 large puffs
Bake 35-38 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.
As you can see from the picture above, these are nice round, plump cream puffs. A couple of hints for keeping them that way:
- Allow the cream puffs to Completely Cool before Touching them (even to remove them from the pan)
- Keep them away from cool drafts until they’ve cooled.
- Let them cool Completely before attempting to freeze.
Several Dessert Ideas:
Create Ice Cream Puffs-
Split the cream puff in half, fill with vanilla ice cream,
Top with the other half of the puff, add some hot fudge, a handful of chopped nuts
Add whipped cream around the sides
For Fast Desserts, mix up some Pudding (any flavor), place into a ziploc bag. Cut off the corner (a small piece!) and use the ziploc bag to “pipe” in the filling into the cream puff. Sprinkle Confectioners sugar over the top.
Flavor Ideas:
- Chocolate Pudding
- Vanilla Pudding – top with a small bit of Chocolate Frosting for “Mini Eclairs”
- Lemon Meringue Filling
- Spiced Pumpkin Mousse
The flavors are endless and this puff is so versatile & simple to make!
i used to make these all the time, only by hand. my kids loved them and they were great for chicken, shrimp and crab salad, too.
so how do you make the eclairs?
Instead of forming them into balls, you shape the dough into “logs”. Bake them the same, then poke a hole in 1 end and fill them with custard or vanilla pudding. Put chocolate on top.
Here’s the perfect topping for homemade eclairs:
Budget101.com – – MYO Hot Fudge Sauce | Make Your Own Recipes
why is this recipe blocked by an ad that cannot be discarded, exited, deleted, read and eliminated or anything else. sorry for the rant but i have a history with eclaires that i would love to change. i love them.
was making a batch for a wedding once that failed and failed again. i was hoping to find the answer here.
any help?
MrsBear, this was due to the fact that the recipe was created several years ago with “Tables” to keep the photos inline with the instructions. Most of our recipes used this format in the beginning. The tables have now been removed and you shouldn’t see them any longer, nor should you see the ad issue.
the recipe says “add 1 C. Flour and stir until the mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat and transfer to a mixing bowl.”
twice. Am I correct in assuming this should only be one cup of flour total and was just possibly a cut and paste incorrectly placed?
Yes, that’s correct, the page used to use tables for formatting and those were removed and that line was accidentally duplicated. Thank you for letting us know, it has been fixed!