Éclairs anyone?

I’ve owed a good friend a batch of éclairs for quite a while now, and darnit, it’s time I delivered. I’ve also had a few requests of late for instructions on how to make pâte à choux, which is of course the light and puffy dough that éclairs are made from (to say nothing of cream puffs, profiteroles, paris brest, Gâteau St. Honoré, French-style gnocchi, cheesy gougères and of course 70’s-era appetizers of all types).

Hm…I’m suddenly hungry for some reason. Anyway éclairs are made from three main components: choux pastry shells, pastry cream and a melted chocolate or chocolate ganache topping. My preferred pastry cream is in the how-to’s menu to the right. A nice choux recipe can be found here. As for the ganache, we’ll get to that.