Make your kitchen smell like a French bakery with our chocolate eclair recipe. Forget what you heard about eclairs being difficult. We’ll guide you through making the choux pastry, cream filling and chocolate glaze—with tons of tips along the way so you can feel proud serving up the perfect French dessert.
What is choux pastry?
Choux pastry (or pate a choux) is a pastry dough made from water, bread flour, butter, eggs and salt. It has a crispy exterior and a fluffy, aerated interior. Choux pastry does not require any raising agents like yeast, baking soda or baking powder. Instead, the heat from the oven interacts with the excess liquid in the choux pastry, causing it to steam and immediately puff up the shell as the water evaporates.
Choux pastry is used as a base for many desserts, such as eclairs, churros, cream puffs, profiteroles, Paris-brests, gougeres and croquembouches. Nail this choux pastry, and it’ll open the door to a whole new world of recipes to try.
Chocolate Eclair Ingredients
- Water: Water creates steam in the shell which puffs up the shells for an aerated interior and crispy exterior.
- All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour is easy to find in most any in grocery store, but you could also use bread flour in this recipe.
- Butter: Butter makes the eclairs rich and flavorful. Just make sure it’s unsalted, or omit the salt in this recipe.
- Eggs: Room-temperature eggs give eclair shells a better rise. Eggs also provide flavor for the eclair shells and added structure.
- Pudding mix: Making a filling with pudding mix is so much easier than making a pastry cream from scratch! The vanilla flavor is delicious, plus the gelatin provides structure so the pastry cream doesn’t ooze out of the eclair shell.
- Cold milk: Cold milk maintains a chilled pastry cream and adds more flavor to the filling.
- Whipping cream: Whipping cream is whipped up to soft peaks and folded with the pudding mixture to turn the dense pudding into a light pastry cream.
- Semisweet chocolate: Semisweet chocolate is used for a delicious chocolate frosting, but you could also use milk or dark chocolate chips.
Directions
Step 1: Set up your tools
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Set up a pastry bag or a resealable plastic bag with a large (#10) pastry tip. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and draw out nine 4×1-1/2-inch rectangles with a black marker. Flip the parchment paper upside-down so the markings are facing the baking sheet.
Editor’s Tip: We love the look that a round tip or French star tip give when piping eclairs!
Step 2: Cook the water and flour
In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter and salt to a boil. Add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously for several minutes. Once everything is pulled away from the edges, a film forms on the bottom of the pan, and a smooth ball forms, remove the pan from heat. Let the dough stand for five minutes to cool down a bit.
Editor’s Tip: Once you remove the dough from the heat, feel free to use a stand mixer or hand mixer going forward.
Step 3: Add the eggs
Add the eggs one at a time to the dough, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until the batter is smooth and shiny.
Step 4: Pipe the eclair shells
Add the eclair batter to your prepared pastry bag. Pipe a small dollop of batter underneath each corner of the parchment paper to keep it in place while piping. With even pressure, pipe one long strip of batter inside each of the rectangles you outlined.
Editor’s Tip: After piping each eclair, you can dampen a finger with water and gently tuck down any tail ends. This will give each eclair a more uniform look when baked and prevent any exposed tails from burning.
Step 5: Bake the eclairs
Bake the eclairs until they’re puffed and golden, 35 to 40 minutes.
Editor’s Tip: We know it’s so tempting to open the oven door and peek, but the first 25 minutes of an eclair’s bake time is crucial for the steam to puff up the eclairs and form an aerated inside—so keep that door shut.
Step 6: Split open the eclair shells
Place the baking sheet on a wire rack, and immediately split the eclairs open in half lengthwise with a small knife. Remove the tops, and set them aside.
Step 7: Remove excess dough
Using a spoon, carve out the excess dough from inside the shells, and discard (or snack on!) them. Let the eclair shells cool completely to room temperature.
Step 8: Whip up the eclair filling
In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and pudding mix according to the package instructions. In another bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks (not stiff peaks) form. Beat the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla into the whipped cream mixture, then fold that into the pudding mixture. Spoon the filling into the eclairs, and replace the tops. Chill any remaining filling for a separate use.
Step 9: Make the frosting
Place the chocolate and butter in a bowl, and microwave until melted, being careful not to burn the chocolate. Stir until smooth. Add the confectioners’ sugar and enough hot water to achieve a glossy consistency. Let cool slightly.
Editor’s Tip: There are many other ways to melt chocolate if you’re averse to using a microwave.
Step 10: Frost the eclairs
Using a spoon or offset spatula, frost each eclair with a generous amount of icing. Eclairs are best served right away but can be chilled in the fridge for an hour or so before serving.
Editor’s Tip: This is a great time to add toppings to your eclairs if you want! After frosting one, immediately sprinkle it with nuts or decorate it with fruit or edible flowers.
Chocolate Eclair Variations
- Make ‘em mini: Pipe these eclairs to about half the size for an adorable, grab-and-go mini version. They’re the perfect treat if you’re looking for dessert table ideas!
- Try a new filling: There are lots of great eclair recipes with different fillings. Use this chocolate eclair recipe’s pastry cream to create a diplomat cream (pastry cream folded with stabilized whipped cream), or whip up a Chantilly cream filling (sweetened whipped cream).
- Add the finishing touch: A chocolate glaze is a perfect finish on its own, but you can add toppings such as fruit (like in these raspberry eclairs), nuts (like our hazelnut mocha eclairs) or candied edible flowers.
How to Store Chocolate Eclairs
It’s best to eat chocolate eclairs the same day you fill them (or else they’ll get soggy), but you can store finished chocolate eclairs in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Can you freeze chocolate eclairs?
Yes, you can freeze the shell of an eclair, but it is not recommended to freeze a filled and finished chocolate eclair. To freeze the shells, allow them to cool completely to room temperature, then place them in a resealable plastic bag or an airtight container. They can be frozen for up to three months. To thaw the shells, let them stand at room temperature for around 45 minutes.
Chocolate Eclair Tips
How can you tell when the choux pastry is ready?
Learning how to make choux pastry (pronounced like “shoe”) seems tricky, but it’s pretty simple. The best way to tell when the batter is ready to pipe with is to pull a spatula through it. When the batter drops off the spatula in a V-shape, the batter is ready to pipe onto the baking sheet.
Why did my eclairs collapse?
The most common cause for eclair collapse is too much moisture in the batter. Make sure to stir the batter vigorously in the pan for several minutes until the mixture forms a firm, dry ball and an even, thin coating of batter remains on the sides of the pan. Don’t rush this; it’s almost better for the dough to overcook than undercook. Also, resist the temptation to open the oven door while the choux pastry bakes. That could allow steam to escape that’s needed to help form the puffed shells.
Why do my chocolate eclairs have cracks in them?
Cracks can happen when too much air is whipped into the choux pastry, or when there are variations among oven temperatures. But don’t worry: Cracks can be a totally natural part of the baking process and give the eclairs a unique appearance.
What is eclair filling made of?
The filling of an eclair is pastry cream. Traditional pastry cream is made with eggs and cornstarch, but we’ve made this chocolate eclair recipe a little easier by using a pudding mix.
Can you make chocolate eclairs ahead of time?
Choux pastry and the filling for eclairs can both be made a day in advance, but don’t fill the shells until you’re ready to serve the eclairs. Store baked, unfilled eclair shells in an airtight container overnight. The filling can be prepped, covered and refrigerated a day ahead of time.
What is the difference between a chocolate eclair and a cream puff?
The difference between a chocolate eclair and a cream puff is how they are piped, filled and finished. A chocolate eclair is piped and baked into a cylindrical shape, stuffed with pastry cream and finished with chocolate ganache. A cream puff is piped and baked into a circular shape, stuffed with Chantilly cream and finished with a dusting of powdered sugar.
