I’m on an eclair kick. I thought of about forty different flavor combinations at two am one night, and- now that school is back in session- I think I’ll make one flavor per week.I have a fall one coming up that I think y’all with love.

I was ten the first time I made eclairs. The most I remember from the “event” was how tired my arms got, since I had to do everything by hand. Maybe that’s why it took me 27 years to do it again? Anyway.. before I scare you off from trying them they are MUCH easier now. With stand mixers, eclairs are a breeze.And, how impressed with the office people be when you roll in with a tray of homemade eclairs?! Shhh… not many people know how easy they are. 😉

Another good thing is you can make the choux pastry dough and keep it in the fridge 3 days.

Once you bake your “shells” you can freeze them for use at a later time. (I froze half my batch, for future flavor combos)

Another tidbit: The eclairs you see at chain doughnut shops are not true eclairs. They’re doughnuts (aka fried dough) true eclairs are made with Choux pasty and they are baked and filled. Not fried.

Maybe a tiny bit booty friendly as opposed to the deep fried ones… but don’t quote me on that.

The pastry part is really simple. It’s the same stuff that’s used for cream puffs as well as the bacon cheddar puffs I made a while back.

It starts with some melted butter and water, then you beat in some flour, then you put it in your mixer and slowly add eggs. You’ll know it’s ready when it stretches between your fingers. That’s it. Five dishes to wash. Oh yeah! 🙂

I took a pic of my fingers stretching the dough, now… where is it? Ugh I hate when I misplace things. Seriously… I could misplace the most insignificant thing, and fret and fret until I find it. Wait, I don’t fret- I obsess. Remember when I misplaced the cookbook with the black bean dip and rum ball recipe? I wrote about it. It bothered me. (yes, I eventually found it.)

There I found it.

This is what an unfilled naked eclair looks like. I’m not sure if my holes are good, but I never claimed to be a pastry chef… so, if they’re bad I can just pull out the “I’m not a pro” card. 😉 See… sometimes it’s good to not have credentials. When you have credentials, people expect a lot more out of you.

No, I’m not saying it’s okay to skip college.

I’m saying it’s okay to not be a professional at times.

Peanut butter and jelly eclairs

Ingredients

1 stick butter
1 cup water
1 cup flour
4 eggs beaten
1/2 cup any flavor jam or fruit preserve
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk

Instructions

For the shells:
In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter with the water stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
Once melted, raise heat and bring to a boil,
Immediately remove from heat and beat in the flour with a wooden spoon.
Place back over medium heat and cook for one minute more.
Place dough in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with paddle attachment for four minutes at medium speed.
Add in the eggs, three tablespoons at a time making sure they're mixed well before adding more.
Once the dough is elastic and all the egg is mixed in, it's complete.
you can store it in the fridge in an air tight container for up to three days. OR:
Preheat oven to 400
Using a pastry bag, pipe dough into log shapes that are 1" by 4" on parchment.
Gently brush with beaten egg, careful not to let any drip off edges.
Place in the lower third of the oven for 20 minutes.
Rotate to upper third of oven, and reduce the heat to 350
Bake 20 min.
Reduce heat to 325 and bake an additional 10.
Allow to cool and slice open.
Spread jam in center.
Mix the peanut butter, powdered sugar and milk to form a frosting.
Spread over each filled eclair.