Chunky Chocolate Eclairs

If you haven't made choux pastry before, this recipe is a great one to get you started, or if you are a confident choux pastry baker, this is also for you, these éclairs are fancy free and super easy.

What I like about éclairs is that the are very visually pleasing, or even profiteroles can be presented to be very beautiful, but it takes a great deal of time to create identical éclairs or profiteroles. So if you don't have much time this recipe is great!

Chunky Chocolate Éclairs

Ingredient's

110g Unsalted Butter

1 cup of Plain Flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1 cup water

500ml double cream

300g dark chocolate

Method

Begin by prepping a couple of baking trays with parchment paper.

Place the butter and the water in a medium saucepan on a medium heat, stir occasionally until the butter has melted.

Take the saucepan off the heat and gradually stir in the flour and the salt, once combined, this will create a sticky dough, turn out into a mixing bowl and allow cooling time of 5-10 minutes.

Whilst the dough is cooling, pour 200ml of the double cream into a saucepan and heat on a medium heat until it starts to boil.

Break up the dark chocolate into chunks and place in a bowl, once the cream starts to boil, pour over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate has melted and both ingredients have combined.

Once you've finished this, place the mixture to one side and go back to your dough.

Gradually add the eggs one by one to the dough, ensuring you are constantly mixing.

Preheat the oven to 200oc.

You can use a piping bag for the next part or a couple of teaspoons. Each éclair will need about a teaspoon worth of mixture, remember these éclairs are, in terms of size, between a profiterole and an éclair, make sure you give a 2 inch gap between each éclair.

Place the trays in the oven to bake for 25 minutes, prepare a cake tin with a couple of centimetres of water to place at the bottom of the oven, this will create a steamed environment in the oven ensuring a good rise on your éclairs.

Try and avoid opening the oven, until they have been in the oven for about 20 minutes.