Sunday, August 31, 2008

I done broke my eyeclares!

Well sit right down,
yes sit right there,
let me tell you all about
Sara and her eclair

Oh the day looked good
and it seemed like she had luck,
but by dessert-time
it was clear that she was f-

Oh hi! I didn't see you there. Let me just put down my poem. So you're here to check out my Daring Baker post for August. Well Meeta and Tony sure picked a fun recipe - Chocolate Eclairs by none other than Pierre Herme himself. Yum.

I was going to make these on some lazy Sunday, but then early in the month we invited some people over for dinner. Perfect - I could make the dessert and have extra people around to eat it.
Because Meeta and Tony are benevolent hosts, they allowed us to alter the recipe slightly. The eclair recipe as written called for chocolate cream in the pastry and chocolate glaze on the tops. M&T allowed us to change one of the components if we wished, as long as one stayed chocolate.

I decided to make them a little more summery and change the filling to simply whipped cream mixed with vanilla, a little sugar, and some raspberries.

And then I broke my eclairs.

The day of: Thank God the recipe is easy and fast. Got home almost an hour late from work. Instead of 2 hours until the guests arrive, I've got just over an hour to make the eclairs, filling and glaze, as well as get started on the rest of dinner. The choux pastry came together easily and with my plastic-bag-turned-into-a-piping-bag I got 24 eclairs.

We baked the pastries, and when the were puffy, golden brown and seemed firm, we removed from the oven and let cool. I turned my attentions to other parts of dinner, but a few minutes later I walked by the cooling rack. Almost all of the pastries had deflated. We cut one open and decided that they might be a little undercooked; perhaps that was why they sank. Back into the oven where they got a little browner and puffed up again. But again, as soon as they came out of the oven, flat city. I don't know why. We followed the recipe exactly, our size was right, our oven temperature was good. Last year cream puffs were an element in a different DB challenge and they were fine. Could it be the altitude here in Kamloops?

There wasn't time left to fuss with them any longer, so I started gathering the ingredients for the glaze for the tops.

Wait.

Was that the doorbell?

Crap.

I ran out of time. We'd hardly done anything for dinner, and now everyone was here. While I got drinks and put out some chips and salsa, Scott made a fast glaze of chocolate and cream, and drizzled the tops.

After dinner I squished some raspberries up, and mixed them into cream whipped with vanilla and powdered sugar. I used another plastic-bag-piping-bag to fill them, and look how lovely they looked:

Lovely!

Ok, so I didn't really break them. They just didn't go as planned. Were they warmly received by all diners? Yes. Were they yummy? Yes, although I found them to be more eggy than I am used to. Were they fairly easy to make? Yes. Would I make them again? I'm not 100% sure. We don't eat a ton of dessert anyway, and I was pretty bummed about the flatness. Which may or may not have anything at all to do with the recipe.

Head over to Meeta or Tony's to get the recipe. And over in the right column there's a link to the Daring Baker blogroll, all eleventy billion of us.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah you are so cute with your poetry :-) I'm naming you poet of BBB because your poetry is so much more appropriate than mine ;-)

I'd say you had exactly the same result so many other people did with the pastry part so no, hun, it wasn't you. I'd eat your cream puffs and eclairs any day of the week.

hugs

Meeta K. Wolff said...

sara you are a poetess!!
the pastry was a huge issue with many - myself included - but the end results are the most important and my they do look good!

Patti said...

They look awesome!

maybelles mom said...

These are great. I did them very quickly too; isn't it nice to have an easy recipe.

Anonymous said...

Hah, your eclairs aren't the least bit broken! They look great, nice job on the challenge. :)

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Does it matter if they're flat?
Love the look of the raspberry cream!
I now want to do some savory!
Sara, you poem is really first rate FUN!!!

Unknown said...

I like your raspberry whipped cream better than my raspberry pastry cream. Sounds like we had the same problem with our eclairs...flattened (some) and eggy. Oh well! Yours look great!

nikkita said...

*lol* I love the poem! Oh and I really wish I had some raspberries ;-/ sounds absolutely delicious!

steph- whisk/spoon said...

whew! with poeple coming over that would have me sweating! looks like you pulled it together tho--glad they were enjoyed by all!

Karen Baking Soda said...

Aww Sara, did you hear me recite yr poem to my DH? (And both of us ROFL?) Great job girl!!
no, you know it's not Kamloops or you!
End result looks yummy!

Deeba PAB said...

LOL great poetry!! And thank heavens they didnt actually break. Look like a pretty good mouthful to me. Mine deflated a bit too, & I reckon it was due to the heat & humidity. Yours are very pretty! Cheers Deeba

Anonymous said...

love the eclairs, broken and all! your post was too funny.

Shelby said...

Love them! Love the raspberry filling!

Helene said...

I love the raspberry filling! If it makes you feel better, I'd eat them :)

jasmine said...

Thank you, my dear. I now have the Gilligan's Island theme earworm ;)

Good for you for turning this into a summery dessert--I like the drizzly top--reminds me of some of the paintings inspired by the jazz era.

j

TeaLady said...

A Longfellow among us. They look tasty!!!!

Annie said...

Poetry and baking? What a great combo... Flat or not, they look great to me.

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

You are showing us another of your many talents with your poetry:D Of course your eclairs turned out perfectly:D

Plume said...

Choux pastry must be baked with the door of the oven slightly ajar, and you must leave them in the oven a bit after they are baked, so they won't deflate when you take them out.
But they must have been nice anyway!

friedwontons4u said...

Not only do you treat us with lovely pics of eclairs but a poem as well? Hehe! That was too funny.

Deborah said...

I'm glad they ended up working out for you, even if there was a bit of worrying involved. The filling sounds delcious!

Susie Homemaker said...

Funny poem!

For me, the egg content was too high and the temp was too low...so I don't think it was your fault! Plus - they look great anyway!!

creampuff said...

That's hysterical!