My first Daring Bakers challenge! I just couldn't get them to look pretty, but let me tell you, they were tasty! Since we're a household of two, I brought most of the eclairs in to work earlier this month, and the reactions were funny. "You can make eclairs?" Some people thought they were made only in factories. They disappeared quickly, in any case. I had troubles in the beginning with eclairs that fell flat, since the instructions on sticking the spoon in the oven were confusing, but I got them to puff up all right.
I initially made both vanilla and chocolate pastry creams, since I thought that with the glaze it would be chocolate overload. But I wound up stirring melted chocolate into the vanilla cream after I tasted how divine the chocolate was. I also made the labor-intensive glaze on the first try, but swapped it out on Take 2 for a simple ganache (equal parts hot cream and bittersweet chocolate with a couple pats of butter). Now I just have to jog a million miles to work all those calories off!
Hi Shirley. I thought the directions were confusing with the baking too. Mine took a good 20 minutes longer with the oven door closed. I bet your officemates loved you! Nice job.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Daring Bakers! I'm glad you'd given me a heads-up about the baking issues... I think it helped me with my batch. So do you think you'll be making this again? I will, now that I'm not scared of pate choux.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Daring Bakers! Your eclairs look great to me, and besides.. it's all in the taste :)
ReplyDeleteAs long as they taste good who cares how they look! Congrats on your first challenge.
ReplyDeleteYour coworkers are too funny. Welcome to DB, your éclairs look delicious. I'll have to give the chocolate cream a try soon.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the group!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on completing your first DB Challenge! You couldn't get them to look pretty? They look great!
ReplyDeleteThanks guys! :) Can't wait for the next challenge.
ReplyDeletewell done on your first challenge - they are the the most special ones!
ReplyDeleteGreat job! Congrats on your first challenge, and welcome to the Daring Bakers.
ReplyDeletei did the same thing with the glaze.
ReplyDeleteganache is so much easier and super yummy.
your eclairs look great.
You did great. Welcome, and congrats! I hope you love it always!
ReplyDeleteI think your eclairs look good. One thing I've learnt since joining DBs is that the challenges are really interesting and even if our creations don't really come up to our expectations in the "looks" department, they almost always taste good.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Daring Bakers.
Mmm... those eclairs look lovely. I may just have to steal one :P Congrats on your first DB challenge.
ReplyDeleteShirley, mine didn't look pretty, but tasted good despite being deflated and undercooked (the spoon issue). For future challenges, I may just follow the recipe exactly since everyone's oven/kitchen utensils, etc. are different. I do appreciate everyone else's tips, but sometimes you have to just follow the rules, LOL.
ReplyDeleteYeah! Happy Malay Day to you too :) It's actually on September 16th, but I was too excited to wait :P
ReplyDeleteGreat job! :)
ReplyDeleteblessings,
marye
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