A classic chocolate eclair recipe! I’ll show you how to make a simple choux pastry (for the shells), a classic vanilla pastry cream filling, and that glossy chocolate coating. It might sound like a lot, but the steps are actually pretty simple and you’ll be making French pastry like a pro in no-time! This recipe also includes a how-to video, in case you’re more of a visual learner!
If you’ve ever been intimidated by the thought of making eclairs, I get it. They seem intimidating, right? Those glorious French pastries filled with silky vanilla cream and topped off with a chocolate glaze. They’re decadent and delicate, exquisite pastries that take a bit more time than your average dessert (if your average dessert is a terrible cookie like mine is, anyway).
Eclairs involve more steps than many of your average desserts, but I really believe anyone can make these at home, and I’m excited to walk you through all of the steps today. In plenty of detail and plenty of photos (and a video, for good measure).
If you’ve made my cream puffs before you won’t have any problem with this recipe. We start with a choux pastry (sounds fancy for a batter that’s just butter, water, flour, and eggs), fill it with pastry cream, and top it off with a chocolate glaze.
Let’s break it down, starting with the pastry…
Choux Pastry, & How to Make It:
The oblong shells that we’ll be baking and filling with pastry cream are made of a pastry called “choux pastry” (pronounced like “shoo“) or “pâte à choux”. It’s the base for many pastries like cream puffs, French crullers, gougères, profiteroles, and more. It may sound fancy, but the dough is simple to make:
- Start by bringing water and butter (and a bit of salt, for flavor) to a boil.
- Add flour and stir until the dough clings together and the moisture is absorbed. See the first image above.
- Remove pastry from your stovetop and allow it to cool for a few seconds while still stirring. You don’t want it to be too hot, or you might cook the eggs that you’ll be adding in a moment.
- Add eggs, one at a time, stirring until combined after each addition. When you first add the eggs the mixture might look like it is going to separate, but keep stirring and ultimately you should have a velvety batter. See the second image above.
At this point you have your choux pastry, and now it’s time to bake it into shells for our eclairs. Since eclairs are oblong in shape (this shape and the chocolate topping are the only things that differentiate eclairs from cream puffs), we will pipe 4-5″ stripes onto our parchment-lined baking sheet and bake our eclair shells.
Choux Pastry Tips
Baking the pastry is probably the trickiest part of the whole eclair recipe. Don’t bake your pastry enough and the shells will collapse. Bake them too long and they will be too crisp or, worse, burnt. Here are some key things to remember when baking choux pastry (whether for eclairs or not):
- Give your pastry space. The shells will grow in the oven, as you can see the difference in size between the first and second images above.
- Make sure your oven is completely preheated. It’s important that choux pastry be baked on high heat. If your oven hasn’t reached 400F when you add your pastry, it may not bake properly. I really recommend keeping an oven thermometer in your oven at all times, as many ovens run hotter or cooler than they indicate, and often they indicate they are completely preheated before they actually are!
- Do not open the oven door! Each time you do, your oven temperature drops drastically, and this can keep your eclairs from puffing properly or from staying puffed once they have cooled.
- Look for golden brown pastry. You do not want to remove your pastry from the oven too soon or it’s likely it will collapse. Use your oven light so you can watch for the pastry to be golden brown and appear dry on the surface. I indicate that the pastry will need to bake for about 30 minutes, but if your eclairs are larger or smaller they could take more or less time.
While your pastry is still hot, you’ll use a sharp knife to pierce each end of the eclair to the center (see second image in collage above). Work quickly and be careful not to burn your fingertips. Once you do this, you’ll return your pastry to the oven and allow it to cool and cook a bit longer to help maintain the structural integrity of the shells.
Let them cool completely before filling with pastry cream…
Vanilla Pastry Cream (Eclair Filling)
Pastry cream is wonderful. It’s simple to make, absolutely delicious, versatile, and serves as the base for some of my favorite dessert recipes (like my banana cream pie and coconut cream pie). Here we’re using it as the silky smooth vanilla filling for our eclairs (because let’s face it, choux pastry isn’t all that great to enjoy by itself).
I have a step-by-step guide on how to make pastry cream if you need a detailed walkthrough and I make it for you on camera below the recipe, but here are a few key tips:
- The pastry cream will need to be made at least several hours in advance; it will need to cool and be chilled before you can use it. You can make pastry cream up to 2 days in advance, if desired.
- Cook over medium heat. Don’t crank up the heat or your sugars will not dissolve and your mixture will not thicken properly (/it will not be usable!) and may burn.
- Tempering your eggs is important. I walk you through this in the recipe, but gradually adding a bit of hot cream into your egg mixture prevents the eggs from cooking.
- When filling your eclairs, fill from both ends. This ensures that the eclair is filled with pastry cream, and not just loaded with it on only one end.
- Don’t over-fill your pastry shells! The first few times I made this recipe, I absolutely stuffed every shell and only was able to fill a little more than half of them. My eclairs were much too full and were an unpleasant mess to eat. You want to be able to bite into yours and not end up wearing the filling.
The chocolate is the simplest part of this recipe, just whisk together melted chocolate, butter, powdered sugar, and water until you have a glossy chocolate coating and then spread it over your eclairs or dip each shell in chocolate.
How to Store
Store eclairs in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days. They may be frozen for up to several weeks (again, in an airtight container).
Enjoy!
More Recipes You May Like:
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Eclairs
Ingredients
PASTRY CREAM
- 1 cup (235 ml) heavy cream
- 1 cup (235 ml) whole milk
- ⅓ cup (65 g) + 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar divided
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 5 large egg yolks room temperature
- 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
CHOUX PASTRY
- 1 cup (236 ml) water
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
CHOCOLATE TOPPING
- 2 oz (55 g) semisweet chocolate or ⅓ cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 Tablespoon butter salted or unsalted will be fine
- 1 ½ cups (185 g) powdered sugar
- 2-4 Tablespoons hot water or more, as needed
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
PASTRY CREAM¹
- Combine heavy cream, milk, ⅓ cup (65g) of the sugar, and salt in a medium-sized heavy bottomed saucepan over medium-heat. Stir frequently until the sugar is dissolved and mixture comes to a simmer, then remove from heat and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes (stirring occasionally).1 cup (235 ml) heavy cream, 1 cup (235 ml) whole milk, ⅓ cup (65 g) + 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt
- While cream mixture is cooling, in a separate large, heat-proof bowl whisk together egg yolks and remaining granulated sugar (3 Tablespoons). Whisk vigorously for 15 seconds (sugar will begin to dissolve but will not dissolve completely).5 large egg yolks
- Sprinkle cornstarch over egg mixture and whisk until no lumps remain and mixture is slightly thickened.3 Tablespoons cornstarch
- Once the cream mixture has cooled (it won’t be completely cool), slowly drizzle about ½ cup into the egg mixture while whisking constantly. Slowly, while whisking, drizzle in the remainder of the cream mixture until completely combined (don’t get rid of your saucepan, you’ll need it again in a moment). This slow combination of the two mixtures tempers the eggs to prevent them from being heated too quickly and cooking, otherwise you’ll have scrambled eggs in your pastry cream!
- Pour mixture back into your saucepan and return to the stovetop. Heat over medium heat whisking constantly, until mixture is thickened.
- Remove saucepan from heat and pour through a fine mesh strainer (to catch any lumps bits of egg that might have cooked) into a medium-sized heatproof bowl.
- Cut butter into 4 pieces and whisk into mixture, one tablespoon at a tie, until melted and completely combined. Whisk in vanilla extract as well.4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- Take a piece of plastic wrap, wax paper, or parchment paper and place it in direct contact with the surface of the pastry cream (this will keep a skin from forming). Allow to cool at room temperature for 30-60 minutesm, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill for another 3-4 hours. Meanwhile you can prepare your pastry.
CHOUX PASTRY
- Preheat your oven to 400F (200C) and line a large baking sheet or two jelly roll sheets (make sure they can both fit in your oven) with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, combine water, butter, and salt and bring to a rolling boil.1 cup (236 ml) water, ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Once boiling, sprinkle flour over the water and turn heat to medium/low. Stir constantly with a spatula until the moisture is absorbed and your mixture forms a ball that pulls away from the sides of the pot (see photos above in post or video below for visual).1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour
- Remove pastry from heat and stir for several minutes to cool down. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring very well after each addition until the mixture is velvety and smooth.4 large eggs
- Transfer pastry to a large piping bag fitted with a ½” round tip (I use an Ateco 808) and pipe 5” long strips onto prepared baking sheets, spacing at least 2” apart.
- Transfer to preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes or until light golden brown and pastry appears dry.
- Remove from oven and use a sharp knife to pierce each end of each eclair Return to baking sheet and return baking sheet to the oven. Turn off your oven and let pastry sit in the oven with the oven door cracked for another 10-15 minutes.
- Once time has passed, remove eclairs from oven and allow to cool completely on baking sheet.
ASSEMBLY
- Once cooled completely, take a wooden skewer and stick all the way through the eclairs (from the hole on one end through the hole on the other) to make sure there is a clear path for our pastry cream.
- Now you can fill your eclairs with pastry cream. To do so, fit a piping bag with a small pointy tip (I like to use a Wilton 5 or 6) and fill piping bag with chilled pastry cream. Insert the tip into one end of the eclair and fill with cream. The cream most likely will not go all the way to the opposite end of the eclair, so turn the eclair around and now fill the other end. Do not overfill eclairs! This recipe makes enough pastry cream to fill all 12-14 eclairs.
- Prepare your chocolate topping by melting together chocolate and butter. Whisk in powdered sugar and water until desired consistency is reached. Dip tops of eclairs in chocolate or use an icing spatula to spread chocolate over the top of each eclair.2 oz (55 g) semisweet chocolate, 1 Tablespoon butter, 1 ½ cups (185 g) powdered sugar, 2-4 Tablespoons hot water
- Allow chocolate to harden, then serve and enjoy!
Notes
How to Store
Store leftover eclairs in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, or you may freeze for up to several weeks.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Wahida Obaidi
These were absolutely delicious! Piping in the pastry cream was pretty difficult and made quite the mess. Next time I might make them smaller so I only have to pipe it in from one end! It was well worth the mess!
Sam
They can get messy at times, but I’m glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Adan Dubas
Can you add an option to change the amount of ingredients needed based on how many eclairs you’re going to make?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Adan! We used to have that feature on our site, but it never worked properly. The amounts were always messed up and it ruined a lot of recipes, so we unfortunately had to remove it 🙁
Abby
Hey, looking forward to making this! Would you be able to make these mini eclairs and pipe a bit less so the size is smaller? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Abby! That will work fine. They may need a few minutes less in the oven. 🙂
Alexandria Magash
I put salted butter in my French pastry cream will it still taste good?
Sam
Hi Alexandria! I generally recommend slightly reducing the salt called for if doing so to help best control the flavor, but I think you’ll still be fine. Enjoy!
Andres
wait, isn’t 2/3 cup of choco chips 4 oz, because in other recipes of yours it says 2/3 cup for 4 oz, not 2 oz?
Sam
Hi Andres! i’m sorry for the confusion! The lesser amount is the correct amount. You will only need 1/3 cup of chocolate chips. I’ll be sure to update that. 🙂
Faria Mehboob
Hey Sam, just tried these last night! I cannot believe how perfect these went. I was skeptical with the technicalities involved and thought it’d take some practice but your recipe is fool proof!
I also infused the pastry cream with some orange zest and the it turned out to be very luxurious in taste.
Thankyou so much for this recipe!
Lots of love.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Faria! 🙂
Victoria
It is difficult to put into words how amazing these were! My family absolutly loved them as well as the rest of your recipes! Thank you for this amazing blog.
Sam
I am so happy to hear this, Victoria!! Thank you so much for letting me know how the eclairs turned out for you! <3
Stef
Hello!!
May I ask if I can substitute the both heavy cream n milk with just buttermilk ? If can, how many ML of buttermilk should I add?
Thank you!
Sam
Hi Stef! I do not recommend doing that. Enjoy! 🙂
Anushka
Hi, Sam!
My family has tried a lot of your recipes and they all came out amazing! Baking your recipes is also so much fun!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Anushka! I am so glad that your family has enjoyed my recipes and that you have had fun making them. 🙂
Sofiya
Hi,
If I want to use milk chocolate chocolate chips can I omit the powdered sugar for the glaze to prevent it from being too sweet?
Thanks!
Sugar Spun Run
That should work fine, Sofiya! Keep me posted on how it turns out. Enjoy! 🙂
Bina
Hi Sam!
I stumbled across your blog when I was looking for a biscuit recipe; now I’ve gone down a rabbit hole… Can one use half and half instead of heavy cream and reduced fat milk instead of full? I’m working with what I have in the fridge. Also, can this recipe be cut in half? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Bina! Yes the recipe can definitely be cut in half. If you have enough half & half I would substitute that for both the milk and the heavy cream, that would be your best bet 🙂
Lauren E
Sam, they’re delicious!! Mine turned out more like mini eclairs 🤣, but they’re taaastyy!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that they turned out well for you, Lauren! Thanks for trying my recipe and for commenting, I appreciate the feedback! 🙂
Lauren E
Hey Sam!
I’m making the filling today and the choux tomorrow. Any advice/pointers on how to get the amount of filling correctly? I know you said definitely don’t overfill and to fill from both ends. Just wondering if you have a tip for an appropriate amount.
P.S. your site is my favorite. You’re killing the game, girl.
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Lauren! I recommend holding them upright to fill them one side at a time, letting gravity do its thing. Turn it over and fill the other end. Once you do a few you will get the hang of it. I hope that you enjoy them! Keep me posted on how they turn out. 🙂
Lauren E
Thanks Sam! I surely will! The pastry cream is cooling and tomorrow I’ll make the choux and assemble. I’ll let you know tomorrow! So far your chocolate cupcakes and chocolate cake haven’t made it past day two in our house!! We’re only three people (and one of us is only seven months old 😝)!
Next is the worst chocolate chip cookies, which I’m a bit nervous to try due to reading your preamble about them 😂.
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Lauren! I am so glad that you have enjoyed my chocolate cupcakes and chocolate cake recipes. I hope that the eclairs turn out perfectly for you as well. Whenever I bake them in my home, they never last long so you are not alone. lol. I can’t wait to hear how this recipe works for you and your thoughts on the WORST Chocolate Chip Cookies. I have a feeling you will love them! 🙂