The Daring Bakers have struck again. This time it is chocolate eclairs.
My efforts this month were very rushed. As is this post. Life is just like this sometimes.
The rule was that we must make use of at least one of a chocolate sauce recipe or chocolate custard recipe. I chose the chocolate sauce and then decided to use a canolli filling - ricotta, pistachio, stem ginger and finely chopped chocolate. I found the recipe here.
Overall, they came out very well. For some reason half the eclairs on each tray collapsed after taking them out of the oven. Which I found very odd. It's not as if their cooking conditions could be that different to their fellow traymates.
If you wish to see more eclairs a few million more can be found through the Daring Baker Blogroll. Thanks to Meeta and Tony for a great challenge. The full recipe can be found on their blogs (shortly if not already).
I cannot believe how many people said half of their recipe fell flat in the oven. I wish a science major would solve this mystery. Your eclairs are so pretty.
ReplyDeleteMMM! the filling sounds incredibel!
ReplyDeleteYour filling sounds so delicious! The eclairs look great.
ReplyDeletemight be rushed, but nonetheless gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteso so pretty!
xx fanny
Interesting filling!!!
ReplyDeletemine collapsed too. but they still tasted great.
ReplyDeletePoke a hole in the end when you pull them from the oven. They'll not deflate that way.
ReplyDeleteThey look good!
mmm, pistachio sounds perfect! nice work.
ReplyDeleteHalf of mine collapsed as well...but oh well they still tasted the same:D Great work with this months challenge..yiour photos make me want to dig right in!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe eclairs look great:-)
ReplyDeleteX M
Your filling sounds delicious. I bypassed the chocolate pastry cream also. Just too much chocolate for my tastes. They look great!
ReplyDeleteyour eclairs turned out beautiful and don't look rushed at all. bummer some fell that seems to be a common occurrence around the db blogsphere.
ReplyDeletethe ricotta filling is a stroke of genius! great job!
ReplyDeleteHmm, half fell? You might try putting more than one temperature gauge in your oven in different locations to see if it's off. This is not unheard of in electric ovens.
ReplyDeleteGreat looking eclair and I like the sound of the canolli filling. My eclairs fell while cooling but my cream puffs stayed puffed.
ReplyDeleteyum! I love your use of ricotta in the filling (and anything with pistachio is always a favorite of mine!).
ReplyDeleteBeautiful job! Thanks for baking with us!
Looks like your eclairs turned out great! I love the picture with the spoon. :0)
ReplyDeleteOH yea, ricotta in the filling! Most excellent!!
ReplyDeleteFor someone that was rushed, you did a great job. I am impressed.
ReplyDeleteYour filling sounds so tasty!! I can just imagine it!! YUM!
ReplyDeleteThe results still look fantastic even rushed. Glad you were able to find the time to make it and share your results.
ReplyDeleteoh my that canoli recipe sounds amazing!! for rushing they look awful beautiful!
ReplyDeleteYour eclairs look delicious. What wonderful photos!
ReplyDeleteleave the gun, take the cannoli. :)
ReplyDeletea cheese filling is a great idea, especially spiked with pistachios. very clever. :)
Love your filling idea! Gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteI love your take on the filling!
ReplyDeleteOooh, I love the filling you used. Thus far I have only seen chocolate filling.
ReplyDeletecanolli filling thats a good idea for a filling. I am really enjoying all the fillings people used this month.
ReplyDeleteNice job, rushed and all.
ReplyDeleteA canolli filling sounds perfect! A great choice, and your eclairs look beautiful. Nicely done!
ReplyDeleteWoW! Well, for being hurried, your eclairs look wonderful! Yummy =D
ReplyDeleteYour eclairs look wonderful--nice idea for the filling. I too had one tray of eclairs fall while the other didn't (both cooked at the same time.) I think the ones that fell were slightly larger and therefore maybe undercooked, so with still-soft dough and no heat to expand the air in the dough, they fell. Who the heck knows, though. They tasted good both ways!
ReplyDeleteCollapsed or not, they look great, especially the glaze.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason for so many DBer's collapsed shells is because there are too many eggs in the recipe. Eggs cause pastry to rise dramatically then deflate a bit, which is normal, but if there are too many eggs in conjunction with flour and fat, it would make sense that the shells would collapse entirely when out of the oven and cooling, kind of like a souffle.
I took extra measures to insure mine didn't collapse, after reading about other's 'collapses', but I'll stick with my old standby pate a choux, with less eggs!
I forgot to add, the baking time in the recipe was too short, which can also cause the collapse, since the interior is not fully cooked and dry. In most recipes for pate a choux ,the pate a choux is baked for 'at least' 30-40 minutes (NOT 20) usually setting the temp high, and then lowering it after a certain amount of time, and letting them finish at that temp.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous eclairs, and the filling sounds delicious!
ReplyDeletewhaow :) the second photo is terrific !!!! great job !
ReplyDeleteIn the end your eclairs do look pretty amazing. I was sorry to miss this challenge - thought damn and I'm missing an easier one - now I'm thinking, maybe not so much.
ReplyDeleteRicotta + pistachio + ginger... wow, I wouldn't think that three such strong ingredients would work together. But the filling sounds delicious and I'm sure it was. Way to go on this month's DB challenge :)
ReplyDeleteThey look beautiful and the filling sounds gorgeous!
ReplyDelete