Chocolate Eclairs With Vanilla Filling Made From Scratch Recipe
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These amazing homemade eclairs rival the ones from the French bakery! Made completely from scratch, with sweet vanilla custard filling, tender buttery pastry and epic chocolate glaze, this is the only eclairs recipe you’ll ever need!
OMG these chocolate eclairs are truly amazing! This eclairs recipe is 100% from scratch and it really shows! Nothing is better than the ones from scratch! There are many eclairs recipes floating around the Internet using instant vanilla pudding – not this one! This eclairs recipe doesn’t use the store-bought pudding, it shows you how to make eclairs completely from scratch using normal everyday ingredients. This is the only eclairs recipe you’ll ever need!
If you browsed the rest of my site, you know that I usually go for the super-easy recipes. Well, this recipe (as well as my lemon meringue pie) is more complicated than a typical recipe that I make, but it’s so worth it. Print the recipe, make sure you understand the steps and then just follow it for the the best chocolate eclairs ever! You’ll love them!
How To Make Eclairs
There are 3 components to eclairs: (1) pastry (2) filling (3) glaze. Here’s the eclair making process in a nutshell:
- The first thing that you need to make is the filling.
- Then, while the filling is cooling down, make the pastry.
- When the pastry is ready, fill it with the filling.
- Finally, make the chocolate glaze and pour it over the eclairs.
When you understand the process of making eclairs, the rest is easy. Just get all the ingredients out and follow the exact recipe below for each step. These eclairs taste amazing! Enjoy!
Best Ever Homemade Eclairs Recipe
Ingredients
Filling
- 2 cups milk
- 6 egg yolks
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Pastry
- 1 cup water
- 8 tbsp 1 stick butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 cup flour
- 4 eggs plus 1 more egg for brushing
Glaze
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 4 oz chocolate chopped
Instructions
Make the filling
- Heat the milk in the microwave until hot but not boiling.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch until smooth. Gradually add 1 cup of hot milk, whisking constantly until incorporated. Gradually add the remaining milk, whisking constantly.
- Transfer the mixture into the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for 8 minutes (or until thickened). Do not let the mixture boil (if bubbles start forming, reduce heat).
- Remove the custard from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Mix until fully combined. Let cool, then refrigerate. Chill the filling for at least 1 hour.
Make the pastry
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Put the water, butter, salt and sugar in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Once it boils, take the saucepan off the heat and add the flour and quickly vigorously with a spoon until all the flour is incorporated. Return the saucepan to heat and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.
- Transfer the mixture into a large bowl and mix with a mixer on medium speed. Add 4 eggs (1 egg at a time) with the mixer running, scraping the sides of the bowl after each egg is added. Mix until smooth.
- Put the dough in a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip (or in a ziploc bag with a corner cut off) and pipe onto a baking sheet in the shape and size of a hot dog. Leave at least 2 inches of space between each piece of dough.
- Whisk 1 egg in a small bowl. Brush the dough pieces with the egg.
- Put the eclair dough in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375F and bake for 25 minutes.
- Remove the eclair pastries from the oven and let cool.
Fill the eclairs
- Put the filling in a pastry bag fitted with a plain pastry tip. Poke a hole at the end of each eclair pastry and fill with the custard filling.
Make the chocolate glaze
- Put heavy cream and chocolate pieces in a small saucepan. Heat, stirring, over medium heat until the chocolate is fully melted and incorporated in the cream. Do not let the mixture boil.
Glaze the eclairs
- Using a large spoon, put the chocolate glaze on top of eclairs. Chill uncovered for 1 hour to set the glaze.
Homemade eclairs always taste better 😋
Turned out delicious. Thank you