Eclairs.... No...Cream Puffs

I've been wanting to make Eclairs for a long time now, but for some reason keep putting it off. Well, after my good friend Sweet Cheeks made these, I knew I had to try. Don't ask me why, but I didn't use the recipe she did. I should have. I will for next time. Instead I found a recipe that had me so discouraged I just threw it out. I threw out both the recipe and the pastries after they came out of the oven. I suppose they weren't horrible...but they weren't what they should have been, and I wasn't going to put up with it.

Mom came to the rescue and dug around for a cream puff recipe a friend gave her a long time ago, which is almost the same as the eclair recipe. Are they the same? Are the recipes interchangeable? What is the difference, the shape, the ingredients? Please let me know.

Everything ended up coming together pretty well, so you'll probably want the recipe.


Cream Puffs

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup flour
• 4 eggs

1. Heat water & butter to boil.
2. Stir in flour, all at once, over low heat until mixture leaves pan and forms a ball.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beat until smooth.
5. Drop by spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet.
6. Bake in preheated 400 F oven for 45 minutes.
7. When cool, fill with pastry cream and top with confectioners sugar or drizzle with chocolate.

French Vanilla Pastry Cream
by dragonskitchen

• 6 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 5 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup whipping cream

1. In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 1/4 cup of the sugar for 2 minutes or until pale yellow. Adding flour in 3 additions, stir until well mixed.
2. In a saucepan, heat the milk, remaining sugar and vanilla bean over medium heat, stirring often until the sugar is dissolved and small bubbles begin to form around the edges of the pot. Stirring constantly, pour about 1/3 of the milk mixture into egg mixture and stir until thoroughly combined. Pour egg mixture into remaining milk and cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes or until mixture begins to bubble. Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking, stirring, until mixture begins to mound and hold its shape; remove from heat.
3. Stir in butter and remove the vanilla bean. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap touching the surface of the custard and cool to room temperature.
4. Beat whipping cream until stiff; add a large dollop of cream to the cooled pastry cream and fold in; add remaining whipped cream and fold in until almost combined. Place in the refrigerator until completely chilled.