My sister loves eclairs from Le Panier in Pike Place she says its like a little piece of heaven. I told her i have only had the macarons and they're gross. But she insisted that i had to go and try just the eclair. So last month i went down there to finally try some and i will admit they are pretty delicious--the vanilla was my favorite and not just because it happened to be pink.
So today i decided i wanted to try and make some vanilla custard eclairs since Vince loves custard and i just got a pack of vanilla beans. I looked through various recipes online and settled on one. Seemed relatively easy enough....split and scrape the vanilla bean toss it in a sauce pan with milk and heavy cream. Mix it with egg yolks and sugar and... BOOM instant vanilla bean custard. At first i was scared i messed up and that maybe the egg yolks had cooked and i didnt temper it with the milk mixture properly. But to my amazement, i was wrong and the custard came out perfect and tasting like vanilla.
Then i moved the custard mix into the fridge to chill while i moved on to the patte a choux. With the help of my favorite kitchen sidekick (my kitchen aid) i was able to properly make the patte a choux for the first time. I piped that on to the baking sheets and got ready to bake them. The recipe says i can make 16 servings...i only got 12. Hmmm.. maybe i piped them too big?? I guess we will find out here shortly.
So today i decided i wanted to try and make some vanilla custard eclairs since Vince loves custard and i just got a pack of vanilla beans. I looked through various recipes online and settled on one. Seemed relatively easy enough....split and scrape the vanilla bean toss it in a sauce pan with milk and heavy cream. Mix it with egg yolks and sugar and... BOOM instant vanilla bean custard. At first i was scared i messed up and that maybe the egg yolks had cooked and i didnt temper it with the milk mixture properly. But to my amazement, i was wrong and the custard came out perfect and tasting like vanilla.
Then i moved the custard mix into the fridge to chill while i moved on to the patte a choux. With the help of my favorite kitchen sidekick (my kitchen aid) i was able to properly make the patte a choux for the first time. I piped that on to the baking sheets and got ready to bake them. The recipe says i can make 16 servings...i only got 12. Hmmm.. maybe i piped them too big?? I guess we will find out here shortly.
Checked half way through and it seems the pastries are rising as planned. Just look at how well they rose.
After they were done baking i left them on the counter to cool while i ate dinner; i figured at this point i was in the clear....
*WOMP WOMP*
Boy was i sooooooo wrong, when i went back to fill the pastries they had all deflated =(
I was utterly devastated.
*WOMP WOMP*
Boy was i sooooooo wrong, when i went back to fill the pastries they had all deflated =(
I was utterly devastated.
So those that know me, know i don't take to failure well. I was ready to just throw these disgusting deflated abominations away...But those who know Vince, know he will eat anything so he urged me to continue....as they say "the show must go on". So i unwillingly filled them with custard...and by fill i mean i just place the custard on top and then covered the custard with the chocolate. I couldn't even cover them nicely by dipping into the chocolate because the custard would just fall off, so i had to spoon it over the top
-____-
Yes i know they don't even look remotely close to perfection like Le Panier....but how can i worry about how they look if i can't even get them to stay inflated properly??!
-____-
Yes i know they don't even look remotely close to perfection like Le Panier....but how can i worry about how they look if i can't even get them to stay inflated properly??!
In the end this was a failed batch. But i will try again. And after an hour of research i think next time i will try to a) poke the little puffers early to let steam out or b) bake them for 10 min at the 425 degree temp, then lower the oven temp to 375 and bake for an additional 15-18 minutes. I also read that even if they look like they will burn half way through baking to keep them in there or they will deflate. Ugh...baking can be so complicated and disappointing sometimes.
>_<
>_<
My only saving grace was at least they tasted good. And it helps that Vince will eat anything ;P