Chocolate Eclairs with White Chocolate Drizzle {Virtual Bridal Shower}
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Julie is getting married!!! Today along with a bunch of amazing food bloggers, we’re throwing her a virtual bridal shower. I hope you’ll stick around for a bit and then be sure to check out what everyone else made in Julie’s honor (links and full recipe below).
If you don’t know Julie of Table for Two, you should. She’s super sweet , funny and has easily become one of my favorite people. Sometimes we scare each other with how similar we are. If only we lived closer!
So Julie is getting married in less than a month and a bunch of her blogging buddies wanted to surprise her with a fun virtual shower. Since we can’t all get together in person to celebrate, this is the next best thing! Honestly, I’m always kind of tortured with these events because I really wish we could eat all of the yummy recipes made by the many talented bloggers participating. Can you imagine how awesome that’d be to really have it in person instead of virtually? Food heaven! However, this way there are ZERO calories for Julie to worry about. We all took one (okay… many calories) for the team. You’ll notice that we tend to lean slightly more towards sweets when it comes to these type of parties. I’m sure no one is complaining. Are you? ;)
I really wanted to come up with something super special to share. I knew it had to be amazing and possibly include purple, as it’s Julie’s favorite color and her wedding color. I debated over several options before deciding on eclairs. Only they couldn’t just be regular eclairs. Nope, they had to be chocolate and of course those don’t really exist, or that I could find. So, I adapted a recipe from Sprinkle Bakes cookbook that I’d previously made a year ago. The necessary change, to make it chocolate. The filling is the same, being homemade smooth pastry cream. And unlike the first time I made eclairs, this one would have white chocolate. Thus allowing me to make it purple!
These have every bit of flavor you’d expect from a traditional eclair, but instead are chocolate. These tender chocolate eclair shells are filled with smooth homemade pastry cream and topped off with white chocolate (in your choice of pattern or method).
Originally I wanted to do every eclair in a pretty and fancy design inspired by the cookies Marian taught us to make in November at Mixed Conference (see my Christmas cookies on Instagram). In the end, I decided that would be too much work for the time I had to work on these. I set aside a few eclairs to decorate in the fancier manner, just because. And then went with a Jackson Pollock-esque design instead, drizzling white and purple chocolate randomly over the eclairs. It was fun and my oldest certainly enjoyed eating the hardened chocolate from the baking sheet.
Chocolate Eclairs with White Chocolate Drizzle
Ingredients
Dough ingredients:
- 3/4 C water
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 C all purpose flour
- 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4 large eggs
Egg wash:
- 1 large egg
- 1 pinch salt
Pastry cream ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1 C whole milk
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg yolks
- 6 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- White chocolate for dipping or drizzling
Instructions
- Prepare pastry cream: In a small bowl, dissolve cornstarch in 1/4C whole milk. Beat 1 whole egg into mixture, followed by 1 yolk at a time.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring remaining 3/4C whole milk and sugar to a boil, whisking. When mixture boils, slowly drizzle 1/3 milk mixture to egg mixture, whisking constantly. Return pan to medium-low heat, slowly adding egg mixture while whisking until mixture boils. Remove from heat, stir in butter and vanilla.
- Strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing to the surface of the pastry cream. Allow to cool to room temperature before chilling until ready to use. May be chilled for up to several days.
- Prepare eclair shells: Preheat oven to 425°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Prepare a pastry bag with a large round tip.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together water, butter, sugar and milk. Stir occasionally until mixture boils. Remove from heat. Sift in flour. Return to heat, mixing in flour and stirring until dough pulls away from the sides of the saucepan.
- Transfer eggs to the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Mix on low to cool dough slightly. Begin adding 1 egg at a time, followed by cocoa powder. Mix until eggs and cocoa powder are fully incorporated into dough.
- Spoon dough into prepared pastry bag. Pipe 1"x4" strips. Remove peaks by dabbing your finger in water and gently brushing the peaks.
- In a small bowl, beat 1 whole egg with a pinch of salt. Brush egg wash over piped dough.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 425°F, then reduce heat to 350°F and continue baking for 10 additional minutes.
- Allow eclair shells to cool completely before filling with pastry cream.
- Add pastry cream to a pastry bag fit with a long tip. Pierce one end of an eclair and fill with pastry cream. Watch eclair slightly puff up and slowly remove tip.
- Coat top of eclairs with a drizzle of white chocolate, or you may dip the top side instead of drizzling. Best served immediately or store in an airtight container, chilled.
Notes
I can’t even tell you how long it’s been since I had an eclair, but I am seriously craving them now. Yours are gorgeous, and I love the purple drizzle :) Such a fun shower for Julie!
You should run to the kitchen and make some right now ;) They’ll be ready before for a mid morning snack!
These are so pretty I love the purple!! Plus, the look insanely delicious!
Thank you and they absolutely are delicious :)
These are just so beautiful! I love the purple! Eclairs are one of my favorite sweets!
Oh my gawwwwwwwwd. You rock my purple covered world. I’m SO glad to call you my friend and forever conference roomie and you’re seriously one of the best people to talk to. I love chatting with you daily and finding out how freakishly alike we are..and I just freaking love you. Thank you for putting SO MUCH thought into these bite-sized desserts!! They are GORGEOUS!! See you so soon!!!!! :) :) xoxoxoxoxo
Roomies for life lol I swear that’s not weird at all. ;) I hope you enjoy your virtual shower!
Ohhh man, these are gorgeous. I would gladly help you eat them if I could! :) So great that you matched Julie’s purple theme, too. Hurray for showers!
They disappeared SO fast!
OMMMGGG SO GORGEOUS!!
I can’t believe I had never seen a chocolate eclair before these! Its the insides that are my favorite part but the pastry and icing on yours look perfect! These are so pretty!
I was shocked I couldn’t find a single chocolate recipe. It seemed like such a simple and obvious choice :)
GORGEOUS!!!! Seriously, I can’t wait to make these guys! Love, love, love it!
I love that y’all are doing this for Julie! SO sweet! And these eclairs – insanely gorgeous, and I’m definitely going to take this idea – I’m catering 3 showers in the next month and need some great desserts like this one! Pinning!
Be sure to let me know what you think if you end up trying them! :)
LOVE the purple drizzling on top! Couldnt be more gorgeous! I love that you made the eclairs chocolate too, because there is really never enough chocolate at bridal showers ;) (ps lets go crash Julie’s wedding together!!!)
Ummm these are friggin’ amazing! You are so talented and I’m sure they taste as good as they look. Big congrats to Julie!
Thanks Katie :)
These are beautiful!!! Love the white and lilac drizzle!!
Awww you guys are schweeeet! These are so prettiful! I’ve tried cream puffs before, not yet eclairs. I bet these are so good!
These look absolutely divine! Your photos are so gorgeous! Do you deliver? Because I could really use a couple of those beauties with my coffee this morning…. ;)
These are amazing, Rachel! What a sweet (heh) tribute to Julie for her wedding month. I would be in heaven with a stack of these cute eclairs!
You are so talented! I love these and I want them all up in my face :)
These look amazing! I never thought about making my own eclairs but now that I see how easy they are, I need to.
These are gorgeous, Rachel! I love how festive you were with the colors. Well-done, my friend!
I LOVE Julie. And, these eclairs are freaking stunning! Seriously, I want to eat them all right now.
These look totally luscious and SO pretty! Eclairs and cream puffs are at the top of my dessert list :)
What a yummy treat! And such a fun occasion!
I love eclairs, but haven’t made them in years!! These look wonderful, and I love the purple – so perfect!
Okay these are too perfect for words Rachel! Yes, they totally look a tad bit like what we talked about – which somehow makes them even more hilariously perfect!!
Right? lol I think it’s completely unavoidable.
Purple!!! Not a color you see everyday on blogs. And I love this! And they look amazing. I want to just chomp down! I love white chocolate so much,too!
I never thought I would ever say this but I’ll get married again if you’ll make these for me. Deal?
What a sweet idea and your eclairs look unbelievably delicious!
You wanted to come up with something special and you certainly did. These eclairs are gorgeous!
Love the idea of a virtual bridal shower! These eclairs are just fab, love the touches of purple. You’ve got me craving eclairs now :)
These are really beautiful! Love those purple drizzles!
My husband loves eclairs! These look so yummy and doable! I think I might try these for his birthday coming up! Your pictures of these look lovely!