I know, I know.. I said that I needed to take some of those winter layers off, but comes the weekend, I love to make yummy desserts and preferably chocolate. I had been eying that recipe of chocolate eclairs ever since I made the ones for the Titanic party, but the lack of time kept me from making them until this past Sunday. Those chocolate are a bit different from the “normal” ones. Instead of being filled with a chocolate pastry cream, they are actually filled with a chocolate mousse. HEAVEN!!!

This recipe was adapted from a French cookbook called Eclairs By Marabout.

Ingredients for 15 +eclairs:

Ingredients for about 15+ eclairs or  about 30 mini eclairs:

For the choux pastry: 8 cl  or 1/4 cup, 1 tbsp of 1 tsp of milk, 8 cl or 1/4 cup, 1 tbsp and 1 tsp of water, 1/16 tsp of salt, 2 tsp of sugar, 3 1/2 Tbsp of butter, 1/2 cup of flour, 2 large eggs.

In the saucepan, heat up the milk, salt, and sugar. Add the butter cut up in pieces. When the butter has completely melted, bring the mixture to boil. Remove the pan from the stove and add the flour by stirring very well. Place the pan back on the stove ( it must be turned off, but will still be warm), and stir and stir with a heat-resistant spatula until the dough starts becoming a ball and will no longer stick to the rims of the pan. Remove the pan from the stove and add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Place the dough in a pastry bag, with the large circular opening make long sticks of about 5 inches or 2 inches for small ones on a large silpat that you would have previously lay on a large perforated sheet. Sprinkle the eclairs with some confectioner’s sugar and cook them in a warm oven at 350 for 15 minutes for the small ones or about 25 minutes for the large ones. The dough should become brown and dry on all sides. If the dough is a little bit soft, continue cooking the eclairs for 1-3 more minutes. Take them out to cool.

While the choux are cooking, prepare the sinful filling:

250 gr of dark chocolate ( I used bittersweet Ghiradhelli), 100 gr of butter, 4 egg yolks, 6 egg whites, 40 gr of granulated sugar, 1 pinch of salt.

Melt the butter and the chocolate in a double boiler OR place the chocolate and the butter in a microwavable dish and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the chocolate from the microwave and stir well until the mixture is homogeneous. Place the egg whites in a kitchen mixer and beat the whites until hard peaks are forming. Slowly add the chocolate mixture. Do not overbeat so as to not deflate the egg whites. PLace the “chocolate mousse in  large bowl and refrigerate for several hours.

When the mousse has rested and has solidified, start assembling the eclairs. Slice the eclairs in half from one side, open  them up,  fill the eclairs with the chocolate mousse, and close them back up. PLace the eclairs in the fridge so that the mousse will not melt.

Prepare the icing: For this recipe, I used a different icing. Normally you would use an icing made out fondant or a glacage, but I used a ganache.

Ingredients: 125 gr of bittersweet chocolate, 125 gr of cream, 40 gr of honey, 50 gr of butter.

Place the cream, honey and the chocolate in a bowl, and microwave for 90 sec. When it is melted, add the butter and mix well. Mic well until the ganache is nice and shiny. Let it rest a few minutes for it to cool off before spreading it on each eclairs.

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!