Chocolate Eclair "Bites"
My children, especially Emily, love this. They asked for it for their birthdays. The pastry can be piped into small 1 teaspoon size balls or dropped by the spoon-full for larger puffs. Elizabeth made chocolate eclair bites for a book club meeting where the main character had been poisoned possibly by something in the chocolate eclair!
by Pat Savoie
Puffs:
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs
(Can add 1 tsp sugar too if desired.)
Filling:
1 small box vanilla pudding
1 1/4 cups milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream or Cool Whip
1 tsp almond extract
Glaze:
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate
1 Tablespoon butter
1 1/2 tsp milk
1 1/2 tsp light corn syrup
Puff: Heat water, butter and salt until mixture boils. Remove from heat. Vigorously stir in flour all at once until mixture forms a ball and leaves the sides of the pot. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each with a wooden spoon. Drop by spoonfuls into greased muffin pan or on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 400 40 minutes or until golden. Turn off oven and leave in and additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and poke a small hole in each to let the moisture escape. Cool
Filling: Make pudding. Beat cream until stiff. Fold into pudding and add almond extract. Fill each puff using a pastry bag and large hole tip.
Glaze: Melt all ingredients together in microwave. Drizzle over puffs. Refrigerate. (You may want to put the chocolate in a ziploc bag and snip off the end to help drizzle the chocolate.)
Serving Ideas : You can make a ring of large puffs.
NOTES : I use Cool Whip instead of whipping cream when I’m not going to serve it immediately. The whipped cream tends to break down when stored. I usually need more cream filling, so I double the recipe.
Other ideas: You can freeze leftover puffs (without filling). For a savory puff, try other fillings such as egg salad or chicken salad.
Puffs cooked in muffin tins.
Larger sized puffs
Savoie Secrets: It's a Family Recipe 