Recipe Variation for my Choux Pastry Blend

The trick to making éclairs gluten-free is getting the flour blend just right, which I have done for you, but it also requires a bit of science to make them rise up and hold their shape. It is crucial that you add the baking powder to the egg mixture and allowing it to foam up for a solid five minutes before adding the mixture to the hot choux pastry. If you miss this step, the éclairs will collapse after they come out of the oven.

To save time, you can use my Choux Pastry Blend ( as well as any recipe on my blog or cookbook, or any recipe of yours that calls for choux paste for that matter) so you don't have to mix all the dry ingredients yourself, but if you have my book, I strongly suggest you follow the recipe in its entirety so you can see each an every component that makes this recipe come together as it does. If this isn't something that floats your boat, you can take the short cut. I'm all about having options--especially since there are those of us gluten-free foodies that know what they want to take with them from each blog post.

Enjoy!

Gluten-Free Éclairs

Adapted from my first cookbook, Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free

1 recipe Choux Pastry Blend

Follow the instructions on the back of the bag (or as listed in the cookbook), being sure to pipe your éclairs to at least 4 inches in length.

Pastry Cream

1 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean, split

3 tablespoons non-gmo cornstarch

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

6 large egg yolks

2 whole eggs

1/8 teaspoons kosher salt

Chocolate Glaze

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1/4 cup sugar

For the Pastry Cream:

In a medium saucepan, heat the milk, cream, and vanilla extract or vanilla bean if using, over a medium flame. Heat until bubbles just begin to form around the edge of the pan. In the meantime, whisk the cornstarch with the sugar in a bowl. Add the egg yolks, eggs and kosher salt. Whisk until the mixture forms a thick, slowly dissolving ribbon on the surface when the whisk is held over the surface of the eggs. The mixture should be a lovely pale yellow.

Whisking constantly, pour the hot milk into the eggs to temper them and then return the custard to the pan. set over medium low heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture begins to thicken and then switch to a whisk. Cook the custard until it becomes very thick, but be careful not to bring it to a boil as the eggs will curdle. Pour the pastry cream into a glass bowl and set aside until ready to use. You're supposed to press plastic wrap over the surface to prevent a skin from forming, but I don't like my lovely cream to taste like plastic and like to eat the skin. If you don't, you can always use a spoon to skim the layer off the top before you transfer the cream to a piping bag to fill the èclairs.

Now make the chocolate dipping sauce so it can begin to cool while you are filling the éclairs with the pastry cream.

Finely chop the chocolate and place in a bowl nested over a sauce pan filled with 2 inched of simmering water to make a double-boiler. Add the butter and melt with the chocolate until silky smooth; stirring every now and then. Add the corn syrup and the sugar, stir to smooth, remove from the heat, and allow to cool.

Fit a pastry bag with a 1/4-inch stainless steel star tip and fill with the pastry cream. Take one of your baked éclairs and use the tines of your piping tip to poke a small hole at one end of the éclair. Inject the cream until the choux begins to bulge. Flip the éclair around and repeat on the other end. This will fill your éclair to maximum capacity, so, as Fergus Henderson says, "the cream will explode all over your glasses" when you bit into it.

Repeat until all of your éclairs have been filled.

Next, take one of the éclairs and dip the top into the chocolate glaze. Remove, cleaning up any big blunders so the `eclairs still look irresistible.

Makes 8-10 éclairs.