Chocolate eclairs with vanilla pastry cream

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

1. For the pastry cream, bring the milk to a boil. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla extract until foamy. Gradually pour in the hot milk, a little at a time, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture into a clean saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.

   Transfer the cream to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and stir occasionally as it cools. Once cool, refrigerate.

2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

3. For the dough, bring the butter and water to a boil in a saucepan. Once the butter has melted, add all the flour at once and stir until the dough forms a smooth, glossy ball. Remove the pan from the heat, transfer the dough to a bowl, and let cool briefly. Then beat in the eggs one at a time.

4. Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe 20 oblong eclairs about 7 cm long onto the baking sheets, leaving about 5 cm between them. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, until golden brown, then let cool on a wire rack.

5. For the glaze, heat the butter and water, add the chocolate, and stir constantly until melted. Remove from the heat and continue stirring until the glaze becomes glossy and begins to thicken.

6. Slice the eclairs in half horizontally, spread the chocolate glaze over the top halves, and let set. Just before serving, fill the bottom halves with pastry cream, cover with the chocolate-glazed tops, and serve immediately.

Tip: Once the pastry cream thickens, let it bubble a little longer, stirring constantly. This fully cooks the cornstarch so the egg yolk cream does not thin out after cooling.

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Banániky z odpaľovaného cesta s krémom a čokoládou