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The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

Well, today my husband turns another year older! Unlike many people (myself included) — my husband welcomes the aging process! He thinks his 60’s are going to be the golden years. LOL! I die laughing when I hear him talking about “Reaching his sweet spot when he’s 62!” When he starts dreaming about his [future] glory days…I always suggest that we make every year the best year ever. We usually come to an agreement and move on! (Phew) 😉 This recipe for Homemade Eclairs is Ritch’s favorite dessert of all time. His mom has been making these Eclairs for as long as he can remember!

I am very fortunate to have a mother-in-law who happily passes her recipes down to her children and their spouses (especially because she used to work in a bakery)! Seriously…have you heard of people who take their most beloved recipes to the grave with them? Or those who will share most of a recipe, leaving out the one crucial ingredient that makes the dish special?  I don’t understand that at all (like not in the slightest), and I’m grateful Ritch’s mom shares her recipes freely!
The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

Now listen, these Eclairs are good, like knock-your-socks-off delicious. But they are hard work! Making these for my husband is truly a labor of love. He’s totally worth it (like totally) and I happily spend half a day making these for Ritch because they bring him so much joy! We always work as a team, which makes the process faster and more fun!

There are three separate components that make up these Homemade Eclairs. 1) Pastry Filling. 2) Pastry Puffs. 3) Chocolate Frosting. Since they all require the use of a standing mixer, I have the process of making of these babies down to a science! It begins with making the pastry filling because it involves chilling and whipping! Start by whisking together the milk and pudding mix, then letting it set up in the fridge while you whip the whipping cream. A helpful tip: when you whip the whipping cream in your standing mixer, start by placing the mixing bowl in the fridge or freezer. A cold bowl aids in the whipping process immensely!

The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

After the pudding is set up and the cream is whipped, gently fold them together. Once they’re thoroughly combined, cover your filling and place it in the fridge while you make the puffs and frosting! You will definitely have extra filling…but trust me you won’t be sad about it!

Note: My husband knows this recipe SO well, that one time I made it using a generic brand of French vanilla pudding and he noticed. So much that he said, “What did you do to these? They are different!” First, I had to fight the urge to say something super mean because I had spent so (so) long making them (as you will see if you make it to the end of this post)! I was indignant because I made them the same way I always do! Then, (oh yes…then) Ritch found the generic pudding packages in the garbage and said, “You didn’t use Jell-O brand pudding! That’s it! The filling is different!” LOL LOL! I about died. The dude can’t tell the different between ground turkey and ground pork, but he could detect that I tried to save 90 cents by buying a different brand of pudding. Never again did I make that mistake. 😉

The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

Once the filling is waiting patiently in the fridge, it’s time to make the pastry shells (or puffs as we call them)! These are pretty straightforward…but one thing you need to be sure of is that your final batter is not too runny. If it is not thick enough to hold its shape when piped, you will need to add more flour. I have had to adjust the amount of flour if my eggs are larger than normal and my batter comes out too thin (which happened to this very batch)!  I use a decorator’s bag and Wilton #1M tip to pipe the batter onto a greased baking sheet. I think the lines that the #1M tip makes are pretty! If you’d prefer smooth shells use a circular tip.

The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

Bake the shells until they are golden brown but not too dark (about 20 minutes). This recipe makes about 50 or 60 shells that are 2″ long.

The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

While your shells are baking,  make your frosting. It’s a basic chocolate buttercream frosting that is a little on the dark side (insert Star Wars jokes here). This is the only component that you will not have extra of. Every.single.time that I make this recipe I’m concerned that I won’t have enough to frost all the Eclairs. But it always ends up being just the right amount (you’d think I’d learn…right)?

Wait for the puffs to cool completely before you begin assembling your Eclairs. Start by piping the filling into the shells using a small round tip.

The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

This is when we tag-team it! Ritch fills the shells, then passes them to me to frost! Seriously having a partner to make these is a necessity! Also…if your helper is good at washing dishes that is a total bonus! 😉

The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

Something that you absolutely have to know is that you will have “reject” eclairs. Seriously, you will get a handful of shells that decide not to puff up in the oven and turn out flat. Also, some of your puffs might look perfect, but will explode as you try to fill them! Don’t get discouraged if as many as 10 or 15 don’t work out for you. This recipes yields about 45 mini Eclairs, even with the rejects! Real life people!The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

However, please (pretty please–my husband begs you) do not waste the less-than-perfect shells! You can use them to dip into the filling (seriously that’s what Ritch does), or to create masterpieces like this: I will call it the S.S. Eclair. YUM.The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

If you are still with me here (thank you and I love you), you can see that this recipe is not for the faint of heart. While these Eclairs are a tremendous amount of work (like SO much work) the end result is one of the best desserts on the planet and will make the recipient feel oh so very loved.

The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

Print
Homemade Eclairs

Total Time: 4 hours

Yield: 40-50 mini eclairs

Ingredients

Instructions

    Filling
  1. Mix together the French vanilla pudding and milk. Set aside in the refrigerator until it becomes thick (about 5 minutes).
  2. Pour the whipping cream into your standing mixer and whip on high speed until it becomes slightly thick and frothy.
  3. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and whip until firm peaks form and hold their shape.
  4. Fold the pudding and whipped cream mixture together.
  5. Cover and set aside in the refrigerator.
    6. Puffs:
  6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease three jelly roll pans and set aside.
  7. Measure your water, salt and butter into a 4-quart saucepan. Heat water salt and butter to boiling. Continue to boil the mixture until the butter is melted.
  8. Add the flour to the saucepan all at once and whip with wooden spoon. Mixture will form a ball in middle of the pan.
  9. Cool for about 5 minutes stirring to cool faster.
  10. Add eggs one at a time whipping with wooden spoon well after each. [Or transfer your mixture to a standing mixture and add eggs individually, beating well after each].
  11. Check your batter, if it is not thick enough to hold a shape when piped, gradually add more flour until it reaches the desired consistency.
  12. Put mixture into pastry bag and pipe out eclair shapes about 1 ½ to 2 inches long and 2 inches apart on your prepared baking sheets.
  13. Bake at 400 for about 25 minutes or until lightly brown. Let cool completely before assembling the eclairs.
    14. Frosting
  14. Melt chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave (60 seconds, then 30 second intervals until smooth), set aside.
  15. Place softened butter in the bowl of your standing mixer.
  16. Add chocolate vanilla and beat until combined.
  17. Add salt and powdered sugar and beat until well combined.
  18. Add milk and beat until the mixture reaches spreading consistency, wiping down the sides as you go. You may need to add more milk.
  19. Set aside (but keep at room temperature).
    20. Assembly.
  20. Put filling in a large piping bag fitted with a small, round tip. Gently pipe the filling into one end of the pastry puff. Repeating for each puff until they are all filled.
  21. Fill a large piping bag with your chocolate frosting and frost the eclairs in any way you’d like!
  22. Refrigerate until serving.

Notes

These eclairs freeze extremely well! Simply remove from the freezer and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving!

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The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

Since this is Ritch’s most beloved recipe of…well ever…I thought it would be fun to have him share his thoughts with you!

So here is Ritch’s outlook on these Homemade Eclairs:

These Eclairs are BY FAR the best dessert that I have ever had! Nothing else comes close. In fact, It’s not even fair to compare other desserts to this one. I’m actually tearing up a little bit as I write this….they are…so…(sniffle) amazing. I obviously have the best wife in the world–for lots of reasons–not least of which is because she makes these Eclairs for me. Just like anything else in life that is good…this recipe is a lot of work. But worth every second.

The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

Well there you have it folks. For real, if you made it to the end I commend you.

The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

Question of the day: Do you have a favorite family recipe that is absolutely delicious but so {so} much work? What is it?!

If you make something from JoyFoodSunshine I would love to see your creations! #joyfoodsunshine

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The very best Homemade Eclairs. A labor of love resulting in the most delicious dessert you will ever taste!

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