Eclairs!

When I was home I hung out with my good friend Carrie and we made eclairs! This was mostly brought on by the fact that I had watched tons of Alton Brown on the plane ride home including the episode entitled "Choux Shine," where Alton taught his viewers how to make pate a choux, the base behind making eclairs and cream puffs, as well as funnel cake. I had been looking for a good eclair recipe for a while and figured it would be a perfect chance to try it out! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 3/4 stick butter (6 tablespoons)
• 1 tablespoon sugar plus 1/8 teaspoon salt (for sweet)
• 1 teaspoon salt (for savory)
• 5 3/4 ounces flour
• 1 cup eggs, about 4 large eggs and 2 whites
  
  Chocolate topping
  
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 tbs canola oil
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Boil water, butter, and salt or sugar. Add flour and remove from heat. Work mixture together and return to heat. Continue working the mixture until all flour is incorporated and dough forms a ball. Transfer mixture into bowl of a standing mixer and let cool for 3 or 4 minutes. With mixer on stir or lowest speed add eggs, 1 at a time, making sure the first egg is completely incorporated before continuing. Once all eggs have been added and the mixture is smooth put dough into piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe immediately into s shapes, 2 inches apart onto parchment lined sheet pans. Cook for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees F and bake for 10 more minutes or until golden brown. Once they are removed from the oven pierce with a paring knife immediately to release steam.

The best/hardest part is to make the eclairs and fill them--we used a pastry bag and a cake decorating syringe, it was lots of fun. Pictures soon!