Eclairs II

I made Eclairs again. And they were pretty much equally amazing as they were the first time. For the recipe and the story behind the first time I made them, the post is here.


Don't the look super duper tasty?That would be because they are!

Anyway, something I learned from the two times that I made them. The recipe that I have makes way too much filling. Unfortunately, it is a little hard to halve a packet of pudding mix. So I would suggest making two batches of the pastry and doubling the chocolate topping recipe. Also, try to put the chocolate on as fast as possible because the topping solidifies fairly quickly.

Pecan Caramel Pie

NOTE: Since I originally posted this recipe I have found a much better pie crust recipe, it can be found in this post. Also, I have made this pie many times since I posted this recipe and it's one of my favourite recipes that I've found in all my baking experimentation.

Originally posted on Facebook March 20, 2009

Pie Crust
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shortening
5 to 6 tablespoon cold water (I got cold water from the tap and then added ice cubes)

It is very important that the shortening and water are cold.
Stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry bender, cut n shortening until it looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle in cold water 1 tbsp at a time until pastry just holds together. Shape into ball. Refrigerate. Divide into two sections. Roll out on floured surface until 1/8 inch thick. Makes 2 single pie crusts or 1 double pie crust.

Pecan Caramel Pie

I came across this one while looking for recipes with pecans and caramels in them for last week but I didn't have the ingredients for the pie crust. I found it at Allrecipes.com

1 unbaked 9'' pie crust
36 individual caramels (unwrapped)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup pecan halves

Preheat oven to 350. In a saucepan, stirring frequently, melt together caramels, butter and milk until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a large bowl combine sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt. Mix in caramel sauce. Stir in pecans. Pour into pie crust. Bake for 45-50 minutes.

This Pie is AWESOME! Caramel and pecans go so well together. The pastry wasn't great but it was okay for a first try. Next time I'll probably buy a pie crust, it makes everything much easier.

Eclaires

Originally posted on Facebook March 30, 2009

These were a special request, well more of a strong suggestion, from one of my engineering friends. He's from Mauritius, a small island nation that was once a French colony, so there's a lot of French influence there. I was very nervous making them because I know how tricky cream puff type pastry can be to make. But I figured I'd give it a try. I found an excellent recipe at Allrecipes.com and got to work.

Pastry
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 400. Boil the water in a medium sized pot. Stir in the butter and salt until melted. Add the flour, all at once, stirring vigorously until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat and stir in eggs, one at a time. Spoon in tablespoons onto cookie sheet (it may be a good idea to cover this in parchment paper) leaving lots of room in between pastries for expansion. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes and then turn heat down to 375 for another 10-15 min, until pastries are golden brown. Leave to cool completely.

Filling
1 package (250 g) cream cheese, softened
2 cups milk
1 package (30 g) instant vanilla pudding mix

Slowly beat 1/2 cup of milk into the cream cheese until creamy. Then beat in the remaining milk and the package of pudding mix. Stir until thick, 1 to 2 minutes. Cut cooled pasty shells in half and spoon pudding mixture in between the halves.

Chocolate Sauce
1 (1 ounce) square of unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons hot water

Melt the butter and chocolate together over low heat. Remove from heat and mix in icing sugar and hot water. Drizzle over filled eclaires. Mmmmmm, chocolate, cheesecake, pudding, pastries.....

I'd have to say these are the weirdest thing I've ever tried making. The pastry when it's in the pot smells and looks very odd. And then it gets even weirder when you add the eggs start to put them on the pans. They puff up quite nicely in the oven and smell great when they are finished. They also taste AMAZING when finished. A warning though, the filling part of the recipe makes way more than needed for what the pastry part makes. So I ended up making two batches of pastry and icing. Of course I ran out of icing sugar on the second batch of icing, but it still turned out okay.

My family (mostly, my parents) was commenting about the unnecessary calories they had ingested all weekend so I took these to school and handed them out to whichever engineers were sitting near me in my last class. And the friend I made them for managed to eat five.

Bing Cherry Pie

Bing Cherry Pie

Pastry
2 cups flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup lard
1/3 cup cold water
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp vinegar

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and slat. Cut in lard until mixture resembles coarse meal. In a separate bowl combine the rest of the ingredients. Stir into flour mixture. Chill and allow to rest for 15 minutes before rolling out. Makes enough for a double crusted pie.

Bing Cherry Filling
4 cups bing (or other sweet) cherries, pitted
2 tbsp orange juice (fresh squeezed)
2 tbsp lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
2 tbsp corn starch
1 - 1 1/2 cups sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 450. Place cherries in a large bowl. Mix orange and lemon juices with corn starch, then combine with sugar cinnamon and salt. Toss with cherries. Let rest for 15 minutes (I didn't do this) Add the almond extract, toss well. Prick the bottom pie crust. Spoon in filling. Dot all over with butter pieces. Put on the top and cut holes in it for air to escape. Bake for 10 minutes at 450, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 45-55 minutes.

Okay, well I messed this one up and forgot to reduce the heat. So it kind of boiled over and the crust was a bit crispier than expected. But it was still an amazing pie. I will make this again for sure. The pastry was very tasty (even when burnt) and the filling was amazingly cherry-y. Soooo good.