Craquelin Topping<\/strong><\/p>\n Butter (A) \u2013 80 g (about 5\u00bd tbsp), softened<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Powdered sugar \u2013 70 g (about \u00bd cup + 1 tbsp)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Cake flour \u2013 100 g (about \u00be cup + 2 tbsp)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Choux Pastry Shells<\/strong><\/p>\n Water \u2013 62.5 g (about \u00bc cup)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Milk (A) \u2013 62.5 g (about \u00bc cup)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Butter (B) \u2013 57.5 g (about 4 tbsp)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Pinch of salt<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Pinch of sugar<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Bread flour \u2013 70 g (about \u00bd cup + 1 tbsp)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Beaten eggs \u2013 138 g (about 2\u20133 large eggs, adjust as needed)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Chocolate Pastry Cream<\/strong><\/p>\n Egg yolks \u2013 100 g (about 5\u20136 yolks)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Sugar \u2013 120 g (about \u00bd cup + 2 tbsp)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Cornstarch \u2013 25 g (about 3 tbsp)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Cocoa powder \u2013 5 g (about 1 tbsp)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Milk (B) \u2013 500 g (about 2 cups)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Dark chocolate \u2013 12 g (about 0.4 oz)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n In a bowl, cream the softened butter with powdered sugar until smooth.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Sift in the cake flour and mix with a cutting\/folding motion until a uniform dough forms. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Once firm, roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper until thin.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Cut into strips about 10 \u00d7 3 cm (4 \u00d7 1\u00bc in). Chill or freeze until ready to use (length should be slightly shorter than the \u00e9clairs).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n In a saucepan (avoid nonstick), combine butter, milk, water, salt, and sugar. Heat until just boiling, then reduce to low.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Sift in the bread flour all at once, stirring quickly with a spatula until the dough pulls away from the sides and a thin film forms on the bottom\u2014this means the starch has gelatinized. Remove from heat.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Transfer the dough to a mixing bowl and spread it out to cool to about 55\u00b0C (131\u00b0F). (If it\u2019s too hot, the eggs will scramble.) Preheat the oven to 190\u00b0C top heat \/ 180\u00b0C bottom heat (375\u00b0F \/ 355\u00b0F)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Gradually add the beaten eggs, mixing well after each addition. The dough is ready when it falls from the spatula in a smooth, V-shaped \u201ctriangle\u201d about 4 cm (1\u00bd in) long. You may not need all the egg\u2014moisture absorption varies with different flours.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Fit a piping bag with a 14-tooth star tip and fill with the choux dough.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Pipe \u00e9clairs onto a prepared baking sheet, holding the bag at a 45\u00b0 angle, close to the surface. Length should be 11\u201312 cm (4\u00bc\u20134\u00be in). Lift quickly at the end to finish.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Place a strip of craquelin on top of each \u00e9clair.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Bake in the center of the oven at 190\u00b0C\/180\u00b0C (375\u00b0F\/355\u00b0F)<\/strong> for 20 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave them inside for 5 minutes to set before removing to cool.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and cocoa powder until smooth.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Heat the milk until steaming. Gradually whisk half into the yolk mixture, then pour everything back into the pan with the remaining milk.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching, until thickened (about 3\u20135 minutes).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Remove from heat, stir in dark chocolate, and mix until melted and smooth.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface and refrigerate until chilled. Before using, whisk to restore a smooth texture, then transfer to a piping bag.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n Fill the \u00e9clairs by inserting a round tip into one end and piping the pastry cream inside, or slice them lengthwise and pipe in decorative swirls.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Serve immediately, or chill briefly for an even better flavor and texture.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n For the craquelin, don\u2019t reduce the sugar\u2014it\u2019s meant to be slightly sweet for contrast. You can omit it entirely for a simpler choux shell.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Cool the dough to below<\/strong> 55\u00b0C (131\u00b0F) before adding eggs, but don\u2019t let it go completely cold\u2014it only takes 1\u20132 minutes to cool enough.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The amount of egg depends on dough consistency, not exact weight.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n If your baking sheet isn\u2019t nonstick, line it with parchment before piping.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n If you can\u2019t adjust top\/bottom heat separately, bake at 190\u00b0C (375\u00b0F) for both to avoid collapsing bottoms.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Always leave the \u00e9clairs in the oven for 5 minutes after baking to help them set.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The 14-tooth tip with craquelin creates irregular vertical cracks. For a \u201cturtle shell\u201d crackle look, use a large round tip instead.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" These are the \u00e9clairs that \u201cdisappear the moment they\u2019re out of the oven\u201d! The steps aren\u2019t difficult\u2014just make sure you master the correct gelatinization of the choux dough. If you\u2019re not a fan of the crispy craquelin topping, you can skip it and glaze the \u00e9clairs with a smooth chocolate mirror glaze instead. Ingredients Craquelin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chocolate-desserts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allyummyfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allyummyfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allyummyfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allyummyfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allyummyfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.allyummyfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":895,"href":"https:\/\/www.allyummyfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions\/895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allyummyfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allyummyfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allyummyfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allyummyfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.allyummyfood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Pasted-11.png\")
<\/p>\n\n
\n
Instructions<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Make the Craquelin<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n
Make the Choux Pastry<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.allyummyfood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Pasted-12.png\")
<\/p>\nMake the Chocolate Pastry Cream<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.allyummyfood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Pasted-13.png\")
<\/p>\nAssemble the \u00c9clairs<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n
Tips<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n