Chocolate Eclairsare made with a traditional choux pastry, stuffed with homemade chocolate custard, and topped with a rich chocolate icing. They are perfect to make for any special occasion.

Eclairs take a little bit of time but none of the steps are terribly hard or complicated. The biggest challenge is that it involves three different recipes to make one dessert. It’s a process that takes some time but the end result is delicious.

If you are short on time and need a special dessert, you could makechocolate mousseorchocolate lava cake.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

The process of making these treats can be afun and rewarding experience, especially with family or friends in the kitchen.
You caneasily switch up the fillingby adding different extracts or spices, such as cherry or cinnamon, to create unique variations of the classic eclair. You could also top them with a drizzle of caramel.
Eclairs are agreat choice for special occasionsor when you want to impress guests. The glossy chocolate icing on top of these eclairs adds a touch of sophistication to the treat.
Great for sharing.The recipe makes a generous number of pastries, so you can easily serve a crowd or save some for later.

Recipe Ingredients

Water
Butter:unsalted butter is best for this recipe
All-purpose flour:don’t use bread flour or self-rising flour
Eggs: you will need 7 eggs between the dough and the chocolate custard
Dutch-process cocoa powder
Sugar
Salt
Milk
Vanilla
Chocolate:use chocolate squares or chocolate chips
Whipping cream: not heavy cream

See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities

How to Make Chocolate Stuffed Eclairs

Step #1.Make the choux pastry dough, pipe onto a greased cookie sheet and bake until slightly golden brown.
Step #2.While the pastries are baking, make the chocolate custard filling and then place it in the refrigerator to cool.
Step #3.Slice each pastry lengthwise with a serrated knife but not all the way through and pipe or spoon the chocolate custard in the center.
Step #4.Make the icing and then apply to the top of the eclairs. Serve right away or store in the refrigerator.

Recipe FAQs

What’s the difference between an eclair and a cream puff?

Eclairs have an oblong shape, are filled with pastry cream and are topped with a chocolate icing. Cream puffs are round, filled with whipped cream, and dusted with confectioners’ sugar.

What is choux pastry?

Choux pastry, or pâte à choux, is a light and airy dough made by combining water, butter, flour, and eggs. The secret to the perfect choux pastry is how you incorporate them.

Do you need any special tools or equipment to make eclairs?

No. But you can use a long metal tip on your piping bag (the one that’s used to fill doughnuts) to fill the eclairs from their bottoms rather than cutting them in half.

Can I make eclairs ahead?

Yes. You could make the pastries and filling a day ahead and then fill them just shortly before you serve them. I recommend making the icing just before you stuff the eclairs or dusting them with powdered sugar.

How do you store chocolate stuffed eclairs?

Eclairs should be stored separately in the refrigerator for two to three days.

Expert Tips

Make sure the flour and butter mixture rests for 5 minutesbefore adding the eggs. If you add the eggs while it’s too hot, they will start to cook and you’ll get little chunks of scrambled egg in your finished dough.
To get those perfect, uniform eclair shapes,use a piping bag to pipe the doughonto your baking sheet. This will give you more control over the size and shape of your eclairs.
Don’t open the oven door while baking.Eclairs need a hot, consistent temperature to rise properly and achieve that light, airy texture.
When making the filling, it’s important totemper the eggs by adding small amounts of the hot milkmixturebefore incorporating them into the custard.