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Chocolate Eclairs

A pastry filled with whipped cream and topped with chocolate icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Eclairs

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the choux dough

  1. In a pan, combine water and butter; bring to a boil.

  2. Add flour and stir until smooth over low heat.

  3. Let cool for a few minutes, then add beaten eggs and mix well.

  4. Transfer mixture to a piping bag with a plain tube.

Bake and fill

  1. Pipe into a greased pan in finger lengths.

  2. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 30 minutes.

  3. Once baked, open the side with a knife and let cool.

  4. Whip cream and fill the eclairs using the piping bag.

Make the icing

  1. For icing, mix confectioners' sugar with boiling water until stirrable.

  2. Add melted chocolate and vanilla; beat until smooth.

  3. If too thick, add a little more water.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten into the dough to add structure and help it puff when baked.
Flour
Forms the starch base of the dough that sets around the steam to hold the shell.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the dough and helps it stay tender.
Water
Boiled with the butter to create steam that lifts the dough as it bakes.
Cream
Whipped to make a light, moist filling.
Baker's chocolate
Melted into the icing to give it flavour and a glossy, dark colour.

The step that matters

Beating the eggs into the dough. Eggs must be added after the dough has cooled slightly and beaten in until smooth. If the dough is too hot, the eggs scramble, and if too little egg is incorporated, the eclairs may not puff and hold their shape.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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