Eclairs and Cream Puffs Recipe (with Video)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Custard
1. Warm the milk and vanilla extract in a saucepan. Then, whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until thickened. Sift the cornstarch in and whisk until everything is smooth and well combined. Add 1/4 cup of the warm milk into the mixture and whisk. Add the remaining milk slowly while whisking.
2. Return pan to medium-high heat, whisking constantly until mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter.
3. Let the custard cool and cover it with plastic wrap. Press the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming on top. Chill for at least 2 hours if serving same day or store in the refrigerator overnight.
Pastry
1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, add water, butter, sugar, vanilla and salt. Bring to a boil. Then turn off heat, add flour and stir with a wooden spoon until thickened. Allow dough to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Add eggs one at a time, beat in with hand mixer or whisk. The texture of the dough should be smooth and fall slowly from the whisk when lifted out of the bowl. Transfer dough to a piping bag with a large star tip.
3. Pipe the dough onto a lined baking sheet, leaving 2 inches of space in between each one. Make lines about the size of hot dogs for eclairs and big dots for cream puffs.
4. Egg Wash: In a bowl, whisk egg and water together. Brush the surface of each eclair with the egg wash. This will smooth out any imperfections so that they can look beautiful once baked.
5. Bake 12-15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 degrees and bake until puffed up and light golden brown, about 18-25 minutes more, depending on your oven and size of your pastries.
6. Allow pastries to cool on a cooling rack. Use a thin piping tip like Ateco 230 to poke 3 holes in the bottom of each eclair and fill with custard. The eclair should feel heavy when full.
7. For the cream puffs, just poke 1 hole in the bottom and fill with the custard or make a chantilly cream by combining vanilla extract and whipped cream. Sprinkle the cream puffs with powdered sugar.
Chocolate ganache
1. In a small sauce pan, bring the cream to a boil. Turn off heat.
2. Put the chocolate in a medium size bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth.
3. Dip the tops of the eclairs in the warm chocolate glaze and set on a sheet pan or cooling rack.