3 Winks Design
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • Printables
  • From Cover to Reel
    • Contests >
      • Writing Challenge
    • Show Notes
  • Where I Party
    • Places Featured
  • Archives

Salted Caramel Eclairs (or Cream Puffs)

9/14/2016

6 Comments

 
Picture
    Before I swore off turning on the oven this past summer, I shared with you the recipe for Cream Puffs (or eclairs) on this post.  I promised then to share with you the filling that I usually make from scratch.  I have been giving it some thought, then this happened:
Picture
  My dear friend Tracy's son is getting married this weekend and she threw a Bridal Shower for her soon to be Daughter-in-law. There were so many great ideas there that I took bunches of pictures to include in the eBook I am working on about doing weddings on a budget. (Voice of Experience here!) As you can see by the cute sign above, she had a sweet and salty theme. When I heard that, BINGO, the idea for Salted Caramel  Eclairs came to me.
   I used the same recipe that I gave you before.  Here it is in a shorter written form.  You can follow the visuals on the other post.

Éclairs
Set oven to 400°
Put ½ c. water and ¼ c. butter in a sauce pan.  While it comes to a boil, sift
1.2 c. flour and 1/8 tsp. salt.  When the water boils, add the flour & salt all at once.  Cook and stir vigorously over low heat, until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and forms a ball of dough. 
Remove from heat.  Add two eggs, one at a time and beat after each one until blended and glossy.  Put on a greased cookie sheet in the size and shape desired.  Bake for 30 min., then reduce the heat to 350° for 10 more min. 
Test by removing one from the oven.  If it falls, cook 5 min. longer.  Let the puffs cool on the cookie sheet and fill as desired.


  The last time I made these, they came out huge! This time I piped them onto the parchment paper and made mini eclairs and cream puffs. 
You can see that some of these are not fat enough. I found that piping them, I had to do three strips to get the right size.
The round ones came out really cute.
piping bag
This is too thin. Put 2 this size side by side and another on top.
This is for the puffs.
     Next, I had to  come up with a caramel pudding to fill them with.  I found a recipe at Baking a Moment that I tweaked slightly to fit our taste buds.
​

   Salted Caramel Pudding
2/3 c. dark brown sugar
2/3 c. water

   Place the brown sugar and water in a small pot and cook over medium heat until a candy thermometer registers 215 degrees F.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2 T. cornstarch
1 1/2 c. milk, divided
3 egg yolks
2 T. butter (I used regular salted since it was supposed to be salted caramel)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt

   Place the cornstarch in a medium pot and whisk in about 1/2 c. milk.  When there are no lumps, pour in the remaining milk. Bring to a bare simmer over medium heat.  Watch and stir!
   Place the egg yolks in a medium bowl and whisk some of  the hot milk in, just a little at a time so you don't cook the eggs.  Then add the mixture to the rest of the milk mixture and whisk all together and begin to heat again.  Pour in the brown sugar caramel and stir in until thickened. (this takes about 5 min.) Immediately remove from the heat and stir in the butter, the vanilla and salt.  Let cool slightly before filling the eclairs.  You can put through a strainer if there are any lumps. 
     
   Now you are ready to fill the shells.  I cut a small slit in each one so that I could put a decorating tip in it to push the pudding through. Then, I put the cooled pudding into a bag with a tip and started filling.
Picture
Really easy!
   Once they are all filled, you make the ganache. 
 Milk Chocolate Ganach
6 oz. milk chocolate chips
3/4 c. chocolate milk

​  Warm the milk in a sauce pan and add the chips to it.  Stir until thick and creamy, but thin enough to drip from a spoon.  Drizzle over the eclairs.  Finally, sprinkle with a little sea salt! Voila!
Picture
Picture
Picture
The soon to be groom showed up at the end of the shower and tasted these. He said, "Wow! The sweet caramel at the beginning and then you get the salt at the end!"  Perfect!
Picture
Picture
    These delectable bites do take a few steps to complete, but they will be the hit of any party! Hope you give them a try!
6 Comments
Maria link
9/15/2016 11:05:48 am

Love eclairs and cream puffs! The perfect bites for any occasion if you ask me. Thanks for sharing your recipe with us on #shinebloghop this week. So happy you were able to join us :)

Reply
Helen Reynolds
9/15/2016 11:12:33 am

Love your link up party! Thanks for hosting it.

Reply
Grandmas House DIY link
9/16/2016 07:30:50 am

Those look like Heaven drizzled in chocolate :) Thank you for sharing with us at the To Grandma's House we go link party! Pinned!

Reply
Helen Reynolds
9/16/2016 08:06:06 am

Thank you so much! I hope you get to try them!

Reply
Treat and Trick link
9/17/2016 07:07:37 pm

So yum! You can get agar agar from Asian stores. Happy Sunday..

Reply
Life Loving link
9/18/2016 11:59:54 pm

Oh wow, these sound great. I loved salted caramel. No wonder they went down well.

Sally @ Life Loving

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs!  (copyrighted)
    Subscribe to Our Email!
    Picture

    Author

    Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to fifteen!  I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born.  Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out!  Read more about us here!
        

    Picture
    Click this link and visit 3WinksDesignShop on Etsy. Find our Hot Cocoa Bomb Idea Book, our For the Love of PIe e-book and more of our creations!

    Picture
    Shop Mood Fabrics




    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • Printables
  • From Cover to Reel
    • Contests >
      • Writing Challenge
    • Show Notes
  • Where I Party
    • Places Featured
  • Archives