Strawberry White Chocolate Eclairs – Homemade pate a choux is piped into strips, baked, and then stuffed with homemade strawberry pastry cream. They’re finished with a dip into white chocolate and a sprinkle of strawberry dust. 

Pâte á choux is a classic French pastry dough that sounds more complicated than it is. It’s just a mixture of water, butter, flour, and eggs – that’s it! It’s the base for cream puffs, éclairs, and gougéres so once you’ve mastered this dough, you can make a whole catalog of pastries.

I first made pâte á choux for these white chocolate cream puffs. They’re fun to make because you get to pipe the dough into little circles, bake them, and then pipe the filling into each puff. You get tons of piping practice, that’s for sure!

I had so much fun making those cream puffs that I decided to step up my game and make éclairs. I didn’t just want to make the classic éclairs because, well, classic just isn’t my style. Instead, I took them to a whole other level by making them into Strawberry White Chocolate Eclairs.

Check them out!

How to make these éclairs

Don’t get intimidated by how beautiful éclairs look – I promise they’re super simple to make! The only special tools you need are piping bags and two round piping tips: a large one and a small one. You don’t even need a fancy mixer! But let me break it down a little further so you can see for yourself.

Ingredients

When it comes to the ingredients, they’re pretty basic. The only true wildcard in the recipe are the freeze-dried strawberries. I found some in the produce section of my grocery store. But you should also look by the dried fruit section. They’re pretty common nowadays so you shouldn’t have an issue locating them.

Process

These éclairs are made by first making the pastry cream. Pastry cream is just a fancy name for a thick, custardy pudding. The mixture is made from milk, cornstarch, sugar, and egg yolks that are heated to thicken them up.

Then, the vanilla extract and freeze dried strawberries are added and whisked in. To make the strawberries easy to mix in, I turned them into a powder by processing them in the food processor. The mixture is then chilled to set it and help it get even thicker.

While the pastry cream chills, it’s time to make the shells. The dough is made by heating the wet ingredients and then stirring in the flour until a dough ball forms. Then, the eggs are stirred into the dough one at a time.

Next, the dough is poured into a pastry bag with a large round tip. Piping out the dough ensures that the éclairs are even in size.

Then, the éclairs are baked until they are beautifully puffed and golden brown. It’s so important that you leave the oven door closed for the first 20 minutes of baking so that they don’t deflate. Once they’re ready, remove them from the oven to cool completely before filling with the chilled pastry cream.

The filling is add to the éclairs by piping it in. Piping the filling make the process quick and clean. You just stuff each end of the éclairs with the piping bag and fill. The alternative method for filling involves slicing the tops off the éclairs and then spooning in the filling. This process takes a little longer so I prefer piping.

Finally, the white chocolate ganache is made and each éclair is dipped in it and dusted with the leftover strawberry powder.

Tips & Tricks

I have a few more tips that will give you the confidence to attack this recipe on your own:

1. When making the pastry cream, make sure you keep an eye on it – it will thicken pretty quickly so you’ll want to remove it from heat as soon at it does.
2. When piping the dough, pipe them slowly to ensure they are an even thickness.
3. Make sure you use white chocolate bars or melting chocolate for this recipe. White chocolate chips will not melt the way you need them to so avoid them at all costs.
4. The éclair shells have to be cooked all the way so they don’t deflate after they come out of the oven. Therefore, make sure they are golden brown on top and aren’t foaming on top when you remove them from the oven – that’s how you’ll know they’re done.

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More treat’s you’ll love:

White Chocolate Cream Puffs

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies