Quel q'un se es assis sur les eclairs?

Quel q'un se es assis sur les eclairs? Meaning, did someone sit on my eclairs?

Today my younger sister, Lilly, asked me what kind of cupcakes she should bake for her class this week (her birthday week). I myself like the idea of being different and everybody makes cupcakes on their birthday. Not original. So, me in my out-of-the-box way of thinking suggested we make eclairs instead! How cool would my sister look if she walked into school with a plate of French pastries? Too bad for her, I'd never made them before.

I started out with a very classic French pastry dough, pate a choux which is made simply from water, butter, flour, salt, sugar, and eggs. It's actually surprisingly easy to make, but of course that's where I messed up! We ended up doubling the recipe because we had to make these for 27 sugar crazed kids. Bad idea.

Pate a choux in my ghetto piping bag.

My sister Morgan, who shares my passion for cooking, has a professional piping bag and tips, but lucky me, the one tip I needed was missing. Thus the Ziplock bag. This led to a not too lovely looking piping job.

I know. I know.

I was hopeful, however, that these little slug-like buddies would puff up into cute, hallowed out lovelies just waiting for a creamy pastry filling. Ha.

Can you say.... flat?

Yup, my poor little eclairs were less than excited looking. After doing some research I came to the conclusion that we had too many eggs going on up in there. Moral of the story, don't double your eclair recipe, especially if it's your first time! But it's ok, because I refused to give up on my flat friends! I decided to dub them as profiteroles by cutting the bottoms off and creating sandwiches with them instead! Lilly whipped up some pastry cream, I melted up some ganache and viola! 

I call them, Lauren Eclairs.

While they didn't turn out the way I would have liked, at least they turned out into something! And I love the learning curve. Usually I get frustrated when I don't get something right the first time, but when it comes to cooking I welcome the learning opportunity!

Now, go cook something yummy! And bring me some, I'm starving. ;)

P.S. Lilly is taking cupcakes to class.