DARING BAKERS Chocolate Eclairs

This months Daring Bakers challenge was Pierre Hermes Chocolate Eclairs. I quickly made time to make these because I was so anxious after reading the recipe. I have to admit, I thought that this challenge was going to be a piece of cake. So, off to the store to stock up on the ingredients that were needed. And luckily I did just that, you know, the stocking up thing. The choux proved to be the most difficult thing. One time, two times, three times and finally on the fourth time I end up with choux that finally puffed. The four times of making it were over about a week period. On the final effort I was intending for these to be a dessert that I would take to my cousins house for dinner that night....wrong! I finally got the shell made and then had trouble making the filling....wow, this was proving to be the most difficult challenge yet for me! After many efforts and lack of time left in my schedule, I cheated. I pulled out the vanilla instant pudding and whipped that up. I finishing it off with making a chocolate glaze out of some Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips that I had in the pantry. I would love to try this recipe again once my kids are in school just to see if I can actually make them correctly.

Ready to add the eggs to the choux
Piped them so small and still didn't puff
Looked good in the oven still!
Finally, they stayed puffed after

35 minutes in oven
One almost chocolate eclair!