une religieuse, un éclair
August’s Daring Bakers challenge was the humble yet heavenly éclair, which consists of a pâte à choux or cream puff, pastry cream and chocolate glaze. The éclair (which is French for lightning) is traditionally piped into a long form, such as the one pictured below. The same dough can be used for profiteroles, or the French pastry la religieuse, such as the one pictured above, among other varieties.
I thought I would attempt to make the beautiful religieuses I have admired in Laduree’s windows in Paris. I was pleased with the results. The religieuse is one large pastry cream-filled profiterole topped by a smaller one, both glazed with fondant/glaze. It supposedly resembles a nun, hence the name. I used the chocolate glaze, firmed in the refrigerator, to pipe the chocolate spikes around the sides. The éclair below is filled with vanilla pastry cream and fresh raspberries, topped with chocolate glaze and chocolate decorations.
These éclairs were absolutely delicious and relatively easy to make, especially the dough. The multi-step chocolate glaze was perhaps the most tedious element, and the second time, I made a simple chocolate ganache which worked well. I made the éclairs twice this month, though I only photographed my first batch. I have a feeling I will be making these often.
To see what other Daring Bakers have done, click here.
August 31st, 2008 at 11:46 am
Oh, you made religieuse! Beautiful work!
August 31st, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Oh cute is your religieuse! Very nicely done!
August 31st, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Absolutely stunning. Bravo!
August 31st, 2008 at 4:58 pm
So lovely! Next time I make this dough I will be turning it into profiteroles too!
August 31st, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I’ve never seen religieuse before. Your work is beautiful!
August 31st, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Lovely…. Great job with the religieuse.
September 1st, 2008 at 10:17 am
Absolutely stunning, perfect, and so creative, as usual! I’m trying not to look at the cake below because my salivary glands refuse to be contained!
September 1st, 2008 at 10:42 am
Your eclairs look great!
September 1st, 2008 at 10:57 am
Your eclairs are so pretty .. love the way you’ve added whole raspberries in-between the cream.
September 1st, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Your religieuse is beautiful! Wow!
September 2nd, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Very cute flours on top of the eclairs :). I like how the first one looks like it’s sitting on a little throne :D.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:57 am
As I am a huge fan of the eclair, it’s funny that I haven’t made them in years. Thanks for reminding me that they are not that hard after all! They look sooo beautiful!
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:41 pm
I love the way you decorated your eclair. And that religieuse is stunning too!
September 5th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Neatly and richly decorated eclair. I simply love it.
September 5th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Thank you for the lesson; I’ve never heard of the religieuse. Yours is glorious.
September 6th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Beautiful presentation!
September 7th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Beautiful job on the challenge! I also did some religieuses with the leftover batter (non posted). I just have this love of anything “choux” and you did justice to both Laduree and PH!!
September 16th, 2008 at 6:08 am
Been a while since I checked out your site. I am excited about the Daring Baker group…thinking of joining! Your work is growing by leaps and bounds, I am so impressed!
September 26th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
The Sweet 100…
Yay for memes. While I wait for the omnivore’s 100 to unbreak, here is the sweet 100, courtesy of cakespy.com. I have bolded everything I’ve tried, and have included british names in italic if relevant.
Red Velvet Cake
Princess Torte
Whoopie PieAppl…