Classic Chocolate Éclairs, Gluten Free

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the pastry cream base

   Warm the 2 cups milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat until steaming and just beginning to bubble at the edges. Meanwhile, whisk the sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a bowl, then whisk in the egg yolks until the mixture is pale and thick enough to ribbon off the whisk.

2. 2

   Temper and thicken

   Pour about a third of the hot milk into the yolks in a thin stream, whisking hard the whole time so they warm up instead of scrambling. Scrape everything back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly and getting into the corners, until the cream thickens and you see it bubble lazily for a full 30 seconds. That boil is what kills the starch's raw taste and sets the thickness.

3. 3

   Finish and chill the cream

   Off the heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla until smooth. Push the cream through a fine-mesh sieve into a shallow dish, press plastic wrap directly onto the surface so no skin forms, and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight. It needs to be cold and firm before it goes anywhere near a shell.

4. 4

   Set up for the choux

   Heat the oven to 425°F with a rack in the center. Draw twelve 4 1/2-inch lines on two sheets of parchment, spacing them about 2 inches apart, then flip the parchment pencil-side down onto two baking sheets. Fit a piping bag with a 1/2-inch French star or round tip. Whisk the gluten-free flour blend and xanthan gum together in a small bowl so the gum is evenly dispersed before it hits the hot liquid.

5. 5

   Make the panade

   Bring the water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt to a full rolling boil in a medium saucepan, making sure the butter has melted completely before it boils so you don't lose liquid to evaporation. Dump in the flour mixture all at once and stir hard and fast with a wooden spoon. Gluten-free blends clump more readily than wheat flour, so break up any lumps right away while the dough is still loose.

6. 6

   Dry out the dough

   Return the pan to medium heat and keep mashing and stirring the dough for 2 to 3 minutes, until it forms a smooth ball and leaves a film on the pan. The dough will feel slightly stickier and heavier than a wheat version; that's the starches gelatinizing and it's what will hold the puff together.

7. 7

   Beat in the eggs

   Transfer the dough to a stand mixer with the paddle and beat on low for a minute to cool it to warm, not hot. Add the beaten eggs in four additions, beating until each one is fully absorbed. Stop when the dough falls in a slow V-shaped ribbon. Gluten-free blends absorb liquid unevenly, so add the final addition a spoonful at a time and stop the moment the ribbon appears.

8. 8

   Rest, then pipe

   Let the finished dough sit in the bowl for 20 minutes so the starches fully hydrate and the dough firms up slightly, then stir once and pipe along each drawn line with steady, even pressure. Smooth any peaks with a damp fingertip and lightly mist the tops with water.

9. 9

   Bake until deeply golden

   Bake one sheet at a time for 15 minutes at 425°F without opening the door, then lower the oven to 375°F and bake 25 to 30 minutes more. Gluten-free shells need the longer end of that range and should be a deep, even brown with firm, rigid sides that don't give when pressed. Pierce each shell twice at one end and return them to the turned-off oven for 10 minutes to dry out, then cool completely on a rack.

10. 10

    Fill the shells

    Whisk the cold pastry cream smooth and loose again, then load it into a piping bag with a small round tip. Poke three holes along the bottom of each shell and pipe into each one until you feel the éclair gain weight and resist. Wipe away any overflow.

11. 11

    Glaze and set

    Heat the cream until steaming and pour it over the chopped chocolate with the corn syrup. Let it sit 2 minutes, then stir from the center outward until glossy. Cool until it coats a spoon thickly, then dip each éclair top-down, lift, and let the excess drip off. Set on a rack and chill 20 minutes to firm the glaze. Serve these the day they're made, as gluten-free shells soften faster than wheat ones.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Egg quantity is a target, not a rule. Pan size, heat, and how long you dried the dough all change how much liquid is left, so judge by the V-shaped ribbon rather than the count.

• 2.

  Dough that's too loose spreads into flat ovals; dough that's too stiff bakes into dense, cracked logs. The ribbon test takes five seconds and saves the batch.

• 3.

  Resist opening the oven during the first 15 minutes. The structure is still soft steam at that point, and a rush of cool air collapses it.

• 4.

  Bake well past where they look done. The color you want is tan-brown, not pale gold.

• 5.

  Unfilled shells freeze beautifully for a month. Re-crisp from frozen at 375°F for 5 to 7 minutes and they're as good as fresh.

• 6.

  Fill as close to serving as you can. Pastry cream begins softening the shells within a few hours.

• 7.

  If your glaze sets too thick to dip cleanly, warm it for 5 seconds at a time and stir; if it runs off in sheets, let it cool a few more minutes.