Eclair recipe as requested...

Eclair dough:

2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup water
1 stick butter
1 cup flour
5 eggs
2 tsp sugar
pinch of salt

1. In a pot or large saucepan, mix water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil.
2. Once butter has completely melted, take off heat and slowly pour in flour, stirring constantly.
3. Place saucepan back on heat and continue to work it with a wooden spoon. Continue stirring and kneading with spoon until the dough dries out and stops sticking to the sides of the pot.
4. Take off heat and place in the bowl of a stand mixer (Kitchen Aid). Add eggs one at a time mixing well.
5. Cover bowl and place in the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes. Place some dough in a piping bag with about a 1/2 inch opening.
6. When ready to use, squeeze out dough 1 inch wide, 1/2 to 3/4 inch high, and 3 inches long onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet (well spaced) for each eclair. Dough is slightly runny.
7. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes then turn oven temperature down to 350° and bake for an additional 17-20 minutes. Eclairs will be between a golden and deep golden brown when done.
8. Cool on a cooling rack before filling with pastry cream.
NOTE: Let the dough chill in refrigerator while making pastry cream. Once the pastry cream is chilling in the refrigerator, start the baking process of the dough.

Pastry Cream:

2 cups milk
4 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup sugar
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
6 egg yolks
1 tsp real vanilla extract
pinch of salt

1. Place the milk and half the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Combine the eggs yolks and the remaining sugar in a bowl and whisk until light in color. Add in the flour and the salt, mix to combine.
3. When the milk just begins to boil, remove from heat and very slowly pour the hot milk into the yolk mixture, stirring all the time (works best if you use a small mug or measuring cup to avoid the milk from spilling). Once about half of the milk has been added, pour all of the yolk mixture back into the saucepan over medium heat. Using a spatula or whisk, mix the pastry cream as it heats, making sure to reach all of the corners of the pan when you stir. Bring the mixture to a boil. Let boil for about 1 minute, stirring constantly. The mixture will be thick.
4. Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla. Strain if you wish for a smoother cream. Place into a bowl and cover directly with plastic wrap to stop a skin from forming on the cream. Chill completely.
For a lighter texture: Place 1 to 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream in a large chilled bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Do not over beat. Add chilled pastry cream and gently fold together.

Filling the shells:

Poke a hole about the size of a pencil eraser in the end of each Eclair (top corner). Place pastry cream in a piping bag with a 1/4 inch opening and pipe the cream through the hole into each Eclair. You may need to poke a hole on both sides and fill each side. Do not overfill because Eclair will start to break open in weak spots.
NOTE: It is best to wait to fill these until close to the time you will be serving them. Refrigerate up to 2 hours before serving to avoid Eclairs going soft or soggy.

Chocolate Ganache: (My all-time favorite)

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups high quality chocolate, chopped
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp butter

Place chopped chocolate into medium sized mixing bowl and set aside (preferably not plastic because it doesn't hold the heat from the cream well).
In small saucepan, combine cream, sugar, and butter over medium to medium high heat until just before boiling, stirring constantly. Pour over chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes then stir until smooth. Cool for about 5 minutes before spreading over filled Eclair shells. Chill until ganache has set and you are ready to serve.
NOTE: I use half milk and half dark chocolate. You can use all dark if you want but I don't like my chocolate too dark or bitter. Do not use all milk though because it is too mild and makes the topping too rich. Half and half is the perfect ratio. Any excess can be saved and reheated later for a great ice cream topping, fondue, etc. Enjoy!

Beginnings of Spring and Eclairs

Today is the first day of Spring! Yeah! I love spring...especially because it means we're that much closer to summer and Jaren coming home! This winter we had a lot more snow and sun than usual and a lot less rain than usual. Looks like now that spring has arrived we're back to the typical rain. At least it hasn't been too gloomy and the blue sky or sun pokes through on occasion. It has also been about 50°-60° (F) over the last week. Yesterday we hit 60°! We are also seeing new growth. All the little spring plants and flowers are pushing their way up. The tree in my parents front yard is even starting to push out it's little buds.



This little daffodil's green leaves started coming up in the middle of February because of the beautiful warm weather we had. Then it got cold again (30°s-40°s) so it was slow going. Finally it has warmed up enough that all of the daffodils have bloomed. Good job little guy for persevering!



My mom and I decided to try making something that we never had before. My dad's work was having a pot-luck today and he asked us to make something for it. So, yesterday we spent ALL day in the kitchen and this is what we ended up with!



Eclairs are great little things. I searched online looking for all kinds of recipes and narrowed it down to the two that I thought looked the best. We tried them both so now we know which one we like better. The easiest part of the whole process was filling the Eclairs and frosting them. Now that we have tried making Eclairs it should be easier the next time. When you bake the pastry dough, they automatically bake into a little hollow shell. The "pastry cream" we made was like a really rich vanilla pudding/custard. I wanted a little lighter texture so I took a bit of the custard and folded in some fresh whipped cream and I liked that better. We piped the filling into the shells then topped them with my all-time favorite chocolate ganache. You just can't go wrong with chocolate ganache! These will not only taste good but impress others with your mad baking skills. If you ever decide to make these tasty little treats, make sure you have pastry bags and a lot of time! Happy 1st day of Spring everyone!

Happy Birthday!

My baby sister, Ashley Anne, turned 18 today. I can hardly believe it! She is "officially" an adult but now I know that doesn't mean a thing. I thought it did when I turned 18 but she's got a long way to go before she will be considered an adult. Mom, Dad, Ashley, Ian (Ashley's boyfriend), Beverly, Neldon, Janessa (Bev and Neldon's grandaughter), and I all went out to Olive Garden for her birthday dinner. It was very good! I just love their salad and breadsticks!



We came back to the house to have cake and ice cream. The writing on the cake didn't turn out so great but the cake itself tasted good. She requested "strawberry". So, I made a strawberry cake with strawberry filling and whipped cream cheese frosting. It was a nice light summery cake.



She took one breath, blew a quick puff of air, and somehow had all 18 candles out in less than a second. How did she do that?



Ashley loves to sing along with her music, dance, hang out with friends, go shopping, eat, and sleep. She is a very sweet younger sister (for the most part). When she wants to be... she is very thoughtful, concerned when your down, tries to make you smile, and is always laughing and talking. What a cutie! Happy 18th Birthday Ashley!

Zumba!

There is a new workout sensation called Zumba! This workout takes different styles of Latin dance with great Latin style music and puts them together to make you want to get up and dance. It's FUN and makes working out really easy.
"The routines feature interval training sessions where fast and slow rhythms, and resistance training are combined to tone and sculpt your body while burning fat. Add some Latin flavor and international zest into the mix and you've got Zumba®!"
There is a lady in our ward that just became a Zumba instructor and is getting some practice teaching it to those of us who want to try it. Mom and I have gone for our second time today and I love it! We get to shake our hips and I have even learned a few moves that Jaren might enjoy! :) I also learned in class that working out your hips like this is good to get them moving more. It helps so when you are older your hips won't get so stiff and they will have more movement. You don't have to be a dancer to do it. It might feel a little awkward at first to move your hips so much and to get the coreography but the more you go the better you get. I noticed a big difference from my first and second time in just how much better I am moving my hips.
So if you want to have fun while working out, you can look on the Zumba website to find places that offer the class. They also have DVDs you can buy to do it at home. Just go to www.zumba.com
If you want to watch a video, the Today Show did a story on it October of 2007. Go to www.youtube.com and type in Zumba on the Today Show. The instuctors at the end of the video use a couple of people from the audience to try Zumba.
Happy hip shaking!