Ingredients
For the eclairs
- 1/2 cup butter, cut into cubes
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
- 4 large eggs
For the caramelized banana cream pie custard
- 2 large bananas, mashed
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
For the chocolate glaze
- 3.5 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
- chocolate sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
To make the eclairs
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix the butter, water, sugar, and salt until everything is melted. Turn heat to low and whisk in flour, stirring for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and place into bowl of a standing mixer.
- Using a whisk attachment, begin to whisk flour mixture. Slowly and one at a time, add in eggs, beating in between each addition. Once everything is mixed in, transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 1/2 inch tip.
- Pipe 4 inch-long eclairs onto prepared cookie sheets. You should have roughly 12 eclairs per cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes, until the eclairs are perfectly golden brown. Allow to cool completely before piping with pastry cream.
To make the caramelized banana cream pie custard
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, head the bananas, butter, and brown sugar for 5 minutes, or until the bananas become golden brown and sticky. Remove from heat and place in food processor. Pulse until mixture becomes velvety smooth.
- In a medium saucepan over low heat, heat the milk, and ¼ cup of the sugar until scalding.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk the egg yolks, other ¼ cup of sugar, and cornstarch. Pour roughly ¼ cup of the hot milk mixture into the eggs, whisking the entire time. Pour the warmed egg mixture into the saucepan, then add in the banana mixture. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens into a custard, roughly the texture of yogurt, about 15 minutes. Immediately remove from heat in an ice bath to stop cooking. Allow to cool completely.
To assemble the eclairs
- Place the caramelized banana cream pie custard into a large piping bag with a small tip. Use the piping bag to pop three small holes in the bottom of each eclair, then pipe the custard into the inside of the eclairs using each hole. Use a butter knife to scrape the bottoms clean of excess custard.
- Place the chocolate over a double boiler on low heat, stirring constantly, until melted (low heat will keep the chocolate smooth and thin. Any higher and it will seize and be too thick to cover all your eclairs). Remove from heat. Dip the tops of the eclairs into the chocolate, then place on a cooling rack and sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles!
