Making chocolate eclairs has always been a Christmas tradition in my family. It was our go-to dessert for Christmas family gatherings. We would typically go with regular chocolate, but I figured I would make something special with this recipe and make some White Chocolate Coconut Eclairs.
This recipe is perfect for any Christmas or Winter time parties! The white chocolate and the coconut on the eclairs gives it that Winter snow type feeling. Fill it with some of our vanilla pastry cream and your dessert is all set.
Chocoley Chocolate
Usually when I try to find white chocolate for baking and desserts at my local grocery store, my options are very limited. Sometimes I won’t even be able to find a good option. Thankfully Chocoley saved the day!
Chocoley is a convenient online retailer of chocolate, fondue supplies, caramels, and much more. At first we weren’t sure how well our chocolate products would hold up while being shipped to us, but once we opened the package, our worries disappeared. Chocoley delivers your products in an insulated box, filled with ice packs, and your products are in a bag to keep them dry!
For this recipe, we decided to go with their Decocoa White Gourmet Compound Chocolate. This white chocolate is a thinner, low viscosity option designed for dipping, drizzling, fountains and fondues. Since white chocolate is typically sweeter, we wanted a thinner even coating on our White Chocolate Coconut Eclairs.
For those of you that have allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, wheat and eggs, we don’t recommend the Decocoa because it’s processed in a facility that might contain these items. Chocoley however sells an alternative white chocolate called Bada Bing Bada Boom Candy & Molding Gourmet Compound White Chocolate. This option is their thicker, high viscosity chocolate but it does not contain any of those allergens!
Storing & Making White Chocolate Coconut Eclairs
This recipe is a pretty involved process so we broke it down into three different recipes: Pâte à Choux, Pastry Cream, and this recipe to bring them all together. If you plan to make this recipe for a party or special occasion, we definitely recommend this to be a two day process or a full day process if you don’t have the time.
The Pastry Cream recipe should be the first thing you look at. The pastry cream needs to be made and completely cooled down before being used in your eclairs so we recommend either making it the night before or first thing in the morning of assembly.
For best results, we recommend making and baking the Pâte à Choux recipe the day of serving. These also need to bake and then rest a bit to cool off before filling and coating. But again, if you are low on time the day of the event the eclair shells can be made the day before as well.
Filling and coating the eclairs should definitely be done the day of! Otherwise, your eclairs will turn too soggy. Once you coat and fill the eclairs they will need to stay in the fridge until serving. This will help to set up the chocolate and to keep the pastry cream from going bad. Hope you enjoy our take on the classic eclair. Let us know how yours turn out, enjoy!
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Related Recipes
White Chocolate Coconut Eclairs
Ingredients
- 1 batch baked pâte à choux eclair shells https://inspiredthroughfood.com/pate-a-choux/
- 1 batch pastry cream https://inspiredthroughfood.com/pastry-cream/
- 8 oz Decocoa White Gourmet Compound Chocolate https://www.chocoley.com/decocoa-gourmet-white-compound-fountain-fondue-dipping-and-drizzling-chocolate/
- 2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut more as needed
Instructions
- Using a 1/4-inch round piping tip, poke three evenly spaced holes in the bottom of each baked eclair shell.
- Fit the same piping tip into your reusable piping bag. Using a spatula, fill the pastry bag with the pastry cream. If you are using a disposable plastic pastry bag then just fill the pastry bag first and cut the tip to make about a 1/4 inch hole.
- Fill the eclairs evenly into the three holes. Use a paring knife to clean any excess cream that comes out of the hole.
- Fill the bottom pan of a double boiler with about 2 inches of water and place on the stove over a medium-low heat to simmer. Fill the top pan with your white chocolate. If you don't have a double boiler you can just use a medium saucepan filled with 2 inches of water and place your chocolate into a metal bowl placed on top of the saucepan.
- Pour your shredded coconut into a small bowl large enough for one eclair to lay flat in. Also line a sheet pan with cooling racks to rest the eclairs once coated.
- Occasionally stir the white chocolate so it melts evenly. Once the white chocolate is fully melted it's time coat the eclairs. Take one eclair, hold it flat with the holes facing up, and dip the eclair about halfway into the white chocolate.
- Raise the eclair up out of the chocolate and let the excess drip off. Once the excess is done dripping we will go straight into the coconut. Gently lay the eclair chocolate side down into the coconut. Press lightly, remove the eclair from the coconut, and place on the cooling rack lined baking sheet to rest.
- Repeat this process for all eclairs making sure to occasionally stir the white chocolate and adding more fresh coconut as needed. If you prefer less coconut on your eclairs then simply sprinkle coconut on the white chocolate instead of laying it into the coconut.
All the best to you as well!
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