Daring Bakers..my 1st!

I've decided to join the fun that is the Daring Bakers! I however wasn't excited to see that my first challenge would be....



Coconut Cream "Eclairs"

Eclairs! I've never liked them. I've never eaten a vegan one let alone ever seen a vegan one. But I decided this would be a fun challenge. Like most things in my life I waited until the very last few day of the challenge. But I lucked out. Sorta.


I've decided to join the fun that is the Daring Bakers! I however wasn't excited to see that my first challenge would be Eclairs. I've never liked them. I've never eaten one let alone ever see a vegan one. But I decided this would be a fun challenge.



I used this recipe for the pate a choux but upped the amount of baking powder to I think 1/2 or 1 full teaspoon (eek. i can't find my notes on it). The pastry cream is the vegan pastry cream from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World with Coconut extract added because who doesn't like coconut.

The delicious chocolate ganache was just chocolate chips with a bit of soy milk melted to perfection.



One unfortunate thing about making them into eclairs was the misplacement of my pastry bag. I tried to do the old use a big ziplock bag trick but that ended up in total disaster. So I shaped my blobs of pate a choux into cream puff size instead.

I was nervous when I took them out of the oven because they didn't brown as much as I thought they would and I didn't think they would brown much at all at the same time. I also wasn't sure what the inside would look like when I cut them open. Would there be the hollow inside of this particular pastry? YES there would be, sorta! I was so happily surprised and thankful because I wouldn't have had another opportunity to make them again. One slight mishap was that the bottom of the pastry was a little undercooked and heavy. So the recipe needs some working on.



Thankfully when all put together..choux, coconut pastry cream, choux, ganache, dried coconut..it tasted and looked fantastic. I actually liked it! I've never liked an eclair. I even brought them over to a friends house and they seemed to go over well. I'm so happy that my first Daring Bakers challenge went well.



P.S. TODAY WAS RENO'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! SHE WAS BORN 1 YEAR AGO TODAY AT 11:32 A.M. AFTER BEING FORCED A.K.A. INDUCED TO COME OUT BECAUSE SHE WAS TWO WHOLE WEEKS LATE AND SHOWING NO SIGNS OF COMING OUT ON HER OWN. WE THREW A BIG PARTY FOR HER TODAY. SHE HAD A BLAST AND CHARMED EVERYONE. PICS TO COME. WAIT TIL YOU SEE THE DECORATIONS I MADE FOR HER VEGAN CUPCAKES!