When you’ve made your choux dough, transfer it to a piping bag to get started. 

I like to use a star tip (#829) to pipe eclairs. The ridges help the eclair rise higher. Plus, they look great.

If you don’t have a star tip, you can use a round tip. Then use the tines of a fork to create ridges on the sides of the piped eclairs.

Print my eclair templates first. Then place the template underneath a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. This will help you pipe uniform and beautiful eclairs with all of your choux.

Then simply use the template as a guide to pipe star-shaped logs of choux dough, evenly spaced apart on the parchment paper.  

Remove the template and bake your eclairs as directed in the recipe. 

While the choux pastry bakes, you can make the filling for your eclairs. Make sure it’s fully chilled and set before filling the pastries. 

When the eclair pastries are done baking, remove them from the oven. Transfer them to a cooling rack and let them cool completely before filling. 

If you’re using more than one kind of filling or if the filling is difficult to pipe, you’ll need to cut each eclair in half the long way. 

If you want to really load up the eclair with filling, cut off just the top ⅓ so that you have a stronger base to fill.

If your filling is a custard filling, like the traditional vanilla pastry cream in chocolate eclairs, then you’ll want to leave the eclair intact to fill. 

In this case, if you are going to cover the eclair with thick frosting, poke two holes in the top of the eclair on each end. This makes for easy filling and less messy eating (gravity will keep the filling inside the eclair when the holes are on the top, rather than the ends of the pastry. 

After each pastry is filled, it’s time to frost!

There are two ways I use to frost eclairs. If the icing is thick and creamy, then it’s best to spread it on top of each eclair with a thin spatula or butter knife.

If you’re using a thinner or runny icing, it’s easier to dip the top of each eclair into the icing. 

To decorate your eclairs, you can finish them simply by dusting them with powdered sugar.

Or if you’d like to dress them up with extra garnishes, do so after frosting. Sprinkle them with chopped toasted nuts, shredded coconut, colorful sprinkles, crushed candies, zest, and of course chocolate, grated chocolate, or chocolate curls, The possibilities are endless!