Chocolate Glazed Coffee Eclairs (video)
Chocolate coffee eclairs – I cannot say enough about how delicious these are! You’ll fall in love with this pate a choux dessert from the first bite! These beauties are piped full of creamy coffee custard filling; not too sweet and just the right amount of goodness, then glazed with chocolate. I love garnishing the top with white chocolate and gold sprinkles to make these extra special. Enjoy these chocolate glazed coffee eclairs with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine after dinner.
My Coffee Eclairs Video Tutorial
Watch my YouTube video tutorial for step-by-step instructions on how to make these coffee eclairs! Want to receive new recipe emails in your inbox? Make sure to subscribe to my website emailing list and my YouTube channel and turn on notifications!
Ingredients for Chocolate Coffee Eclairs
Here are the main ingredients you’ll need to make these delicious coffee pastries!
- Water, Flour, Butter, & Salt: for making the pate a choux dough, or the éclair shells. Use regular, all-purpose flour and unsalted butter for best results.
- Eggs: for making the dough. I recommend having the eggs at room temperature for this recipe.
- Egg Yolks: for making the coffee pastry cream filling.
- White Granulated Sugar: for making the filling.
- Whole Milk: use whole milk for best results. This will make the filling extra rich and creamy.
- Cornstarch & Flour: I use both of these as thickeners for the pastry cream. You can also replace the cornstarch with arrowroot powder.
- Instant Coffee: to add the coffee flavor! If you don’t have instant coffee, you can also use very finely ground espresso coffee or coffee extract.
- Kahlua Coffee Liqueur: this ingredient is optional but it’s a great way to add more coffee flavor into the filling.
- Chocolate Melts: for making the chocolate glaze. Chocolate chips will also work well. You can also use a drizzle of white chocolate to garnish the top of each éclair.
How to Make Pate a Choux Dough
Eclairs are one of my favorite desserts to make! Once you master making the pate a choux dough, the varieties are endless. The pate a choux dough used to make these cream puffs is super simple and requires just 5 ingredients! – eggs, water, flour, butter and a pinch of salt! Here’s how to make it:
- Sift the flour into a large bowl, along with the salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside. Into a small saucepan, add the butter and water. Cook the mixture over medium-high heat until the butter is melted and comes to a boil. Add the dry ingredients all at once and stir until the a dough ball forms, about 1 minute.
- Transfer the dough into a large mixing bowl and allow it cool until warm to touch, about 10 to 15 minutes. Once cooled, begin adding the eggs, one at a time. Use a hand-mixer or whisk to mix the egg into the dough after each addition. Transfer the dough into the prepared pastry bag, packing the dough into the bag without air pockets.
- When baking the eclair shells, resist the temptation to open your oven door! These shells are very temperature sensitive and can collapse easily with a blast of cool air.
- Bake the shells until they are a deep golden color; under baking will also cause them to collapse.
- I recommend filling the pastries the same day, once they cool. The shells can and will go stale if left out uncovered.
Making the Coffee Custard Filling
These custard eclairs are filled with an amazing coffee-flavor custard cream. The first step is making a simple custard with a touch of coffee. I used my Classic Vanilla Pastry Cream for this recipe. Once the custard is completely cooled, a bit of butter is added to make it fluffier. This filling is similar to a German buttercream. You can learn more about making the custard and buttercream with my tutorial HERE.
How to Make Chocolate Glazed Coffee Eclairs
These impressive eclairs with coffee filling are actually a breeze to make with my step-by-step instructions and video tutorial! Here’s how I put them together:
- Start by preparing the pate a choux dough first. Transfer the dough into the prepared pastry bag and pipe onto baking sheets in 4 to 6-inch logs. Try to pipe the dough evenly, applying equal pressure for an even éclair.
- Bake the eclairs at 425F for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350F/177C and bake for an additional 30 minutes. DO NOT OPEN oven door while baking! This will cause the eclairs to fall flat! Check the eclairs for a rich golden color through the oven door. Once eclairs are baked, gently transfer them onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Once eclairs are cooled, poke 2 to 3 holes into the bottom of each éclair with a small pastry tip to add the filling.
- While the éclair shells are cooling, prepare the coffee flavored pastry cream filling. This filling needs time to cool and can be prepared a day ahead of time, too! Transfer the filling into a pastry bag for filling.
- Pipe the coffee custard into each éclair, filling them completely on the inside. You should feel the éclair expand slightly as you fill it.
- Prepare the chocolate glaze last. Heat the heavy cream until steaming hot, then pour over the chocolate chips. Stir until the chocolate glaze is completely smooth. Dip the top side of each éclair into the chocolate, tapping off any excess chocolate. Set them down onto a wire rack for storage.
- For garnishing, use white chocolate or gold sprinkles. If adding the white chocolate, transfer it into a disposable bag the pipe thin lines onto the top; do this while the chocolate has not yet set. Run a toothpick lengthwise to create the design pictured above.
- If not serving eclairs right away, keep them refrigerated.
How to Store Eclairs
If you’re not enjoying these chocolate glazed eclairs right away, I recommend keeping them in the refrigerator. Simply set them onto a tray or into a flat, airtight container single layer. Keep them well covered so they don’t absorb any fridge odors!
If you want to prepare them ahead of time, I recommend keeping the shells and the filling separately, then filling them the day you’re going to serve them.
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More Recipes!
Enjoyed this French pastry recipe? Check out some of my other recipes you’re sure to enjoy!
- Classic Cream Puffs – timeless and delicious classic profiteroles filled with pastry cream whipped cream and glazed with chocolate! Incredible!
- Raspberry Pistachio Eclairs – filled with the most amazing pistachio cream and berries!
- Caramel Chocolate Profiteroles – the most decadent cream puff recipe with toffee, caramel and gold leaf!
- Nutella Cream Puffs – chocolate-dipped profiteroles with Nutella whipped cream filling!
- Strawberry Basil Eclairs – with the most unique basil filling and strawberry glaze!
Supplies/Tools
Need some supplies to make this recipe? You can get them here (Amazon affiliate links):
- I love my handheld KitchenAid mixer is great for smaller jobs like mixing batter.
- Use these non-stick silicone mats for baking, along with these aluminum baking sheets.
- This set of jumbo cake decorating tips includes my favorite tips.
- And this filling tip by Ateco is great for piping eclairs and cream puffs full of cream.
Chocolate Glazed Coffee Eclairs (video)
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
For Coffee Custard:
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/3 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon Kahlua, optional
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
For Chocolate Glaze:
- 1 cup chocolate chips, or chocolate melts
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup white chocolate chips, optional
- 1/4 cup gold sprinkles, optional
Instructions
For Making Pate a Choux Dough:
- Preheat oven to 425F/218C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats; set aside. Also, prepare a large pastry bag with a French star tip, I used #8FT.
- Prepare the eclair shells first. In a medium-sized sauce pan, combine the water, butter and salt. Melt the butter completely and bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Once simmering, add all of the flour at once. Using a spatula, stir the dough together until it pulls together into a ball, about 1 minute. Transfer the dough in a large mixing bowl and allow it to cool for about 5 to 7 minutes, until warm to touch.
- Once dough has cooled slightly, begin whisking in 1 egg at a time. After adding the last egg, keep mixing until mixture is smoothing and uniform. Transfer the dough into the prepared pastry bag and pipe onto baking sheets in 4 to 6-inch logs. Try to pipe the dough evenly, applying equal pressure for an even eclair.
- Bake the eclairs at 425F for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350F/177C and bake for an additional 30 minutes. DO NOT OPEN oven door while baking! This will cause the eclairs to fall flat! Check the eclairs for a rich golden color through the oven door. Once eclairs are baked, gently transfer them onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Once eclairs are cooled, poke 2 to 3 holes into the bottom of each eclair with a small pastry tip to add the filling.
For Making Coffee Filling:
- While eclairs are baking, prepare the coffee custard. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and 1/3 cup sugar until pale and thick. In a separate bowl, create a slurry with the cornstarch and water. Add the mixture to the egg yolks and sugar.
- In a sauce pan, combine the milk and flour and heat over medium heat until steaming hot. Add the hot milk to the egg mixture in small amounts, whisking after each additional until all of the milk is added. Transfer the mixture back into the sauce pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens into a custard. Once the mixture has thickened, add the Kahlua and instant coffee; stir until the coffee is completely dissolved.
- Transfer the coffee custard into a large bowl, cover the top with plastic wrap and cool completely in the refrigerator. Once cooled, use a mixer to whisk air into the custard, then gradually add the 1/4 cup softened butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until a light cream forms. Transfer the cream into a pastry bag tipped with a filling tip (I used Wilton #230).
Assembling the Eclairs:
- Pipe the coffee custard into each eclair, filling them completely on the inside. You should feel the eclair expand slightly as you fill it.
Adding the Chocolate Glaze:
- Prepare the chocolate glaze last. Heat the heavy cream until steaming hot, then pour over the chocolate chips. Stir until the chocolate glaze is completely smooth. Dip the top side of each eclair into the chocolate, tapping off any excess chocolate. Set them down onto a wire rack for storage.
- For garnishing, use white chocolate or gold sprinkles. If adding the white chocolate, transfer it into a disposable bag the pipe thin lines onto the top; do this while the chocolate has not yet set. Run a toothpick lengthwise to create the design pictured above.
- If not serving eclairs right away, keep them refrigerated.
Made these eclairs yesterday and they turned out perfectly!!
Awesome! 🙂 So glad you enjoyed the recipe
Hi Tatyana, Thank you for the great recipe, one question, can I use tip Wilton 1M for piping the eclairs?
Hi! Yes, that will work well, too! The most important thing is to pipe them evenly 🙂
Thank you, I made them today and they turned out perfect! So happy 🙂
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
In your video you said to use unsalted butter, but the recipe just has butter which usually means salted. I only have salted butter, will this be alright to use? Should I cut the salt? Thank you.
I almost always use unsalted but salted will also work, just don’t add any additional salt
Hi. The eclairs turned out OK but the custard, can’t say that it did. I put it in the fridge like you said, when it cooled off, I whipped it for a few minutes and started adding butter, it just did not wanna mix in, I had clumpy mixture:/ why?? I tried using a spoon to break down the clumps to make it look better but ofcourse it didn’t help at all. I also only got 12 eclairs, I made them thin and only 4″, do you double your batter?
Same thing happen to me, the custard tuned out to be uneven because butter didn’t mix in well 🤔
It tasted fine though but not sure what I did wrong to fix it next time..
Hi Zalina! Sorry the recipe didn’t turn out perfectly for you. You can try to whisk the butter first, then add it to the custard. You can also add it to the custard while it’s still hot, then give it a whisk after its cooled. Hope that helps!
Hello.. I have a question about the ingredients for the chocolate glaze. You use heavy cream, but I can’t buy that in The Netherlands. Can I replace it with single cream? Thank you.
Hi! Yes, single cream will work well! 🙂
Hi Tatyana,
I eeally want to print your recipe as it’s easier for me to look at while I’m trying it out. But for some reason I cannot print it. I’ve tried opening your blog in both safari and chrome, but no success.. What do I do? ?
Hmm, I’m so sorry the print option isn’t working for you. It should pop up as a separate window; make sure you don’t have a popup disabler activated. You can try turning that off
Hi Tatyana,
I’d like to make these for a wedding. Can they be made ahead of time? Can you tell me the best way to store them? Can they be frozen w the filling inside? When placed on the dessert table, how long can they stay at room temp? Do you think the cream would leak out? I made these last time and my cream curdled and became very runny,, do you know why that happened? I left my custard in the fridge for 3 hours before putting in the butter. Then when I added the butter, the cream curdled and became runny. How can I prevent that from happening next time? I didn’t have enough cream to fill the eclairs. Id like to practice before the wedding. They were still delicious but I think the eclairs can still be better.
Thank you for your time,
Natalie
Hi Natalie! I’m so sorry the filling didn’t work out well for you last time. Make sure to add the custard slowly and don’t over mix the filling. I have a more in-depth tutorial here: https://tatyanaseverydayfood.com/recipe-items/vanilla-custard-buttercream/
These will not freeze well. You can prepare the shells ahead of time and keep them stored in an airtight container. You can also make the filling ahead of time, but you’ll need to fill these the night before. They should be just fine on the tables for a while.
My eclairs always Crack. Is that normal?
Hi Valentina! Oh, no. That’s always a bummer! Try reducing your oven temperature by 10 degrees. Every oven bakes a little differently and when the oven is too hot, that can cause the eclairs to expand too quickly. Hope that helps for next time!