Cooking Lesson #107 - Éclair Bars

Éclair Bar

How you doin’? Two of my favorite desserts in the world are doughnuts (if you consider a doughnut a dessert—I think of it more as a morning life-starter) and custard-filled éclairs. The one thing these two pastries have in common is the chocolate coating.

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Éclair Bars

Around here, we fondly refer to that donut shop chocolate glaze as cheap and crappy chocolate. To tell you the truth, as the ChocolateDoctor from Choclatique, I am not ashamed to say, “I love it.” There is something about the flavor and texture of this inexpensive coating that works for me every time and sometimes I really crave it.
 
Éclairs are time consuming to make. First, you have to make the choux-pastry dough. Bake it, scoop it, fill it and finally prep the chocolate and dress it. My Éclairs Bars recipe is much easier to make and perfect for a large party.
 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Bake time:  20 minutes
Cool time:  4 hours
Yield:  24 servings
 
Ingredients
1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury™ refrigerated crescent dough sheet
2 boxes (3.4 oz each) Jell-O™ vanilla-flavor instant pudding & pie filling mix
3 cups cold half-and-half
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
 
Directions

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with food release cooking spray.
2. Unroll crescent dough, press into the bottom of the pan. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown and baked through. Remove from oven to cooling rack; cool 20 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, beat dry pudding mix and half-and-half with whisk about 2 minutes or until thick. Spread over cooled bar base.
4. In medium microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips and whipping cream uncovered on HIGH 1 minute; stir. Microwave 30 seconds longer; stir until smooth. Carefully spread mixture on top of pudding layer. Refrigerate about 4 hours or until cooled completely.
5. When ready to serve, using a sharp knife and up-and-down sawing motion for cleaner cuts, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

ChefSecret: If you want a crisp, more éclair like pastry, you can substitute the crescent dough with 1 sheet of Pepperidge Farms puff pastry following the direction on the package.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day: “I never thought the comment ‘I would never touch her with a 6-foot pole’ would become a national policy, but here we are!”
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