Gluten Free Triple Chocolate Eclairs Recipe for Valentine's Day

These triple chocolate eclairs are made with chocolate choux pastry, filled with Nutella cream and dipped in milk chocolate then topped with red and pink fondant hearts. Happy Valentine's Day to you!

Yield 2 dozen unfilled eclairs; a dozen filled eclairs

Triple Chocolate Eclairs Recipe

There's a soft spot in my heart for eclairs and these triple chocolate eclairs are no different. I'd been toying around with the idea of making chocolate pate a choux (choux pastry) and thought Valentine's would be the perfect opportunity, what with chocolate being the ultimate aphrodisiac, food of love. And there's certainly no shortage of chocolate in this recipe!

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As I mentioned, I've made chocolate choux pastry and the chocolate eclairs are then filled with a decadent Nutella cream before the entire eclair is dipped in melted milk chocolate. I've added red and pink fondant hearts for a special whimsical touch and to break up some of the chocolate. Needless to say, these pastries are rich and you'll certainly want a glass of milk or a cup of tea with them. The best thing about them, though is that this recipe calls for less than two tablespoons of sugar, so it won't ruin your diet ... if you only have one! Okay, maybe two.

You should be able to make two dozen eclairs from this recipe, but the quantities I've given for the filling, dipping chocolate and fondant hearts is enough for one dozen. I piped and baked all 24 eclairs and then stuck the other 12 in the freezer--choux freezes beautifully, by the way.

Ingredients:

For the chocolate choux pastry
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 cup gluten free flour
1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
4 medium eggs

For the Nutella filling
1 cup mascarpone
1 1/2 cups Nutella

For the toppings
12 to 24 red and pink fondant icing hearts
100 grams milk chocolate drops

Instructions:

Triple Chocolate Eclairs 

For the Nutella mascarpone filling:

1. Prepare the filling by whipping mascarpone until soft peaks form. Fold in the Nutella using a wide spatula until fully incorporated.
2. Scoop the Nutella and mascarpone mix into a piping bag with a metal piping nozzle, close off the end so none spills and refrigerate until needed.

For the fondant hearts: 

1. Use two different sized cookie cutters to cut hearts out of red and pink fondant.
2. Store the fondant hearts in a Tupperware box until needed. (You should be able to store these hearts for days before you need them and they'll be fine.) If you are worried about the hearts sticking together, rub a bit of icing or confectioner's sugar in between them.

For the chocolate choux pastry:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.
2. Bring the water, butter and salt to the boil in a large saucepan.
3. Remove from the heat as soon as it starts boiling and stir in the flour and cocoa powder using a wooden spoon.
4. Stir for about 2 minutes or until a dough forms that pulls away from the sides of the saucepan. There should be no bits of dough, it should all be together in a ball.
5. Allow to rest for 2 minutes.
6. Add the first egg and the sugar and stir. The dough will appear to have split, but continue to stir until it comes back together and forms a ball.
7. Add the next egg. Again, the dough will look like it has split, but continue to stir until it comes back together and forms a ball.
8. Repeat this process until all eggs have been added and you're left with a thick batter.
9. Spoon the batter into a piping bag and pipe lines of equal length onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof baking paper.
10. Bake for 10 minutes and then reduce the heat to 170C and continue to bake until the eclairs are cooked through: firm and hollow on the bottom and light and airy inside. This should take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes.
11. Once the eclairs have finished cooking, return them to the oven, turn off the oven and prop the door open with a wooden spoon while the oven cools completely.
12. Remove the eclairs from the oven.
13. Using the metal piping nozzle or a butterknife, make three or four incisions in the top of each eclair.
14. Pipe in the Nutella mascarpone cream gently. Piping too quickly may cause the cream to squirt out of the sides or bottom of the eclair. Pipe enough cream so that the eclairs feel heavy.

For the chocolate topping:

1. Melt the chocolate with a bit of butter until it is pouring consistency.
2. Dip the tops of the eclairs in the cream, so that the holes from the filling are covered by the chocolate.
3. Affix one or two fondant hearts to one side of each eclair and leave to set.

Gotta have sweets? Spoil your dinner with:

Soft Brown Butter, Brown Sugar Cookies

Nutella Gingerbread Cocoa with Starbucks Gingerbread Syrup Copycat

Ginger Peach Doughnuts with Twinings Gingersnap Peach Tea Glaze