Back, With Nutella Eclairs!

I believe this weekend should be the weekend for getting fat, I mean seriously.
I went to the mall with some friends yesterday and we got frozen yogurt, with a lot more candy toppings than yogurt.  Then we saw a movie, you know movies aren't complete without buttery popcorn and soda.  Those so called 'small' sodas are absolutely not small at all, in fact, they're huge!  So even though I've been eating healthy all week, I've been splurging a smidge :)

And then I found myself making eclairs....

So I know I haven't posted for a while, I've been feeling a little down though.  First Pennsylvania had nice spring-ish weather, and then we randomly got bitter cold out of nowhere, so now we have non-stop rain that actually I think just stopped.  You can probably guess how annoying this weather change is, it is so sudden! -_-  Anywho..it was raining all of today and I was bored, and I bake when I'm bored.  I don't know why but I was like hmm I should make eclairs.  And I did, so there you go.  I was also motivated to bake something because my cooking idol, Gordon Ramsey started following me on Instagram, yes the real one!!

I was caught by surprise when these eclairs actually came out really good!  I thought they would flop the way my attempts of lady fingers have.  I got this choux pastry recipe my Better Homes Cookbook.  I had to improvise on the filling and topping so I added rice pudding in the center and topped it with nutella.  It was delicious!  Happy Eating!

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Melting the butter

Added the flour and eggs

Piping 'em

Right out of the oven

Choux Pastry for Eclairs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
Makes about 12-14 eclairs

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/8 teaspoon salt (I just added a pinch)
1 cup all purpose flour
4 beaten eggs
Nutella
Rice pudding

Grease a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 400.

In a medium saucepan, add the butter, water, and salt (see note).  Bring to a boil and add flour all at the same time.  Stir until the mixture becomes thick.  Cool for about 10 minutes and add the beaten eggs a little at a time.  Transfer to a piping bag and pipe strips that are 4 inches long, 1 inch thick wide, and 3/4 inch thick.  Bake on the prepared sheet for 35-40 minutes in a 400 degree oven or until golden brown.

Cool the eclairs for about 10 minutes and then cut in half.  Take out soft dough from inside (see note) and fill with rice pudding.  Spread Nutella over the top, enjoy!

Notes:
The butter does not need to be melted before you add the water and salt, it will melt while the water is boiling
If you do not take out the soft dough, it will taste eggy