What Exactly Is an Éclair? (2024)

FAQs

What does "éclair" mean in English? ›

: an oblong pastry with whipped cream or custard filling. Etymology. French, literally, "lightning" Word Origin. The English word éclair comes directly from a French word whose chief meaning is "lightning" or "flash of lightning." No one is sure why a pastry was named after lightning.

An American eclair is made from frozen ingredients such as frozen pre-separated egg whites and yolks and frozen pre-made cream. A French eclair is fresh: freshly separated eggs, freshly stirred creme, freshly picked or ground ingredients.

An éclair is a long and thin individual cake made out of choux pastry. This fabulous dessert is topped with milk chocolate and filled with cream *queue drooling*. A donut is a fried dessert of sweet dough and is traditionally in the shape of a ring or ball. YUM.

Another fun and interesting fact about chocolate éclairs is that the word éclair is the French term for lightning. Many believe that the pastry goes by this precise name, because it shimmers when it is coated with the classic chocolate glaze!

An éclair is a long French pastry made from choux pastry, filled with pastry cream or custard and dipped in fondant icing. The most popular éclair is probably the chocolate éclair, which is topped with chocolate fondant and filled with chocolate custard or pastry cream.

In other parts of the United States and Canada, such as the Mid-Atlantic and Central Canada, Long Johns are sometimes marketed as "éclairs"; the two pastries look similar but are created with different types of dough (steam-puffed vs. yeast-risen) and sometimes different fillings (the éclair may have chiboust cream).

As Serious Eats reported, luxury eclairs are the result of French chefs facing competition, and putting their skills to the test, which explains the high-end fillings and intricate decoration. For now, the Maitre Choux versions are made in the tiny kitchen beneath the shop.

The hollow inside is filled up (injected) with cream, custard, crème Suisse, chocolate cream, etc. The flavored icing on top, like fondant, chocolate, caramel, etc. makes the eclair even more appetizing. In the United States éclairs are sold as Long Johns; they even have their own national day on the 22nd of June.

Once cool, the pastry is filled with custard (crème pâtissière), whipped cream or chiboust cream, then iced with fondant icing. Other fillings include pistachio- and rum-flavoured custard, fruit-flavoured fillings, or chestnut purée.

Jelly Doughnut

These classic doughnuts are typically round without a hole in the middle, and generally leavened with yeast. The center is stuffed with jelly, jam, or preserves (and sometimes chocolate!), giving you a burst of flavor with each bite.

What is the difference between a Bismarck and a Long John? ›

Bismarck: Just another name for a Berliner (see above). Long John: A long, almost rectangular, filled doughnut, often iced. twist: A ring-shape yeast-raised doughnut twisted around itself, resulting in a long cylindrical doughnut.

Types of Gourmet Donuts

Pate a choux dough puffs when it's fried, yielding pillowy, melt-in-your-mouth donut pockets. Cronut - A cronut is a cross between a croissant and a donut. Cronuts have buttery, laminated dough layers like croissants and are fried like donuts. They can be sugar-tossed, glazed, or filled.

Eclair means “lightning” in French. People often believe that eclairs were named after the glistening sparkles on the frosting that resemble lightning bolts. Its first print reference in English was in an article in Vanity Fair in 1861, and then in Boston Cooking School Cook Book in 1884.

By 1929, Frascati's treat came to be known as a religieuse, the French word for nun because the squat cream puffs resembled a Catholic nun in her black and white habit. And while it might seem like a silly name, if you squint your eyes a little, you can almost see Sister Marie on her way to chapel.

They have an eggy salty flavor of the choux pastry combined with sweet cream and mousse, or sometimes covered up with strong flavors like dark chocolate filling. So, eclairs can easily become everyone's favorite and there are many flavors for you to choose from!

The word comes from the French éclair, meaning 'flash of lightning', so named because it is eaten quickly (in a flash); however some believe that the name is due to the glistening of the frosting resembling lightning.

Il y a des éclairs.

= There is lightning.

Originally known as 'pain a la duch*esse' in it's native land, the word 'eclair' translates from French to 'flash of lighting'.