If you’ve ever traveled to France, you likely associate éclairs with the oblong pastries found preciously lined up behind glass cases in patisseries all over the country. Well, today’s versions are a little less pristine, but a lot more fun. Seriously, how can you look at these little guys and not say, “Aww”? They’re miniature versions of the classic French dessert, and also happen to double as the perfect vessel for delivering mouthfuls of your favorite berries, nuts and crunchy candies.
When making our éclairs, we wanted the focus to be on garnishing the cute little guys and less so on perfecting our baking skills. So instead of making our own, we simply ordered a dozen mini éclairs from our local bakery, filled with custard but without icing on top. We made our own batch of icing by following these instructions (and adding quite a bit of powdered sugar to the mix as a thickening agent), then dipped each individual éclair into the bowl in order to use as a “mortar” for our toppings.
The sky’s the limit when it comes to choosing toppings, but for our Valentine’s Day-themed éclairs we used combinations of the following…
- pistachios
- pecans
- blackberries and raspberries
- white and gold pearl sprinkles
- an assortment of Valentine’s Day candies and gummies
There’s truly no right way to top your éclairs — any combination is fair game! Invite friends over for a fun Valentine’s Day gathering and have a ball decorating your own little pastries, let the icing dry and harden, then compare your adorable creations moments before you delight in their sweet taste.
These are the cutest things yet! What an adorable dessert 🙂
I agree… almost too cute to eat!
These are just the cutest!!! <3
Alex | Pink Elephant Blog.
Thanks Alex — I’m so happy with how they turned out. Exactly as I imagined!
Too cute!
Thanks so much!
Oh! These look so lovely, and absolutely delicious!
WritingMonique
Right?! Who doesn’t love to customize their own desserts??
This is such a great Valentine’s Day DIY — and these sweet treats look delicious!
http://www.livinginsteil.com
Thanks Vanessa! You HAVE to give them a try!
Could these be cuter? Oh my gosh I just love this idea! I think that French pastries can be very intimidating for most, so I love that you made them more approachable 🙂
Molly {Dreams in HD}
http://www.dreamsinhd.blogspot.com
Totally. And with such fun toppings they’re literally fool-proof!
I know I should be raving about those eclairs, but… umm. Chanel’s engagement ring? Come on! Soo beautiful! (so are the eclairs, but I just had to get the ring out there, before even thinking about the pink little beauties.) Congratulations, Chanel!
Agreed!! I am literally blinded daily by the bling factor… it’s even more beautiful in person. 😉
Thank you Gabriella, so sweet of you! And I’ll admit that I can’t take my eyes off of it either… so excited! 😀
These are SO cute! This would be a lot o fun to try for Valentine’s Day! 🙂
Always,
Mostly Lisa
You must make some, Lisa!
So adorable!!
These are so cute!! I love them.
http://www.kelseymarie.co
These are so cute! Love the simplicity of ordering from a bakery and just focusing on decorating! This will be a great recipe to try with our little loves. Thanks!
These are perfect! For the Austin readers–can you share what bakery you ordered from? 🙂
Central Market!
Hi!
Which brand of the pink food coloring gel did you use?