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Forget having to drive all the way to the bakery when you can make your own easy chocolate pistachio eclairs at home! This homemade éclair pastry recipe boasts a creamy pistachio pudding filling. Read on to learn how to make eclairs the easy way!
Everything is simple to make from the shell dough to the éclair filling and the delicious chocolate glaze on top.
Find out how to make eclairs and I just know you’ll want to make this wonderful cream puff recipe all the time! These easy chocolate pistachio eclairs are really special and they prove amazing eclairs aren’t hard to make at home.
Easy Chocolate Pistachio Eclairs Ingredients
You need flour, water, butter, eggs, and salt to make the shells. The cream puff filling is a combination of pistachio pudding and heavy cream. And then you need chocolate, cream and pistachios for the glaze.
How to Make a Homemade Eclair Pastry Recipe
First off all, following the instructions on the package to make the pistachio pudding. Next is the shell and for that you need to add the water and butter to a pan.
Bring it to a simmer then mix in the flour. You should get a sticky dough. Let the mixture cool for a few minutes then add the eggs to thicken the dough up.
Line a pair of baking sheets with parchment paper and sprinkle some water over them. Put the cream puff dough in a piping bag and pipe lengths of it on to the parchment paper.
Bake for 10 minutes then turn the heat down a little and cook for another 12 minutes or so, or until they’re golden brown. Resist the urge to open the oven door at any time during baking else they’ll deflate!
Let the dough shells cool. Meanwhile you can whip the cream then fold in the pistachio pudding. Put this mixture in a piping bag. Make holes in the eclairs and pipe in the pistachio pudding mixture.
The next thing to do is bring some cream to a simmer and then pour this over the chocolate in a bowl. Mix the cream and chocolate and dip each éclair in this glaze. Sprinkle with pistachios and chill in the refrigerator until set. Now you know how to make eclairs I bet you can’t wait to get started!
Tweaks and Variations
The main flavour in these easy chocolate pistachio eclairs is the pistachios. But if you happen to prefer walnuts or pecans you can use those instead or even combine more than one nut.
The same goes for the pistachio pudding and you can use another flavour of pudding if you want to. How about coconut pudding with shredded coconuts on the glaze? Or banana pudding with chopped walnuts? Feel free to experiment and come up with your own combinations – that’s the fun thing about eclairs!
Pistachio Pudding Cream Puff FAQs
You can make the pastry shells ahead and keep them refrigerated for a few days or frozen for up to a few months. The pistachio pudding filling can also be prepared ahead and kept refrigerated.
When you are ready to make them, you can pipe the pudding filling in, prepare the chocolate glaze and assemble the eclairs then. If you assemble them too far ahead they’ll get soggy though.
Although you can still use pastry that hasn’t puffed up properly, the eclairs won’t look so good. If the dough is too wet (i.e. it doesn’t hold its shape when you pipe it on to the parchment paper) this can happen.
And that might be the result of using too much liquid or too little flour so make sure you weigh and measure everything out correctly. Another reason could be you opened the oven door during baking – it’s really important not to do this!
Another problem that can happen with easy chocolate pistachio eclairs is they can crack. This can happen if the oven temperature is too high or if you forget to sprinkle water on the parchment paper before adding the dough.
The reason for the water is it creates steam in the oven during baking and this helps to prevent cracks. Having cracks isn’t a huge deal because you can disguise them with the chocolate glaze afterwards anyway.
These are important tips to know when learning how to make eclairs.
Easy Chocolate Pistachio Eclairs Recipe
Easy Chocolate Pistachio Eclairs
Ingredients
Dough for Shells
- 1 1/4 Cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 Cups water
- 1/2 Cup unsalted butter
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 Teaspoon salt
Éclair Filling
- 1 Package pudding mix, pistachio
- 1/2 Cup heavy cream
Topping or Glaze
- 4 Ounces chocolate, semi-sweet bakers, chopped
- 1/2 Cup heavy cream
- 1/4 Cup pistachios, chopped
Instructions
- Prepare pistachio pudding following directions on package.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a medium saucepan, on medium heat, bring water and butter to a simmer. Add flour and stir constantly until a sticky dough forms.
- Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, stirring rigorously after each addition. Dough will be sticky and thick.
- Sprinkle drops of water onto baking pans to help create a steaming effect while cooking.
- Fit a piping bag with a large hole tip. Using a spatula, transfer dough to the bag. Squeeze a 4 to 5 inch line of dough onto baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
- Bake 10 minutes at 400 degrees F and then turn down to 350 degrees F and cool for an additional 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown. It is important not to open the oven while cooking.
- Place on cooling rack when done. While baking prepare the rest of the filling.
- Whip cream until medium peaks form. Fold pudding into whipped cream. Place in refrigerator while eclairs cool completely.
- Prepare piping bag with medium tip.
- Add whip cream mixture to bag. Carefully poke holes in end of cooled eclairs and fill with cream.
- Prepare chocolate ganache. Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.
- In a small saucepan bring heavy cream to a simmer. Pour over chocolate. Let stand 1 minute. Mix until completely melted and smooth.
- Dip top of eclair in chocolate, place on cooling rack, sprinkle with pecans, place in fridge 15 to 20 minutes to set.
Nutrition
This homemade éclair pastry recipe shows you how to make the most delicious and easy chocolate pistachio eclairs. These are special enough to rival freshly prepared eclairs from any bakery.
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
So easy to make and it tastes exceptionally good!
Loved the flavor combo! I love anything with pistachio 🙂
I must try these! I love pistachio everything.