The same delicious banana cream pie flavors, but in a dainty pastry form! So indulgent and so good!
Raise your hand if you’re a fan of good ol’ banana cream pie!
It’s one of my favorite pies ever. If I’m not eating lemon meringue pie, or pumpkin mousse pie, (ok, pecan pie is pretty darn good too!) you’ll definitely catch me with a big slice of banana cream pie! Yeah, I’m a pie person, what can I say…
Whenever I end up with extra egg yolks- that’s every time I make macarons– I make a batch of my vanilla pudding. And you know it, every time I have vanilla pudding on hand, I end up making banana cream pie. So yeah, macarons means -> vanilla pudding -> banana cream pie! Every. Single. Time.
On one of those days, I decided to switch things up a bit. Or should I say fancy it up?
And let me tell ya, it was simply perfection!!
Delicate choux pastry paired well with silky smooth vanilla pudding and slices of banana! And that chocolate ganache was just an icing on the cake.
And here’s step by step photos for you.
So next time when you crave banana cream pie, please try this eclair version. You won’t regret it, I promise!
Enjoy! And thank you for stopping by.
Banana Cream Pie Eclairs
Ingredients
For shells:
- ½ cup 115gr unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup 125gr all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
For filling:
- 2 cups 480ml whole milk (2% will work too)
- 1/3 cup 65gr sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 bananas
For Chocolate Ganache:
- ½ cup 120ml heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup 175gr semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter softened, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
- To make the pastry shells: In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup of water, butter, sugar and salt and bring it to a boil over high heat. When butter is melted and the mixture is boiling, add flour all at once, reduce the heat to medium and continuously stir until the dough will start to form into a ball. Keep mixing for another 3-4 minutes until light crust forms on the bottom of the pan.
- Transfer the dough into a mixing bowl with paddle attachment and mix it for a few minutes on low speed until the mixture is cooled to room temperature.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. This will help to get egg absorbed into the dough quicker. Don’t add more than 2 eggs at a time. This is important, as you might not need to add all the eggs. The dough should be smooth and thin enough to fall into a ribbon, but too runny.
- Transfer the batter into a pastry bag and pipe into 4-inch strips 3 inches apart. Level peaked tops with wet fingertip, if needed.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the shells are puffed up and golden brown, rotating the sheets top to bottom and back to front once after first 20 minutes. When you take the éclairs out, it should stay puffed. If it falls flat, put it back in the oven, bake for additional 3-5 minutes, turn the oven off and let it cool in the warm oven.
- Once cooled, cut the eclairs in half horizontally.
- To make the pudding, in a heavy bottomed saucepan, place milk and slowly bring it to a simmer over medium heat. This’s called scalding the milk. Once you see small bubbles appearing on the surface, remove it from heat. Be careful not to boil it though, or it’ll scramble the eggs in step 3.
- In a medium bowl, combine egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla extract, vanilla bean paste and salt. Whisk the mixture until creamy and doubled in size.
- To temper the egg mixture, slowly add 1 cup of scalded milk into the egg yolk mixture, while constantly whisking the mixture.
- Transfer the tempered egg mixture into the remaining scalded milk. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly for 8-10 minutes, or until the mixture is nice and thick.
- Run the custard through a sieve for extra smooth texture.
- Cover it with a plastic wrap so that it touches the surface of the pudding. This’ll prevent a layer of film from forming on top. Chill the pudding completely.
- Whip heavy cream until hard peaks form. And gently fold into the chilled vanilla pudding until smooth.
- Transfer the filling into a pastry bag with star tip (I used Wilton 1M).
- Cut bananas into thin slices.
- Layer banana slices on the bottom half of the éclair shells.
- Pipe the filling and replace the top of the shells.
- To make the chocolate ganache, in a small saucepan, bring heavy cream to a simmer. Do not boil.
- Pour hot cream over chocolate chips, and let it sit for good 2 minutes. Then mix well until smooth for couple minutes.
- Stir in butter to add some shine.
- Pour chocolate ganache over the eclairs and serve.
- Store the assembled eclairs in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Nutrition
Hi, could you please tell me how many éclairs this makes?
Thanks
Oops, forgot to include that information. You’ll get 20-25 eclairs from this batch. Thanks for asking. I just updated the recipe.
Thank You
There is no amount of water in the ingredient list but it is included in the directions
Hi, Loretta! Thanks for the note. When I write my recipes, I usually don’t list water in ingredient list, but I specify the amount in the directions. The idea is that water is available to everyone, and doesn’t require an advanced preparation. Does that make sense?
Perfection. Love this twist on your typical eclair! I think I could take out an entire batch to myself!
Karly, I wish you were nearby. I’d have happily shared it with you. 😉