Eclairs

I have a problem......

...... every now and then I do or make something..... and it takes about three times as long as it should.

Sunday morning I started making eclairs, thinking that it would be quick to get the shells done before having to take my daughter to a birthday party, the whole saga started with me breaking the ziploc baggie that I was using to pipe the pastry.... managed to transfer to another bag and everything was going well until it came to taking the eclairs out of the oven..... the temperature of my oven is obviously not as accurate as Pierre Herme's - result: eggy pancakes...... not happy....

Send lovely (some would say long-suffering) husband to birthday party with daughter in the hope that I can get the eclair shells right the second time, wash up pots, pans and mixer bowl, realise that since the first batch didn't work I now need more eggs, pack son into car for dash to supermarket..... proceed to mix another batch of pastry, new piping bag breaks, give up in disgust and shape remainder of pastry by hand and bake..... nearly had pancakes again, except this time I shoved them straight back into the oven as they started to deflate, and lo and behold they puffed back up and stayed there! whew.... turn oven off and hope that sitting there for a while will keep them puffy until they are sufficiently dried, next step.... chocolate pastry cream, sauce, and glaze.....

I managed to get the pastry cream made without any trouble, it's made similarly to the lemon meringue pie filling that I use, heat, mix, cook, mix, cool etc.

Make the chocolate sauce, realise that it's ok and it's not going to take too much longer and I'll be done (famous last words).

Heat cream for glaze, mix in chocolate, reach for cubes of butter and SPLAT!..... resist the urge to scream and throw things knowing that it's just going to make more of a mess for me to clean up...... wipe up star shaped puddle of chocolate and cream on the kitchen floor.... wash pots..... start again, more chocolate and cream, mix in butter and the chocolate sauce...... success!

Take a deep breath, pull eclairs out of oven..... still puffy (yay!)..... slice and start filling with chocolate pastry cream, glaze, sandwich gently and place in shallow plastic container to transport....

Give husband first taste test.... gone in two bites, am told that 'they are not worth taking anywhere, lets just eat them here', ask how they compare to his grandmother's cream puffs (raised to legend status) 'they're right up there, I think I might need to taste some more to be sure'..... hmmmm (not buying that)..... pack husband and children off to parent's house.... eclairs last less than half an hour after arriving.

Tell lovely husband that the next time I suggest making something so involved on the day they're needed that he should tell me to stop being stupid and go make something nice and easy.