Strawberry Whipped Cream Filled Chocolate Eclairs

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, sugar and salt to a rolling boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat and immediately dump in the cup of flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together to form a dough. Put it back on the heat for 30 seconds, continuing to stir. Remove from the heat and put the pastry dough into the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Start mixing at medium speed, add the 4 eggs in one at a time scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition and mixing well. Mix until the pastry is glossy and smooth.

Place pastry into a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip and pipe long fat lengths of pastry onto the Silpat lined cookie sheet leaving 2″ of space between.

Whisk the egg and water together. Brush the tops of the eclairs with the egg wash. Bake at 450 F for 15 minutes and then reduce heat to 375 F and bake about 20 minutes more or until light golden brown. I used the convection setting and baked for 12 minutes and then at the reduced heat 15 minutes more. Let cool on a wire rack.

Place the chopped chocolate in a pie plate. Heat the cream over medium heat in a small saucepan until simmering. Pour hot cream over the chocolate and stir until melted. Dip eclairs in the chocolate mixture. Set them on a parchment lined tray. Let them set up for one hour in the refrigerator.

Slice eclairs in half horizontally, but not all the way through. Whip the cream and sugar together with a mixer to form stiff peaks. Spread inside the sliced eclair and insert 3-4 sliced strawberries. So insanely good!!