Pastry Cream
rec.food.baking/Debbie Deutsch

NY style eclairs are filled with "pastry cream" (creme patisserie in French). This is a cooked filling that gets its body and yellow-ish color from egg yolks. It may be flavored with vanilla or other things, like a bit of rum, etc. You cook the filling and chill it before piping or spooning it into the eclairs. Pastry cream is also used for Napoleons.

The good thing about making your own eclairs is that you can put the cream in just before serving, so there is a marvelous contrast in texture between the crispiness of the dough and the silky unctuousness of the filling. In comparison, the eclairs in the grocery store are poor, soggy creatures.

Here is a recipe for pastry cream, from The French Chef by Julia Child. I've condensed the directions a bit...

6 egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups hot milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or 1/2 tablespoon vanilla plus 1 or 2 tablespoons rum or kirsch

Mix egg yolks and sugar in a 2 1/2 quart saucepan with a wire whip until thick and pale yellow, several minutes. It should form a ribbon.

Beat in flour, then beat in hot milk in a thin stream. Set over moderate heat and stir slowly and continuously with the whip until it thickens. When lumps form, beat vigorously to eliminate them. Lower the heat and cook slowly, stirring all the time, to thicken the cream.

Remove from heat and beat in the butter and flavoring. Film the top of the cream with 1/2 tablespoon of milk, rum, or kirsch to prevent crusting. Chill.

You need a good saucepan for this - one that will heat evenly. Be thorough in your stirring so none of the cream sticks to the bottom of the pan and turns nasty. Having said that, this recipe is actually pretty easy if you are patient and calm about it, and the results are very, very good.