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First, make the pastry cream: In a small saucepan, warm the heavy cream until the tiniest of bubbles appear on the edge of the pan. Make sure it does not boil.
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Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the egg yolks, and whisk. It will be crumbly. That's fine.
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Slowly pour the warm cream into the egg yolk mixture, a tablespoon or so at a time. Continue to whisk as you pour. Next, pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly while it comes to a simmer. Once simmering, it will begin to thicken. Once large bubbles pop on the surface, continue to cook for a few more seconds while whisking, then remove from heat. Stir in the vanilla.
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Scrape the pastry cream into a bowl, press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface, then chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
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Next, make the eclairs: Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a sheet pan with a silicon mat or parchment paper.
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Combine the flour, sugar and sat in a small bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan, stir together the water and butter over low heat. Let the butter gently melt without bringing the water to a rolling boil. Once the butter is melted, remove the pan from heat, and add the flour, sugar and salt mixture all at once. Stir, stir, stir.
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This is the part where you may have to leave your burner on low if you're cooking with gas or electric burners. If using a glass cook-top, turn it off entirely for this step. Put the pan back on the burner that's been turned off and stir until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. In other words, the dough will stick together in one big clump around the spoon and not the edges of the pan. It happens in about 1 minute.
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Scrape the dough into a mixing bowl, and beat on low speed with an electric mixer until the mixture is only warm to the touch (about 1-2 minutes). Add the egg and continue beating. Beat for a few minutes, until the dough falls off the beaters in sheets and is pale yellow.
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Scrape the mixture into a piping bag (if you don't have a piping bag you can use two spoons). To get the most rise out of your dough, scoop (or press) out 3 balls of dough and pile the 3 balls of dough on top of itself with the edge of a spoon. (See photo on the attached blog link for reference). You should get 6 eclairs (each made out of 3 dollops of dough).
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Bake the eclairs for 10 minutes, then open the oven door for 5 seconds, lower the heat to 350 F, and close the door. Continue to bake at 350 F for 18-20 minutes. Do not be afraid of brownness-if you under-bake, the insides do not dry out. See photo for reference.
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When the eclairs are done baking, turn the oven off, and remove the sheet from the oven. Using a thin knife, poke a hole in the side of each eclair. You will eventually cut all the way through the eclair to fill it with the pastry cream, but for now, just cut a slit so steam can escape. Return the pan to the turned-off oven, and let them cool for 30 minutes with the oven door ajar.
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Next, remove the pan from the oven and slice the eclairs in half horizontally. Put a spoon full of the chilled pastry cream on the bottom half of each eclair and put the top on.
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For the chocolate topping, combine the chocolate and coconut oil in a small bowl. Stir well, then microwave in 10-second pulses until almost all the way melted, stirring between each pulse. Dip the tops of the eclairs in the chocolate, put them on a tray and chill until set for 15 minutes.
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The eclairs taste best served within a few hours of making, but they will keep covered in the fridge for 1 day.
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Notes: Pastry cream recipe scaled down from TheKitchn.
