Éclair Desserts
This family favorite dessert is one of the first things we learned to make as teenagers because it’s so easy, but so good! Simple ingredients, mostly store-bought, are enhanced by extra vanilla, and nobody needs to know that it game together in minutes and didn’t require an oven.
Easy Pastry Cream:
- 1 (3 oz) box instant vanilla pudding mix
- 2 cups milk
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 TBSP vanilla paste OR 1 tsp vanilla extract and the caviar of 1 vanilla bean
- 18-24 graham crackers
Chocolate Ganache Topping
- 1 1/4 cup (200 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup (200 grams) heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Mix the pudding and milk together. In a separate bowl, whip the 1 ½ cups cream and vanilla to medium peaks. Fold the whipped cream and pudding together. In a 7x11” pan (or 9x13” pan, but your layers will be thinner, and you may want to consider increasing your cream to 2 cups to compensate), place a layer of whole graham crackers. Lay them flat, lined up next to each other, so that as much of the bottom is covered, but don’t crunch them up. Cover with half the cream mixture. Add the other half of the cream and then top with another full layer of graham crackers. Let refrigerate while mixing the topping.
For the Chocolate Ganache Topping, mix chocolate chips, cream, and vanilla in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in the microwave in 1 minute increments, stirring well between each cooking period. It will take 2-3 minutes total, but you don’t want to overcook this, so if it’s almost there at the 2 minute mark, just give it 30 seconds more. All you need to do is melt it and stir until completely smooth. Pour the ganache over the top graham cracker layer.
Important: refrigerate this dessert for a minimum of 3 hours, preferably overnight. The chill time allows the graham crackers to soften and gives this dessert a perfectly fluffy and scoopable texture.