Bacon Eclairs

 Last year when I was visiting my mom, we made eclairs for my brother's birthday since that is one of his favorite desserts. We didn't make them the true eclair shape, but we filled the cream puffs with vanilla pudding and topped them chocolate. As we were eating them we got to talking about what it would be like to put some bacon on them. Because we all know that EVERYTHING is better with bacon! :)

Anyway, I finally got around to trying our idea a couple days ago. I thought it would be a fun treat to have for hubby when he got home from being gone for a week with work.

So here is how I did it:

Cream Puffs (from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook)

1 cup water

1/2 cup butter

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 eggs

In a medium saucepan combine water, butter and salt. Bring to boiling. Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously. Cook and stir till mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon after each addition.

Drop by 12 heaping tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet. (I got about 15 with mine). Bake in a 400 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or till golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Cut tops from puff; remove soft dough from inside. Fill with pudding. Replace tops.

Filling

Use any kind of vanilla pudding you'd like. I made mine from a recipe online, but for some reason I have been having trouble with pudding lately and it turned out very gluey. In my defense, it did at least still taste like a yummy, comforting dessert but it looked more like a kids science experiment than something you'd wanna eat for dessert. (And the pudding I made last week from my natural cookbook was like soup! *sigh*) Using instant boxed pudding would work just fine too of course. This is completely up to you. :)

Topping

For the topping I just melted about half a bag (didn't really meausure!) of semi-sweet chocolate chips with a little bit of butter in a bowl in the microwave. Then I just drizzled that on top and sprinkled on some cooked, crumbled bacon. Voila! Bacon topped eclairs! :)

Keep them in the fridge if you have leftovers.

My mind has been spinning with ideas for other fillings and toppings for cream puffs. If I come up with a good one, I will be sure to post about it! In the meantime, enjoy munching on some bacon-y, creamy, chocolatey goodness!

Blessings!