These eclairs were pastries of necessity, people.  With almost four dozen eggs haunting my fridge, I really had no choice but to act rashly.  But the thing with making eclairs for no particular occasion is that they can only be done in batches of two dozen.  And with only three or four people to devour them — that’s a high per capita rate of pastry cream.

I cannot — alas — give you a recipe.  It isn’t mine to give.  But if you’re interested, I would highly recommend investing in a copy of Pastry: Savory & Sweet by Michel Roux. It is short, cheap, and has lots of pictures.  But despite those things, I have not seen a better book for making elegant pastries at home.