WorldCat Chocolate Eclairs - National Library Week Day 5

Chocolate filled Eclairs with Vanilla Bean Glaze

 

Whew! It's the end of my celebration of National Library Week 2011! This week, I’m highlighting a library thing, baking something and giving something away. Thanks for joining me in the celebration of libraries and librarians!

Today's library, baking, and giveaway are linked in a crazy synergy... I baked this week's French Fridays with Dorie, Chocolate Eclairs. But I made them in the shape of the WorldCat Logo, and I'm giving away a copy of the Dorie Greenspan book!

The Library Thing:   
WorldCat. No, not a worldly feline, but a totally cool online union catalog of a gazillion items from a ton of libraries. WorldCat's currents stats are here - 72,000 libraries and 1.7 billion records. You can see if your local library has a title or if it's only in a library in Australia; you can then go to your library to start an Interlibrary Loan to get books from all over the world. Pretty nifty, huh? I use WorldCat all the time. Give WorldCat a try on your computer or with their mobile app.

The Baking Thing:
I belong to two baking/cooking groups: Tuesdays with Dorie and French Fridays with Dorie. This week, the French Fridays with Dorie group made Vanilla Eclairs from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook Around my French Table.

I've made cream puffs with pastry cream in the past, but never eclairs. Eclairs use the same cream puff dough, but piped into logs and glazed. I made mine into the WorldCat logo and tinted the glaze with food coloring (Thanks JustJenn for letting me borrow your dyes!) Chocolate pastry cream filled my eclairs. Since my eclairs were mini, I piped in the cream and didn't split the eclairs.

Be sure to check out my fellow French Fridays with Dorie members and see their creations!

Recipe:

Please note: French Fridays with Dorie will not be posting recipes. Please support Dorie and purchase the book or find it at your library (WorldCat Link!!!)....or win one from me!

The Giveaway Thing:

Day #5: I'm giving away the lovely Dorie Greenspan's book, Around my French Table! (Although French Friday with Dorie members have the book...a second copy makes a great gift! Believe me...I received mine as a birthday gift!) Have you seen this month's Oprah magazine? There is a wonderful article about the Dorie baking groups! Read it online here.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post. If your email isn’t associated with your Blogger account, please be sure to leave your email in the message.
Note: This giveaway is limited to United States mailing addresses. One winner picked at random.
Deadline: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at midnight, Pacific Daylight Time
Disclosure: This giveaway and shipping is paid for by me.
*** Updated: Contest is closed. Congrats to Frannie (entry #35) ***
Don't forget to enter the Day #1 (Sarabeth Bakery Cookbook) and Day #2 (Crate & Barrel Ramekins) and Day #3 (Everyday Food magazine) and Day #4 (Silpat) giveaways!

Thanks for celebrating National Library Week with me! See you at the library! - mary the food librarian