These cuties were created by pastry chef Dominique Ansel, proprietor of the Dominique Ansel Bakery in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City.

The chef fills éclairs with a bourbon-chocolate creme, tops them with caramel glaze and decorates with a mini chocolate moustache and bow tie.

You can melt chocolate and hand-pipe moustaches and bow ties onto wax paper; then use your chocolate art to decorate store-bought eclairs.

Make extra chocolate decorations so you can decorate Father’s Day cupcakes, too.

The éclair is a finger-shaped pastry made of pâte à choux, filled with custard or whipped cream and topped with a glacé icing. It is known to have originated in France around the turn of the 19th century. Many food historians speculate that éclairs were first made by the great Marie-Antoine Carême (1874-1833), the first “celebrity chef,” considered the founder and architect of French haute cuisine. He is credited with the inventions of croquantes, hot soufflés and numerous other creations.

“Éclair” is the French word for lightning. It is suggested that the pastry received its name because it glistens when coated with confectioner’s glaze. (We would suggest that it is because they are so popular, they disappear as quickly as lightning.)

The Oxford English Dictionary traces the term “éclair” in the English language to 1861. The first known printed recipe for éclairs appears in the 1884 edition of the Boston Cooking-School Cook Book edited by Mrs. D.A. Lincoln.