Clodsire is a new friend-shaped Pokemon that is an alternate evolution to Wooper. In a way, it’s a Quagsire that decided to live life laying down, and somehow developed these purple spots on its back where it can spring out its poisonous spines. So despite looking hilariously adorable, Clodsire can be extremely terrifying. Luckily, these Clodsire eclairs will never impale you, so they bring all of the Clodily cuteness, without any of the Clodily harm. The easiest medium for pastry I could think for those rounded, bulbous shapes was either through pate choux, or mochi puffs. I haven’t made mochi puffs before, although several failed attempts earlier motivated me into trying again. I find them to be fascinating because they are very similar to cream puffs, although how you make the dough is a lot easier. Instead of having to par-cook the dough, you just have to mix it all up, divide it, shape each piece of dough, and bake them off! It was a lot easier to work with this dough than pate choux, and for the most part, a lot easier to control as well. The one caveat was when the dough bakes, it has a tendency to crack. This is rather hard to control, although one thing that I found that worked for me was simply coating the tops of the puffs in a ganache glaze. Chocolate-anything usually has a thick enough consistency to completely cover something. And luckily in this case, it actually worked towards capturing Clodsire’s appearance, since there is a gradient of brown colors between the top and bottom halves of Clodsire itself!

For the components, we have essentially four and a half. The mochi puff dough, a purple cream, which is used to represent the purple spots on Clodsire’s back, edible paint for the face, and the ganache, which is being used both as a glaze and whipped into a frosting to pipe on Clodsire’s back/tail fin. In terms of technical difficulty, I would give this recipe a 6 out of 10. The dough may crack while baking, which is fine, since the ganache will coat that over nicely. You could technically pipe cream into each puff as well, but I found that keeping them hollow was a lot easier, since the dough can bake out to be on the brittle side. I would say the hardest part is just waiting for everything to set before adding on the next component to these puffs. Glazing with ganache can be tedious, but this ganache sets rather quickly, so at least there’s that! Once you have the ganache on and set, the process then just becomes piping and adding on the other features. All in all, these came together quite nicely, and I am super grateful that the Pokemon company has gifted us with such a delightful new friend, which I could then transform into an 100% gluten-free recipe!

Makes enough for 6 Clodsires:
For the dark chocolate glaze:
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp heavy cream
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
activated charcoal powder

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate with corn syrup, butter, cream, and salt. Once everything is partially melted, take off heat and continue to stir using a rubber spatula until everything is fully melted. Stir in the vanilla as well at this point. For ideal assembly, make sure that the glaze is still a dippable liquid. With the remaining glaze, mix with a pinch of activated charcoal, and whip until firm. Transfer to a piping bag, as you will be using that mixture for piping on the tail fins.

For the purple cream:
3 tbsp heavy cream
1/2 tsp acai powder
a pinch of salt
1 tsp confectioner’s sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

In a bowl, whip everything together until stiff peaks form. Transfer the cream into a piping bag with a small round tip.

For the chocolate mochi puff dough:
3/4 gups mochiko
2 tbsp cocoa powder
20g canola oil
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
a pinch of salt

In a bowl, mix everything together until combined. Separate the dough out onto 6 35g pieces, and 12 1g pieces. With the 35g pieces, press and roll them into a similar shape to a chicken drumstick – this will be Clodsire’s body. With the 1g pieces, split them in half, and roll each into round balls. Press 4 of these pieces into the sides of the body pieces. Bake these puffs on a lined sheet tray at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes.

For initial assembly:
Start by piping your filling into the eclairs, then carefully dip the Clodsires into the glaze, smoothing it over using a wetted offset spatula. Press the back spots made from the purple cream onto the puffs as well, then transfer to the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

For the edible paint:
1/4 tsp black cacao powder
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together to form an edible paint with.

For final assembly:
Start by piping on the tail/back fin with the darkened ganache, then paint on the remaining features, i.e. eyes, nose holes, and mouth, using the edible paint to finish.