Weekend Magic! : Ecstatic Éclairs!

Hey there! Weekend magic begins with EL The Cook's tempting  éclairs!

An éclair is an oblong pastry made with choux dough filled with a cream and topped with icing. They originated in France around 1850 and are the most widely used pastry of the pie family.

Choux (pronounced as chu)pastry, is a light pastry dough containing only butter, water, flour, and eggs. The peculiarity of choux is, instead of a raising agent it employs high moisture content to create steam during cooking to puff the pastry. 

The dough, which is the same as that used for profiterole, is typically piped into an oblong shape with a pastry bag and baked until it is crisp and hollow inside. Once cool, the pastry then is filled with a vanilla-, coffee- or chocolate-flavored custard (crème pâtissière), and then iced with fondant icing.

The wonderful thing about this recipe is that the ingredients used are simple!

Here's what you'll need in to make this seductive recipe!

INGREDIENTS (for 16 éclairs):

Cook Time: 1 hour (+ Refrigeration and cooling time)

A] Choux Pastry

• 15 gm butter
• 60 ml water
• 35 g plain flour
• 1 egg

B] Custard Crème

• 1 vanilla bean
• 250ml whole milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 75g castor sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• 80ml thickened cream

C] Chocolate Glaze

• 30gm dark chocolate,chopped coarsely
• 30g milk chocolate,chopped coarsely
• 15gm butter

KITCHEN EQUIPMENT:

• Electric Mixer
• 1 large bowl
• 1 small bowl
• 1 large glass bowl
• Piping bag ( 1 plain tube attachment and 1 5mm fluted tube attachment)
• Wooden spoon
• 2 baking trays
• Saucepan
• Plastic wrap
• Serrated knife

METHOD:

A] Custard Crème

• Split vanilla bean length ways, scrape seeds into a saucepan with milk and boil.
• Beat egg yolks, sugar, cornflour in bowl with an electric mixer until thick
• With the motor operating, gradually add the hot milk mixture
• Return custard to pan, stir over heat till custard thickens
• Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
• Beat in cream with electric mixer, until soft peaks form
• Just before serving fold cream into custard in 2 batches

B] Choux Pastry

• Preheat oven to 220°C( 200°C fan forced). Grease 2 oven trays.
• Combine butter and water in a small sauce pan and bring to the boil.
• Add flour and beat with a wooden spoon till the mix comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a smooth ball

• Transfer the mixture to a bowl and beat in the egg until glossy
• Spoon in the pastry mixture into a piping bag fitted with a plain tube.
• Pipe out 16 x 5 cm lengths about 5 cm apart, on trays

• Bake for 7 minutes at 220°C
• Then reduce the temperature to 180°C ( 160°C fan forced)and bake for another 10 minutes.
• Using a serrated knife cut the éclairs into half, remove any soft centers and return to oven for a further 5 minutes or until dry to touch
• Cool on trays

C] Chocolate Glaze

• Stir in ingredients in a glass bowl over a saucepan with simmering water until smooth
• Use glaze while warm

D] Plating

• Spoon in custard cream into a piping bag fitted with a 5 mm fluted tube
• Pipe custard into the base of the pastry
• Top with pastry tops
• Spread with chocolate glaze

Enjoy your éclairs as a generous tea-time mouthful or as a gorgeous dessert after dinner. Have an amazing and seductive weekend everyone!