For a while now I've wanted to try my hand at choux pastry but I've always shied away because it seemed so tricky and I thought eclairs, profiteroles and choux buns were best left to the professionals.
But, it is much simpler than most think and I would really urge people to give it a try. Yes, making eclairs are time consuming but the end result was definitely worth it. The best thing about this great Good Food recipe is that so many elements can be made days ahead such as the crème pâtissière and eclair pastry cases.
Since today was Father's Day I wanted to make something extra special to mark the occasion. Not a soul in my immediate family doesn't like an eclair so I thought these little desserts were sure to be a hit - and they were!
Makes 20
Ingredients
Choux Pastry
- 170g lighly salted butter, chopped into small cubes
- 200g plain flour
5 medium eggs, beaten
Crème Pâtissière
- 300ml milk
-150ml double cream
- 3 egg yolks
- 50g white caster sugar
- 3 tbsp cornflour
Decoration
- 200g pack raspberries
- 600g fondant icing
- 200g raspberry jam
- 600ml double cream
- 4 tbsp icing sugar
- 10 cardamom pods
- freeze dried raspberry pieces
Method
1) Crème Pâtissière: Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan. Heat until simmering then remove from the heat. Meanwhile, tip the egg yolks into a bowl and add the sugar and cornflour, whisking together until smooth.
2) Pour over the milk mixture and mix until you see the mixture thicken to a thick custard consistency. Make sure to constantly stir the mixture to avoid it catching. Pour into a jug, cover the surface with cling film and chill for at least 3 hours, or up to 3 days.
3) Choux Pastry: Put the butter in a saucepan with 450ml water. Sieve the four into a large bowl and set aside. Bring the butter and water to a fast boil, simmer until the butter has melted.
4) Tip the flour into the mixture and beat like mad with a wooden spoon until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan and is lump free. Tip into the bowl and spread the tick paste up the sides a little to help it cool quicker. Leave for 10 minutes.
5) Heat the oven to 200C / 180 fan / gas 6 and cut two pieces of baking parchment to fit two baking sheets. Using a ruler and a pen, mark 10 lines about 12cm long over each piece, leaving plenty of space between the lines, then flip the parchment over. Fit a piping bag with a large round nozzle, about 1.5cm, or cut the bag to this width if you don't have a nozzle.
6) When the flour paste has cooled but is not cold, start adding the egg, bit by bit, beating well between each addition. You should have a smooth batter which will reluctantly drop off the end of your spoon. You may not need to use all of the egg, so add it slowly. Transfer to your piping bag and use a little of the mixture to stick the parchment to your trays.
TIP: If you are finding it difficult to combine the mixtures, use an electric whisk. The beaters do get clogged easily though!
7) Pipe the choux onto the baking sheet, using the lines as a guide. Pipe slowly so that the eclairs aren't too skinny - each one should be about 2.5cm wide x 12cm long.
8) Bake for 40-45 minutes swapping the trays around for the final 10 minutes. The choux should be puffed, golden and sound hollow when tapped. You may wish to sacrifice one eclair to make sure the inside is completely dried out. If it is not, place the tray back in the oven and lower the temperature by 40 degrees. If the pastry is moist on the inside the eclair will sink when cooling.
TIP: These can be made a day ahead and stored in an airtight container. Reheat in the oven for 5-10 minutes to crisp before filling.
9) Split each eclair through the middle with a serrated knife.
10) Filling & Decoration: Pick out 10 raspberries and set aside. Press the remaining raspberries through a sieve into a large bowl extracting as much juice as possible. Add the fondant icing sugar and enough water to make a thick icing. Cover with cling film.
11) Transfer the raspberry jam to a piping bag and pipe a long line in the bottom half of the split eclairs.
12) Pour the double cream into a bowl and add the icing sugar. Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods, pound them using a pestle and mortar, then tip into the cream. Beat with an electric hand whisk to stiff peaks. Fold through the crème pâtissière, then transfer to a piping bag. Pipe generous blobs over the base of each eclair.
13) Spread the glaze over the top of the eclairs - be careful, they will be delicate and too much glaze will drip and cause a mess. Position the tops on the cream. After every four or five eclairs, decorate the tops while the icing is still wet.
TIP: Try decorating the eclairs in different styles that are all similar but different. I halved the raspberries and positioned them on top, sprinkled freeze-dried raspberries and also mixed up some remaining fondant icing and piped stripes over the eclairs.
Credit to: Good Food
These eclairs will be at their best as soon as they are put together. At a push they can last up to 3 days in the fridge.
