Cream Eclair

I am big fan of cream, and chocolate puffs or eclair.  The same easy pastry batter makes the light and airy confections we know as cream puffs, and chocolate eclairs.  My husband loves Eclairs 😉 and my boys. Everytime when I make these they’re so happy. There are several cream puff recipes out there, you can choose your favorite.  I made with vanilla and lemon cream all worked very well.  Good luck and enjoy 😉

Ingredients:

Cream filling:

• 4 egg yolks
• 1/3  cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch or flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp butter
• pinch of salt

Eclair:

• 100 ml milk
• 100 ml water
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup flour
• pinch of salt

Chocolate glaze:

• 200 gr chocolate
• 2/3 cup whipping cream

Directions:

1. First we need a make cream filling.   Warm the milk in the saucepan until you start to see wisps of steam. It should not actually be boiling. In a medium bowl, whisk  together the sugar, cornstarch or flour, and salt. Add the egg yolks and whisk them into the dry ingredients . This will form a thick paste.  Pour a little of the hot milk into the eggs and whisk to combine. Continue pouring the milk slowly into the eggs, whisking continuously. When all the milk has been added to the eggs, pour everything back into the saucepan. Set a strainer over a bowl and place this near the stove. Set the pan back over medium heat. Whisk constantly. When it has thickened to a pudding-like consistency, pause whisking every few seconds to see if the cream has come to a boil. If you see large bubbles popping on the surface, whisk for a few more seconds and then remove the pan from heat.  Strain and cool pastry cream.  After 5 minutes add butter stir well and cover the pastry cream with a piece of plastic wrap pressed right up against the surface of the cream and chill completely. 
2. Chocolate glaze:  In a big cup put chocolate and whipping cream together in microwave (1 minute) 2,3 times  and stir every 1 minute until smooth.  Cool slightly.
3. Pastry :  Preheat oven to 400 F ( 200C ) degrees and line 2 sheet pans with silicone mats (or parchment paper).  In a large saucepan, combine butter, milk, water, and sugar.  Bring to a rapid boil, stirring until all combined. Reduce heat to low  add flour and salt. Remove from the heat. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir until ball forms. You are looking to end up with a smooth paste like dough that is dropping consistency. Load the dough into your prepared piping bag & pipe 14 thick lines that are approx 12cm long by 3cm wide onto your baking sheet. Make sure to leave a gap between each one as they will puff up during cooking.  Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 325° bake 20 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack.  When it’s cooled slice each pastry case in half. Load a piping bag with a round nozzle & fill with the cream filling. Open each pastry case and pipe big blobs of the filling along the bottom. (Or you could just fill with a spoon if you wanted to.) There are several ways to tackle the decoration. Either you can dip the pastry tops directly into the chocolate glaze ( icing,)  smear the icing along the top with a spoon or you can load it into a piping bag, snip the end and pipe stripes or a pretty pattern.  Finish by dusting with a little icing sugar if you like.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge. They will last for 2-3 days but are best eaten on the day they were made. (The pastry tends to go soft quite quickly.) 

Enjoy 😉