Chocolate Eclairs Recipe

I found this great chocolate eclair recipe in the March issue of Good Food Magazine,  the recipe is by Sarah Cook, the pictures looked so delicious I couldn't wait to try it. 

It a great recipe, everything came out really well particularly the creme patisserie (or vanilla custard), which was brilliant.  The instructions are great and everything has been broken down and thought of, so despite the fact that this recipe is a bit time consuming I would definitely recommend it to a beginner as well as a seasoned baker. 

Homemade eclairs are a labour of love, but the reward will be a decadent mouthful of crisp pastry oozing creamy vanilla custard.

Ingredients

140g plain flour

pinch of sugar

125ml milk

100g butter

4 eggs

FOR THE CUSTARD FILLING

300ml milk

50g caster sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 tsp each plain flour and cornflour

300ml double cream

Start by making the custard filling. Heat the milk until almost boiling in a saucepan. Meanwhile, mix together the sugar, egg yolks and vanilla in a bowl, then stir in the flours, a couple of tsp at a time, to a smooth paste. Gradually whisk in the hot milk, pour everything back into the saucepan and cook over a high heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 mins until thick - it will go alarmingly lumpy but don't worry, just keep stirring it vigorously with a wooden spoon until smooth. Lay a sheet of cling film directly on the custard surface, then cool and chill until you're ready to fill the buns.

To make the choux buns, heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Sift the flour with the sugar and a pinch of salt into a small bowl. Put the milk and butter into a medium saucepan with 125ml water and gently heat so the butter melts but the liquid doesn't bubble. Once the butter has completely melted, increase the heat until the liquid comes to a fast rolling boil. Immediately turn off the heat, tip in the sifted flour and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until you a have a smooth dough that comes away from the sides of the pan.  Spread over a large dinner plate to cool to hand temperature.

Once the dough mix has cooled, scrape it back into your pan. Using your wooden spoon, beat in each egg, one by one, until you have a smooth, shiny mixture.

Cut 2 large sheets of baking parchment. On each one draw 2 sets of 'track' lines with a 10cm gap - these will be your guidelines so your eclairs will all be roughly the same size.  Use the paper to line 2 large baking sheets - penside down. Spoon your choux mixture into a piping bag with a 1cm wide nozzle, or into a disposable piping bag with a similar-size hole snipped off for piping. Pipe 2 rows of well-spaced, squashed 'S' shapes on each sheet between the guidelines. Bake, one tray at a time, on a high-ish shelf for 25 mins, reducing temperature to 200C/180C fan/ gas 6 as soon as they go in the oven.

After 25 mins, poke a hole in the end of each bun, or using a small serrated knife, split down the middle and return to the oven, upside-down, to dry out for 5 mins until crisp and golden. Set aside to cool.

While the buns are cooling, finish your filling. Whisk the cream until thick, then use your electric whisk to beat the cooled, set custard until just smooth again. Fold in the cream. Spoon your filling into a piping bag - use a small nozzle if you're filling the buns through the holes you've pierced, or a large nozzle if you've split the buns in half. Carefully pipe the custard into each cooled bun - they should feel heavy once full. Arrange the buns on a wire rack and spread each with a little of your chosen icing. If you can't decide, it's really easy to split your batch of choux buns, halve icing quantities, and make a selection to keep everyone happy.

Classic chocolate eclairs

Melt 100g plain chocolate and 25g butter together in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Once melted, remove from the heat and stir in 75ml double cream and 1 tbsp sifted icing sugar. Once cooled a little, spread over the tops of the buns and leave to cool.

I also thing these caramel and coffee eclairs sound delicious, I definitely making a mixed batch next time.

Caramel crunch eclairs

Melt 100g golden caster sugar in a pan with 2 tbsp golden syrup and 2 tbsp water. Once melted, increase the heat, bubble until caramel coloured, then remove from the heat and stir in 4 tbsp toasted flaked almonds. Carefully dip the top of each bun into the hot caramel, spooning over a little extra to cover if you wish. Cool on a wire rack.

Coffee & walnut eclairs

Once you've beaten the eggs into your choux mixture, stir in 85g finely chopped walnuts. Add 2 tbsp strong coffee to the custard filling, and make an icing by mixing 140g icing sugar with enough strong coffee to get a thick but runny consistency for drizzling over filled buns.

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Chocolate Eclairs Recipe