Eclairs

Eclairs are a great French dessert, made from choux pastry, filled with cream and then topped usually with chocolate ganache. Making the choux pastry can be challenging as many factors affects to get that right eclair shell. These eclairs were very light, crispy and very delicious. 

Ingredients 

For the choux pastry

125g milk 

125g water 

125g butter

2 tsp.of white sugar

1/4 tsp salt

150g all purpose flour

250g eggs (approx 4-5 eggs)

Icing sugar for dusting

For the custard filling

500ml milk (2 cups)

1/2 tsp vanilla

30g cornflour (1/4 cup)

70g white sugar (1/3 cup)

2 large egg yolks

For the chocolate topping

50g milk cooking chocolate 

1 cup icing sugar

2 tablespoons of butter

1/4 tsp vanilla essence 

2 tbsp hot water

Directions

To make the pastry cream

1. Mix 1/4 cup of milk with cornflour and egg yolks in a small bowl.
2. Put the rest of the milk in to a saucepan and add sugar, vanilla and egg yolk and cornflour mixture. Stir well to mix everything in to the milk.
3. Now heat the milk mixture over medium heat stirring until the mixture becomes thick like custard. 
4. Once it has reached the custard consistency, transfer to a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.

For the choux pastry

1. Whisk the eggs slightly with a fork and set aside.
2. Bring water, milk, butter, salt and sugar to a boil. (Use a stainless steel saucepan for best results)
3. Then remove from heat and add the flour all at once. Stir until everything fully incorporated.   
   
4. Then put the pan back to heat and keep mixing and stirring the dough in high heat for about 3 minutes, until a dough ball forms and film on the bottom of the saucepan. (This initial cooking will make the dough puffed up)
5. Now take it off the heat and let it cool. (If you add eggs while it's hot, the eggs will get cooked) 
   
6. Once it's cool enough, add eggs in two additions and mix using an electric mixer in the lowest speed. You may also use a hand whisk. Keep mixing until all eggs are mixed in to the dough. When you lift the batter it should look like this. (When you lift the batter it should take few seconds to fall down)
7. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.
   
8. Meanwhile, transfer the eclair batter to a piping bag with a french star tip nozzle fitted. Now pipe the eclairs (desired sizes) on to a baking tray lined with parchment paper. (Maintain constant pressure while piping.)
9. Dust the eclairs with powdered/icing sugar and bake for 25-30 minutes. (Do not open the oven door until 25 minutes, this will make the eclairs flat)
   
10. When the eclairs are brown in colour after 25 minutes, quickly open the oven door and prick one end of the eclairs with a knife while it's in the oven. (This will help the steam escape) 
11. Now close the oven door and bake for another 10 minutes or until they are dark brown in colour. 
12. Once the eclairs are baked, turn off the heat, open the oven door and leave it in the oven for about 15 minutes before taking out. This helps the eclairs to cool down slowly without getting flat. 
13. Let the eclairs sit in baking tray until it completely cool down. If you have another batch of eclairs to bake, bake them now. 
    
    
14. Once the eclairs are cool, make two hole in the bottom of the eclairs using a round tip nozzle. 
15. Transfer the chilled custard mixture in to a piping bag fitted with a round tip nozzle. Pipe the custard filling in to the eclair through the holes. 

For the icing topping

For the icing, melt the chocolate and 2 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir in 1 cup icing sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in hot water, one tablespoon at a time, until icing is smooth and has reached desired consistency. Remove from heat, cool slightly, and drizzle over filled eclairs. Refrigerate until serving.