Eclairs with chocolate (custard) cream and chocolate glaze

Some friends have been asking me for the recipe of eclairs from my patisserie class few months back at William Angliss Institute. Apologies for the wait! Finally, the notes and recipe are compiled! Have a go at this! and it’ll be so much FUN!

Eclairs are great morning/afternoon tea treats. Eclairs is simply choux pastry with many types of filling such as chocolate cream, chocolate hazelnuts, vanilla cream, lemon curd etc and glaze if you like. Choux is actually pronounced without the ‘x’ – it’s like saying the word ‘shoe’.

I had such a great time learning to make choux pastry and a range of fillings and glaze. My friends and neighbours loved these as well and finished them within a couple of hours after my class. Since it is so good, I want to share the recipe for the choux pastry with a simple filling and glaze. You can request for more types of filling too and I will try my best to put it up 😀 ENJOY!

Ingredients:

Choux Pastry:
Makes 30 large eclairs (size as shown in photos)

236ml           milk
236ml           water
5g              salt
15g             sugar
225g            butter
298g            plain flour
8-10            whole eggs (~60 g each)

Chocolate filling:

125g            dark chocolate (~55-70%)
160ml         milk
160ml         cream
2               egg yolks (~60 g each)
15g             caster sugar

Chocolate glaze:

102g            caster sugar
37g             cocoa powder
37g             water
70g             cream
8g              gelatin

Instructions:

1) For Choux pastry, preheat the oven to 190 degree C.
2) Mix milk, water, salt, sugar and butter in a heavy bottomed medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
3) Remove from heat and add the flour all at once.
4) Mix vigorously with a wooden spoon and dry over heat to obtain a homogenous dough; the dough is ready once it starts coming away from the sides of the pot. Also, the dough shouldn’t stick to your hands.
5) Pour the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with paddle attachment; start mixing at low speed to remove heat and cool down dough. It’s important to cool the dough so that when eggs are added, they are not cooked.
6) The most tricky part to making choux pastry is the amount of eggs to use. Add eggs one at a time to the cooled dough, beating until each egg is throughly incorporated. The dough should be thick and shiny. [I added about 8 1/2 – 9 eggs for that batch].
7) Pour into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Lightly spray a baking tray with vegetable oil. Pipe the eclairs in parallel lines into the required size. Large: 12-13 cm, Medium: 6 cm, small: 4-5 cm.
8) Egg wash (one egg and a pinch of salt) on top of each choux, going against the way it was piped.
9) Bake at 190 degree C, for 10-15 minutes. Do not be tempted to open the oven door during the first 10 minutes, as the steam will escape and the choux will collapse. Let it cool.

10) For the filling, place chocolate in a medium size bowl. Mix the egg yolks with the sugar.
11) Bring the milk and cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add some of the hot milk to the egg mix, incorporate well, add the rest of the milk and pout the mixture back into the pot.
12) Put back on low heat and cook it like a creme anglaise until smooth and homogenous and the back of spatula is covered with a thin layer of cream.
13) Slowly pour cream mix, through a fine sieve, over the chocolate. Mix well and set aside for 6 hours before filling the eclairs.

14) For glaze, soak gelatine in cold water, drain and reserve.
15) MIx cocoa powder, sugar, water and cream in a pot and bring to a boil.
16) Remove from heat and add gelatin, mixing well until reaching a smooth, homogenous glaze.
17) Refrigerate in an airtight container for 12 hours before using.

Notes:

1) The amount of eggs to use is really tricky. There is no fixed amount of eggs to add each time. It varies on the humidity and temperature of the room when it is made. So it is important to add it slowly. One way to determine if the dough is ready is by drawing a line in the middle of the dough and if it falls back slowly, that means it’s ready. It has to be creamy and not too liquid.

2) Another way to see if the dough is ready is by taking some dough on the paddle attachment, putting it upside down. If the dough slowly falls back (you can see the falling motion), that means it’s READY! If the dough falls back too quickly (you can’t see the falling motion), it’s too liquid. If it stays, it needs more eggs.

3) The chocolate cream (filling) can be done overnight. The flavours will be even stronger and better after leaving overnight!

Have you ever made eclairs before? Share your experiences!

Selamat makan! 🙂