Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Eclairs

It's been a while..but life with a baby can be more challenging and there are plenty of other things that end up getting added on to the to do list than updating the recipes! But, here's one :)

We have another flock of chickens and they have started laying tons of eggs! So, with this plethora of eggs, we were looking for fun things to make - eclairs were a great pick.

We would not do the chocolate dip the way the recipe advises, so we will omit that - because although it turned out shiny - it was kind of watery.

They were a hit with Kaspian and Astrid and they were very good, especially for a first try at it!

Here's the originale recipe: https://letthebakingbegin.com/classic-eclair/#_a5y_p=2600057











Ingredients:

Custard Ingredients
6 egg yolks
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cups sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup flour
1/2 stick of unsalted butter

Pate Choux Pastry
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 stick of unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
5 large eggs at room temperature

Directions:

First make the custard - this is so that it has time to cool. Maybe even make it a few hours or a day in advance for the best results.
An alternative to the labor intensive custard could be a whipped cream filling as well. We were going to try if we had any empty eclairs left over.

Custard
1. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar and flour together.
2. Bring the 2 cups of milk to a boil.
3. Slowly pour the milk into the egg yolk mixture, continuously whisking.
4. Pour the mixture back into the pot and bring to a boil, continuously stirring.
5. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat. The custard mixture will be thickened up.
6. Add the vanilla extract and half a stick of butter. Stir it all together well.
7. Cover the custard with plastic wrap it touches the custard.
8. Put in refrigerator so it cools and is ready for the eclairs.

Pate a Choux
1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mats - we used the silicon mats as they were much easier and totally not stick.
2. Fit a pastry bag with plain 1/3 inch tip nozzle and drape the bag over a large glass.
3. Preheat oven to 425F.
4. Whisk the eggs together.
5. In a heavy bottom saucepan combine, milk, water, butter, sugar & salt. Bring to a boil.
6. Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add the flour all at once, reduce heat to medium and start mixing the dough with a wooden spoon vigorously. Continue doing so for another 2-3 minutes to evaporate some of the moisture.
7. Transfer the dough to the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and start stirring the dough on medium speed for 1-2 minutes to cool it down slightly.
8. Add the eggs to the mixture in 4-5 additions, each time allowing the mixer to incorporate the eggs fully before adding more. The dough might separate at first, but it will come back together as you continue stirring and adding more eggs. The mixture should be thick but still fall off the paddle attachment in a thick ribbon.
9. Transfer the warm dough to the piping bag and pipe out 2-3 inch logs, about 2 inches apart.
10. Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375F and continue baking until golden in color, about 25 minutes. DO NOT open the door before the éclairs are golden, they will deflate.
11. Allow the éclairs to cool.

What we liked:

These were really fun!

What we didn't like:

It was a little hard to get the "logs" I think next time we might just try cream puffs :) 

What Kaspian thought about it:

HE LOVED THEM. 

Next time:

Try cream puffs and also whipped cream filling

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