Chocolate Eclair

Hey Guys! It's December and I am so excited for Christmas. My neighbour, who celebrates christmas bakes me the yummiest plum cake! I look forward to it every Christmas morning #blessthyneighbours.

So keeping in mind the Christmas season I am coming up with recipes which are easy to make and which don't require you to slave in the kitchen for hours. The other day I baked these Chocolate eclairs and it turned out pretty well. So here's the recipe I promised to share on Snapchat (gauri_meraki, i hope you are following me there to catch all the BTS). 




Dough / Choux Pastry:

1/2 cup - Flour

1/2 cup - water
1/2 tsp granulated white sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
4 tbsp - Unsalted Butter
2 Eggs at room temperature


Pastry Cream:


1 cup - Whole Milk

2 tbsp - Corn Starch
1/4 cup - Granulated Sugar
2 tbsp - flour
2 - Egg Yolks 
1 tsp - Vanilla Paste 

Ganache:

1/4 cup - whipping cream

2 ounces - choco chips

Dough / Choux Pastry:

Start by heating butter and water in a saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat. 



Whisk the flour with sugar and salt in a bowl and add it to the mixture of butter and water while stirring continuously. After a minute or two it will take the shape of ball shaped dough. 




Transfer this dough in a food processor or handheld mixer, beat this dough so that the steam is released and the dough cools down. Now add in the eggs one at a time so that they are mixed properly. keep stirring continuously, you don't want the eggs to scramble! You should get a smooth paste and ribbons should form as the paste falls from the spoon, that's when you know it's done.




Transfer the dough in a pastry bag having a large tip and trace log shaped eclairs on your baking sheet. I piped about 14 in batches. In the end brush the tops of the dough with a beaten egg to give it golden effect once they are baked.



Bake for 20 minutes and then reduce to 375 degrees for another 20-25 mins until golden brown. (Don't forget to pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees C).


Pastry Cream:

In a bowl whisk the egg yolks and sugar. Add cornstarch and mix vigorously until no lumps remain. Meanwhile heat milk in a saucepan along with vanilla essence, bring it to boil and remove from heat. Now add the mixture of egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch in batches in the milk. Keep whisking continuously, you don't want scrambled egg instead of pastry cream. (Incase you end up with scrambled egg just strain the mixture and you will end up with smooth custard, you're welcome!).

Cook on medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and slowly boiling. Remove from heat and let it cool. Let it cool in the refrigerate for 2 hours. Pipe it in a pastry bag.


Once, your pastry and custard is ready, it's time to assemble the chocolate eclair! Make a hole in the ends of the pastry and pipe the custard into the eclairs. 

Glaze / Ganache:

Heat the cream in a pan just before it is about to boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate chips and let it sit for a minute and then gently whisk until the chocolate melts. Now, just dip the eclair in the melted chocolate. 


I even added a few dried cranberries, pistachios, peanuts, nuts but that is completely optional.


I hope you enjoy making these for Christmas or just like that! Do send me pictures if you try the recipe at home :)   

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