WHAT ARE THEY?
Sticks of choux pastry filled with chocolate pastry cream and iced with chocolate.
TIME TO MAKE
Preparation: 45 minutes
Cooking: 45 minutes
Resting: 2 hours
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
3 piping bags
No. 12 plain piping nozzle
No. 6 plain piping nozzle
VARIATION
Fondant icing (shinier but less tasty): 80 g white fondant icing + 10 g melted dark chocolate.
TRICKY ASPECTS
Cooking the éclairs (watch them carefully after 20 minutes) Icing
TECHNIQUES TO MASTER
Preparing a water bath
Filling and icing an éclair
ORGANISATION
Choux pastry – cooking – pastry cream – filling – icing
MAKES 15 ÉCLAIRS
CHOUX PASTRY
100 g milk
100 g water
2 g salt
2 g caster sugar
90 g butter
110 g plain flour
200 g egg (4 eggs)
1 egg, beaten
PASTRY CREAM
120 g dark chocolate
100 g egg yolk
120 g caster sugar
50 g cornflour
500 g milk
CHOCOLATE ICING
200 g dark chocolate
50 g white chocolate
1 Preheat the oven to 230°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Make the choux pastry and pipe éclairs (using a plain no. 12 nozzle) 15 cm long. Glaze with the beaten egg. Reduce the oven to 170°C and put in the éclairs. At the end of 20 minutes, briefly open the oven door to let the steam out. Close immediately. Let them cook until light golden, about 25 minutes, then let them cool on a wire rack.
2 Melt the chocolate for the pastry cream over a water bath. Make the pastry cream, adding the melted chocolate at the end of cooking, then leave to cool. Whisk the cream to smooth it out. Fill a piping bag (no. 6 plain nozzle). Using the point of a knife, make three holes in the underside of each éclair. Fill the éclairs with the pastry cream then feel their weight: they should be quite heavy.
3 Melt the dark chocolate for the icing over a water bath. Ice the éclairs by dipping them in the chocolate. Drain off the surplus then smooth out the chocolate using a finger. Melt the white chocolate over a water bath, put it in a piping bag and cut off the end to make a very tiny hole. Pipe white lines on the éclairs. Refrigerate for 2 hours.