Couldn't believe that this is only the second time I've baked them as last time I did was for my FIL's name day , five years ago! There are so easy to do as dessert and feels lighter especially in the summer heat.
Basic Éclair
recipe from http://kitchenexperiments.net/2007/03/eclairs-cream-puffs-profiteroles-shucream-etc.html
Choux Pastry:
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
Method:
Preheat oven to 425˙F
1. Bring water and butter to a rolling boil and then throw (literally, but do it safely) your flour in. Turn the heat down.
2. Start stirring vigorously until a dough is form.
3. While the dough is still hot, beat in one egg at a time using a wooden spoon (it’s easier if you have a stand mixer), making sure that the dough and the egg is incorporated thoroughly.
4. Once that’s done, you will have a soft dough and that’s your choux pastry.
5. You can take a tablespoon and just scoop a dollop on a tray lined with baking sheets OR you can put it in a piping bag and pipe it into a nice round swirls or fingerlings.
6. Pop it into the oven for 25 minutes and voila, you have your creampuffs/eclairs.
Notes
Add a packet (1x10g) vanilla sugar to the orig. recipe
I did the dough few days in advance and freeze it in freeze-safe bag. Thaw the dough in the fridge a day ahead and leave in out in room-temperature 30 mins. - 1 hour before you want to bake them as per recipe above. It may be still cold but you can start piping the dough onto the baking dish.
Pastry cream - I've used left over instant pastry cream (the reason why I decided to bake this the first place)
Chocolate glaze - just melt chocolate with some milk in the microwave. I microwave for 30 seconds. Let it sit a bit in the micro. and take it out and mix until glossy.
Caramelised sugar - also microwave !! I used this method with success.
(extracted in case, I loose the link later)
• Place 1 cup sugar in a 2-cup Pyrex glass bowl. Add ¼ cup water to the
sugar and mix. Place the bowl in a microwave and set it on
high/800watts/100%.
• The sugar will take approximately 50secs to 3mins to caramelize depending on how dark and brittle you want your caramel to be - the longer you cook the darker the caramel gets.
• A quick tip would be to check on the sugar after 30sec and again
after every 20 secs. The caramel continues to cook even after removing
from the microwave, hence remove the caramel from the microwave when the
sugar is one shade lighter than the desired color.
• Transfer the caramel to another bowl immediately to halt the cooking and prevent the caramel from burning and getting bitter.
