Delicious decadent choux dough filled with smooth custard and topped with white chocolate glaze..
CONFETTI ECLAIRS!!
xxx
Since finals are over, master chef dings decided to make some food for herself. Haha just kidding, I decided to revisit the "un-fail-able" recipe of eclairs to satisfy my own cream puff cravings. They are so easy to make, really. Even I can do it! Although it's true that I can just get it at some bakery but I was being a bum and didn't want to leave the house..
The white chocolate glaze and coloured drizzle is just a random idea because I really love colourful stuffs. And since it's a festive season...
Thank god it worked out just fine:
Here's the recipe if you want to make some eclairs for Christmas!
(This recipe is adopted from several websites: www.joyofbaking.com for the choux pastry and www.laurainthekitchen.com for the custard filling)
Choux Pastry (shell of the eclair)
65g All Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon Sugar (I used powdered sugar but I guess all sugars are fine)
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup or 57g Unsalted Butter
120ml of water
3 large eggs
Custard Filling
2-1/4 cups of Milk (I used full cream milk)
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup sugar (I used powdered sugar too)
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon Vanilla (I used vanilla extract)
For the Eclair shells:
Mix the flour, sugar and salt together, and cut the butter into cubes (for easy melting)
Melt all the butter in the water over medium high heat and bring to a small boil.
Remove from heat and add in the flour mixture, all at once, stirring until everything combines (it may look a little lumpy here, but no worries).
Place the saucepan back to the heat and stir constantly until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a thick smooth ball.
Transfer dough to a hand mixer and beat on low speed to cool the dough - about a minute (or a bowl and use a fork to stir if you do not have a hand mixer).
Beat 2 eggs lightly in a small bowl.
When the dough is lukewarm, add the 2 eggs and continue to mix until you have a smooth thick paste (IMPORTANT: the dough will fall apart to look like separate clumps in the process. This is correct. Just keep mixing and the dough will combine again.) The dough will fall from the spoon in a thick ribbon.
Pipe the mixture into the shapes and sizes you prefer - circular if you want to make cream puffs or longitudinal if you want to make eclairs. Be sure to give them some space apart because they will expand.
With a pastry brush, gently brush the top of the dough with the last egg, lightly beaten as well.
Bake for 15 minutes at 200 degree celcius (timing depends on the size of your dough) and then reduce the temperature to 180 degree celcius and continue baking for arounf 15- 20 minutes to dry out the centre of the dough.
Remove from oven when your puffs are a nice amber colour.
Leave it on a cooling rack to cool.
For the custard:
Add all the ingredients in a large saucepan and whisk them all together with the heat turned off.
Place the the saucepan over medium heat and cook it, stirring the whole time until the custard thickens (not too thin or thick - preferbly the consistency of kaya)
Remove from heat and transfer it into a bowl.
Cover the custard with plastic wrap, make sure the plastic wrap is touching the custard (else a shell will form) and pop it into the fridge to chill completely.
Assembly of the eclairs will be to cup open the shells and pipe the custard in. Then melt chocolate with whipping cream for the glaze.
For me, I piped in whipped cream together with the custard - I whipped the whipping cream myself (Just pour whipping cream into a bowl and place the bowl over ice water before you start whipping away. Remember to add your desired amount of powdered sugar when the whipping cream thickens and then just keep whipping till it forms stiff peaks.)
The confetti drizzles are food coloured white chocolate glaze just in case you're wondering~
Feeling the Christmas already~~
xxx
"The Magic of Christmas"
