After making my first ever batch of crème pâtissière, I obviously needed something to use it for. My first thought was to make my own version of the toffee choux pastries from our local patisserie which is a favourite of the hubby and I, but I decided I didn’t want to play around with hot sugar on this particular occasion so that idea was scrapped. I did want to stick with making choux pastry as I haven’t made it for quite some time so I settled on making éclairs instead.
My first encounter with choux pastry, or pâte à choux for my French friends, was making profiteroles at my friend B’s house when we were in high school. I fell in love with these delicious little morsels and when I used to work at a retirement village, one of my favourite sweets that the cook used to make was cream puffs. Yummo!
I can’t recall for sure if I have made éclairs before, I am fairly certain I have, but they definitely weren’t like these ones as I would not have heard the word sable back then. But onto that in a minute.
The recipe I used for the choux pastry is from the book Homemade Pâtisserie: Pastry Made Easy by Vincent Gadan and Michelle Guberina from Patisse. The hubby, my friend B and I went to the Good Food and Wine Show last year with B and I attending (the hubby decided to sample the various beverages on offer instead) a demonstration by Vincent Gadan of a modern take of a lemon meringue tart. Needless to say it was awesome and we were in awe of this gorgeous, charming and talented French man.
But back to the éclairs. You will need milk, butter, water, caster sugar, salt, plain flour and eggs.
I didn’t really get any pictures of the process as you really need to pay attention so as not to burn the pastry, and just ask the hubby, I am very well skilled in the art of burning anything and everything in a saucepan.
Bring the butter, water, milk, sugar and salt to a boil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add in all of the flour at once and using a wooden spoon, or a silicone covered spoon like I have if you prefer, stir continuously until a skin appears on the bottom of the pan (it will only take a couple of minutes).
Place the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and mix on a medium speed. You need to do this until there is no more steam coming from the dough and the gradually add the eggs, one at a time. Once the eggs have been added and well combined, continue to mix for a further minute.
Transfer the dough onto a plate and cover with plastic wrap, touching the surface so a skin doesn’t form, and place in the fridge for at least 20 minutes so it can firm up a bit.
Whilst the pastry is resting, it is time to move onto the sable topping. If you follow me on Pinterest you may have noticed a pin on my dessert board showing a profiterole with and without streusel. I found it quite interesting that the two profiteroles came out a little differently in the post by Eddy Van Damme so I wanted to do a comparison of my own when making these éclairs.
For the topping all you need is unsalted butter, raw sugar, plain flour and vanilla essence.
Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl with your fingertips until combined and then add the flour and vanilla continuing to mix until a dough is formed.
Roll the topping between two pieces of baking paper until it is 2mm thick. I cheated and used the thinnest of my rolling pin guides as my pastry rolling skills leave a little to be desired.
All up this was a little too much sable topping needed for the éclairs, but it can be frozen for up to one month if you like. Place the sheet of sable in the freezer for 20 minutes and then cut strips the same length of your éclairs, in this case 15cm, and 4cm wide then place back in the freezer until ready to use (I forgot this step).
If you are OCD like me, you can mark the back of your baking paper with 15cm lines at least 4cm apart before you start piping your éclairs. Place your pastry into a piping bag fitted with a large round piping tip and then pipe the éclairs onto the tray.
Place your strips of sable on top of each éclair and then bake for 20-25 minutes.
For comparison sake, I left one éclair without the sable topping so I could see my own version of what Eddy had also depicted. As you can see there was quite a difference between the size of the two éclairs, sable is the way to go!
Once cool, whisk your crème pâtissière until smooth and then make three small holes using a wooden skewer, or by making an incision with a small knife, in the bottom of the éclair and pipe it in and they are chock full.
In the book there is a recipe for a chocolate glaze to go on top of the éclairs. However I tried to be all fancy and finally use the chocolate transfer sheet I had in the pantry to make strips of chocolate to sit on top. The transfer sheet I had was too large so I cut it in half and placed it on some baking paper. I then melted some chocolate, if you have mad skills you can temper it, and spread it across the transfer and placed it in the fridge to set.
Just before it has set completely, run your knife through the chocolate to create the strips and then return to the fridge. The chocolate is then peeled away from the acetate sheet with the print now on the chocolate. Trim away any excess if your edges are a little messy.
To adhere the strips to the éclairs, melt a little more chocolate and put a thin strip down the length of each éclair and then set the pretty patterned chocolate strip on top, pushing down gently to ensure it is stuck down.
The next time I make these I might go a little bit smaller as I found they were a little bit much for me, and that is saying something as I love dessert. Overall though I did really enjoy these, as did the hubby and his friend J, and I hope you will too!
| Servings |
Éclairs
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- 80 g unsalted butter softened
- 100 g raw sugar
- 100 g plain/all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 50 g unsalted butter softened
- 62 ml water
- 62 ml milk
- 2.5 g caster sugar
- 1.5 g table salt
- 75 g plain/all-purpose flour
- 2 egg(s)
- 500 ml milk
- 4 large egg yolk(s)
- 125 g sugar
- 30 g cornflour/cornstarch
- 30 g plain/all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp vanilla paste or 1 vanilla bean
Ingredients
For the sable topping
For the éclairs
For the crème pâtissière
For the chocolate strips
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- Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl with your fingertips until combined and then add the flour and vanilla continuing to mix until a dough is formed.
- Roll the topping between two pieces of baking paper until it is 2mm thick.
- Place the sheet of sable in the freezer for 20 minutes and then cut strips the same length of your éclairs, in this case 15cm, and 4cm wide then place back in the freezer until ready to use.
- Bring the butter, water, milk, sugar and salt to a boil in a saucepan over a medium heat.
- Add in all of the flour at once and using a wooden spoon, stir continuously until a skin appears on the bottom of the pan (it will only take a couple of minutes).
- Place the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and mix on a medium speed. You need to do this until there is no more steam coming from the dough and the gradually add the eggs, one at a time. Once the eggs have been added and well combined, continue to mix for a further minute.
- Transfer the dough onto a plate and cover with plastic wrap, touching the surface so a skin doesn't form, and place in the fridge for at least 20 minutes so it can firm up.
- Preheat the oven to 175C and line two trays with baking paper. Transfer the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle and pipe strips of dough 15cm long and at least 4cm apart.
- Place a strip of sable topping on top of the éclairs and bake for 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Line a shallow baking tray with plastic wrap leaving excess hanging over the side to cover the finished crème pâtissière.
- Place the milk, half of the sugar and vanilla into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Whilst the milk is warming, whisk the egg yolks and remaining sugar in a heat proof bowl until the sugar has dissolved and then add the plain flour and cornflour. Continue to whisk until you have a nice smooth paste.
- Once the milk has started to boil, remove the vanilla pod (if you are using one) and pour about one third of the hot milk into the egg mixture and whisk immediately until thoroughly mixed through.
- Pour the egg mixture into the pot of remaining milk and then return to the heat, whisking constantly, until the crème pâtissière thickens and starts to bubble (or burp) in the pan.
- Transfer to the cake pan and fold over the excess plastic wrap to encase the crème pâtissière, making sure it is in contact so that a skin does not form. Place the pan in the fridge to cool completely.
- When you are ready to use the crème pâtissière, transfer it to a bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Place the transfer sheet, printed side up, on some baking paper.
- Spread the melted chocolate over the top of the sheet and smooth the surface then place in the fridge to set.
- Just before it sets completely, take a knife and score lines so you have strips 15cm by 4cm. Return to the fridge to set completely.
- Make three small incisions/holes in the bottom of the éclair and pipe in the crème pâtissière until the éclair is full.
- Spread a thin strip of the additional melted chocolate down the length of the éclair then place one of the patterned chocolate strips on top, pressing down gently to ensure it is adhered to the éclair.
Feel free to share a few words before you go