Happy Easter my blogger friends!!! I haven’t publish long time and decided to start doing that again.
I want to share with you my favorite recipe for Eclairs, or Choux Pastry. It is very yummy pastry which you can made with different fillings (vanilla custard, buttercream, whipped cream etc). For many of you it seems complicated but if you give a try (ok, maybe several tries) you will be rewarded with very yummy result. And most important – you will do it yourself and you will make it with fresh and natural ingredients!
What you will need:
90 gram (3 ounces) unsalted butter
3/4 cup water
1 cup all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
4 eggs
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. On a parchment paper sift your flour. In a small pot combine together water, butter, salt and sugar.Bring to a boil on a medium-high heat. When butter is completely melted take from the heat and dump sifted flour at once. Start stirring with wooden spoon until everything is incorporated.
Return pot on the stove and continue stirring on a medium heat about 1-2 minutes. Dough will start looking like a ball and walls of the pot will be covered with thin film. It is time to take from the heat.
Next step can be made with a stand mixer or with manual one. Either way, first you have to start mixing on low speed for 2-3 minutes to cool down a dough little bit. Otherwise eggs will be cooked in a very hot dough, right? Then start adding eggs, one on a time. After each addition you have to mix properly until each egg is totally incorporated in a dough. After the last one the dough should start making ribbons and look shiny.
Now it is time to put on a baking sheet. Cover heavy duty baking sheet with parchment paper and secure edges with a dab of dough to keep paper on place. Fill pastry bag with still warm dough with #5 tip. Pipe mounds in your prefered size (1 1/2 inch or smaller ones for a bite size eclairs) about 2 inch apart from each other. Bake for 10-15 minutes (with conventional oven it is usually 12 minutes) until they puffed and start looking gold. Then reduce heat to 350 degree and bake for another 10-12 minutes. You have to keep eye on them all the time especially if you trying first time. After that turn your oven off but keep eclairs in the oven for additional 8-10 minutes to let them dry completely.
Remove and let them cool on the cooling rack. You can start filling them after they are completely cool.
I hope the recipe and encouragement will help somebody to try. And what about you? What is your favorite recipe?
Nune's Pastries and Recipes 