These éclairs look more complicated to make than they really are. Serve them as a dessert or for afternoon tea. It’s a guaranteed success.
Ingredients
- 350 g choux pastry
- 1 beaten egg, to glaze
For the chocolate crème pâtissière
- 150 g dark chocolate
- 450 g crème pâtissière
For the cocoa icing
- 15 g cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons water
- 250 g white fondant for millefeuille (or 250 g white icing + 30–40 ml boiling water)
How to Make It
- Chop the dark chocolate into small pieces and put it in a large bowl.
- Make the crème pâtissière following the method, then pass the hot crème pâtissière thought a sieve over the chopped chocolate and whisk until melted. Cover it with a layer of cling film in direct contact with the cream, and put it in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.
- Make the choux pastry following the method up to step 6.
- On a non-stick baking tray, pipe the choux pastry into 10 cm-long batons, in staggered rows 5 cm apart. Brush with beaten egg and bake with a ramekin filled with boiling water (80 ml) at the bottom of the oven. Do not open the oven during the first 15 minutes of baking otherwise the choux will collapse. Cool on a wire rack.
- Whisk the chocolate crème pâtissière and fill a piping bag fitted with a medium round nozzle.
- Turn the éclairs upside down and cut them in half along their sides, keeping one side still attached. Fill them with the chocolate crème pâtissière.
- For the cocoa icing, mix the cocoa powder with the water to make a paste. Warm up the white fondant (36–37°C) in the microwave, at medium power for 1 minute, and mix it with the cocoa paste. Alternatively, put the white icing in a bowl and warm for 30 seconds in the microwave at medium power (35–40°C). Place it in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, work it with boiling water until the mix softens, then add the cocoa paste. The mix must be runny. Use warm.
- Glaze the chocolate éclairs with the cocoa icing using a teaspoon on the flat side of the éclairs. Set in the fridge.
