Exclaiming Eclairs

The other day I was feeling bored and creative so I thought to myself to make some pastries. I searched the interwebs for a recipe of eclairs because I was inspired by watching Chef Academy (I'm a sucker for cooking shows) in 2nd Avenue. Luckily I found an easy recipe using choux pastry.

The choux pastry is fairly easy for a pastry virgin like men. All you need are: a cup of water, half a cup of unsalted butter, a teaspoon of sugar, half a teaspoon of salt, 2/3 cup of plain flour, & 5 large Eggs.

1. Combine the water, butter, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a full rolling boil then remove saucepan from heat, and add the flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon til the mixture comes together.
2. Turn the heat to low and put saucepan back on and stir and mash continuously for about 3 mins to cook the flour and either put the mixture in a food processor or in a large mixer bowl and process or beat for 30 seconds.
3. Add the eggs one at a time and keep mixing til they're incorporated.
4. Fill a piping bag fitted with a 1/2 inch plain round tube, with pastry then pipe 10cm lengths on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
5. Run the tines of a fork down the tops of the eclairs to encourage the pastry to crack evenly when they bake.
6. Bake in a 180C oven for 30 min.
7. When cooked, gently make a hole under each eclair for steam to escape enabling them to dry out inside.
8. Put them back in the turned off oven for another half an hour to cool down slowly.

Eclairs can't be without its cream filling which is very simple! All you need are 3 1/2 cups of thickened cream, 3 tablespoon Icing Sugar, 1 teaspoon Caramel Essence and 1/2 cup White Hot Chocolate Powder then combine everything and pipe the cream in the holes made at the base of each eclair.

Another essential element of an eclair is the caramel icing. You need 2 tablespoons of butter, 4 tablespoon of milk, 3 cups of sifted icing sugar, and 1 1/2 teaspoon of caramel essence. First, put the butter in a saucepan over really low heat til melted. Then add the icing sugar, milk and caramel essence and beat til smooth over the heat. Dip the top of each eclair in the icing and let them cool.

VOILA!!! You now have caramel eclairs!!!! Good to share or not!!!!

Recipe and Image Source: Lifestyle food.com.au

LATER!!!