Did you know?
* Eclairs appeared in France in the 19th century and had the name "Duchess bread" until 1850.
* "Eclair" translated from French means "lightning". Many believe this dessert got its name because their chocolate glaze reflects light like lightning.
Rețetă
*40-45 profiteroles
*30 mini eclairs
Ingredients for profiterole/eclair shells:
- 4 medium eggs (200-220g maximum, weighed with shell)
- 130ml milk
- 200ml water
- 160g all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 100g unsalted butter minimum 82% fat
- ½ teaspoon salt
Ingredients for vanilla cream:
- 6 egg yolks
- 750ml milk
- 70g corn starch
- 120g white sugar
- 50g butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or half a vanilla pod)
Ingredients for chocolate ganache:
- 200g chocolate (minimum 50-55% cocoa)
- 180ml whipping cream (minimum 30% fat)
Steps to follow:
(1) Put the milk, water, sugar and salt in a non-stick pan and leave it on medium heat until the sugar dissolves in the liquid. Add the butter and stir until it melts and the whole picture starts to boil.
(2) Turn the heat to low and add the flour, stirring with a wooden spoon continuously until the whole composition becomes consistent, tends to gather into a ball of dough and comes off from the walls of the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
(3) Transfer the dough to a bowl and let it cool to room temperature for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the eggs gradually (beat them lightly before this step), incorporating well with the spatula before adding more. We can also use a mixer in this step to make the process easier.
(4) Preheat the oven to 200C with fan. Transfer the dough in a round piping bag with a diameter between 1.5-2cm and on a baking paper start to form either profiteroles (size of a walnut) or mini eclairs (somewhere 7-8cm long. Leave enough space between the shells, considering that they will double in volume while baking. We put the tray in the oven and bake them at 200C with ventilation for 20-22 minutes.
FYI for a perfect choux dough
* Do not over-boil the sugar liquid at the beginning or after adding the butter. Boil the ingredients until the sugar and salt dissolve first, and then the butter melts. If it boils too much, there is the risk of liquid evaporating and influencing the final consistency of the dough.
* It is important to transfer the dough to a clean bowl, because if we add the eggs to the hot pan the eggs will cook instantly when they touch the pan. At the same time, by transferring the dough it cools faster for the next step.
* The reason why we let the dough cool is the same, so that the eggs don't cook when we add them.
* It is very important to weigh the eggs in order to control the liquid ratio.
* It is again important to incorporate eggs gradually before adding more. Thus, when adding the last part of egg, you can see the consistency of the dough, whether or not it is too liquid or ready to form the shells.
* The mixer can also be used to incorporate the eggs, but do not beat the dough excessively, you can risk separating the fats and affecting the quality of the dough. Spatula / wooden spoon is the safest.
* The recommended baking temperature is 200C with ventilation, but depending on the oven I recommend adjusting it exactly. Also, if you don't have a fan function, or you only use the up-down resistance of the oven, or you know that you have an oven that burns too badly, lower the temperature to 190C or even 180C.
* The shells are ready when they have puffed up and acquired a beautiful golden color. They feel light and airy when you remove them from the pan to cool.
(5) After baking, remove the shells to a wire rack and let them cool completely before filling.
(6) While the shells are cooling, make the vanilla cream. Mix the corn starch with the sugar in a non-stick pan, add the egg yolks and gradually the milk. Place the pan on medium heat, stirring constantly until it reaches the consistency of a pudding. At this point, turn off the heat and add the butter and vanilla. Transfer the cream to a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap directly over the cream so that it does not form a crust on top. Let the cream cool for at least 20-30 minutes.
(7) After cooling, transfer the cream into a small piping bag (0.2 - 0.3cm) for filling and from the base start filling the shells.
Note: Do not create too much pressure when filling the shells, meaning to much cream inside, because the shells can break or explode.
(8) After filling all the shells, make the chocolate ganache. Heat the cream to the boiling point and pour it over the broken chocolate cubes. Leave it aside for a couple of minutes and then mix until the chocolate melts and we get a creamy ganache.
For the profiterole: put all the donuts in various containers - in two layers and pour the chocolate over them.
For mini eclairs: Take each eclair and pass it with the upper part through the ganache.
Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving.
Happy baking,
Love,
G
