Eclaires are made with choux pastry which is one of the easiest pastries to make . . . provided you stick to the recipe like glue! The one I use is the delia smith one and it hasn't failed me yet. The secret is to prepare before you add any heat and to use the right ingrediants in the exact amounts - there are no short cuts!
This is not something to try out for the first time at your big dinner party - so grab a willing sampler and have a practice before hand!
This mix makes about 28 thumb sized eclaires
Ingredients
2 1/2 Oz of strong white flour - the kind you use for bread - plain normal flour will not work!
2 Oz of butter - it has to be butter and has to be proper butter not 'spread'
5fl oz cold water - measure carefully
1 tsp caster sugar
2 medium eggs well beaten
First preheat your oven to 200C and place an oven proof dish of water in the bottom - you want it to be steamy in there.
Measure out all your ingredients - place the water in a large pan (dont use your best non stick as you will be using the beaters in it!) and add in the butter cut in to small cubes. Weigh out the flour and add the sugar to it - you need to be able to tip it in one go so place it in a bowl unless your scales have a pan. Whisk up the eggs and place to one side. You are going need to use the electric whisk so get that set up ready and if you dont have a handy plug by the stove you need to put something heat proof down to put the pan on when you mix. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper and flick a little water over it.
Check everything is ready and then put a low heat under the pan of water and butter and allow the butter to melt. Once it has increase the heat until it comes to the boil then switch off the heat and grab the flour and your mixer - begin beating the water mixture and 'shoot' in the flour in one go carrying on beating. Within a minute or so the mix with form in to a dough and come together as a ball leaving the sides of the pan clean. Remove from the hot stove (if you haven't already) and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
Now beat in the egg a little at a time until the dough turns glossy - be very careful at this point - you dont want it to become too fluid or it wont rise - I usually use about 3/4 of the egg but it is dependant on the flour, the size of the egg and the amount of water. You want it to be a stiff consistancy which will hold peaks well - mash potato or runnier texture is not going to work - it is one of those things that you learn with practice but luckily these are something your family and friends wont mind you practicing!
I pipe my eclaires but you can make them with just two tea spoons and spread it out (not too thin) if you dont have a piping bag - or you can buy eclaires pans from all good cook shops (although these tend to be for full sized ones) I inherited mine from my grandmother
Pipe or squidge logs of the pastry mix onto your baking sheet about the size of your thumb leaving a space between for them to puff up. Dip your clean finger in some cold water and smooth out any sticky up points as these will burn!
Place the eclaires in the oven for 10 minutes and then turn up the heat to 220C for a further 15 minutes until they are risen and golden brown as in the picture. Take out and holding each eclaire in a tea towel make a small slit in the side with a sharpe knife and place on a cooling rack. Now the purests say you should return the pastry to a low oven for a couple more minutes to dry out the insides but I prefer them to be softer and so dont do the oven repeat - so it is up to you.
Once your eclaires are fully cool you can split them and fill with a little whipped cream and ice with a little thick glossy royal icing flavoured with coffee or chocolate (or whatever you fancy) - they are also really nice dipped in melted chocolate and left to set before adding the cream.
Dont be tempted to fill them too early as they start to go soft so really they should be the last thing you do before you guests arrive.
You can make them the day before and place them un filled in an air tight container - pop them in a low oven for 5 minutes to crisp up again before you use them.
p.s - funnily enough there is not a single one of these beauties left from earlier although there is plenty of salad . . . go figure!
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