You may have seen in our last post, these creme egg and passionfruit meringue nests, we were trying our hand at a recipe created by Rinkoff in collaboration with Cadbury, well today we’re bringing you another one with these creme egg eclairs.
Choux pastry is something we both enjoy to make and in fact chocolate and salted caramel eclairs were the first recipe we ever posted on this blog! Plus, the slightly more out of the box but totally delicious goats cheese, bacon and caramelised onion profiteroles (yes please!). So when we saw that one of the recipes in this set were eclairs we couldn’t wait to give it a go! You can read more about all the recipes here.
With this recipe, we decided to make the crem pat first so it had plenty of time to cool down (crem pat = Creme Patissiere, we’re lazy with our typing…). For those that are unsure, a crem pat is made very similarly to a custard but has more cornflour in it to make it stiffer, it’s also not hard which we feel is sometimes a misconception people have about custards! Just heat your milk and vanilla in a pan, whilst mixing together the rest of your ingredients in a separate bowl. Once your milk is hot you need to pour it into the bowl with the eggs sugar and flour (not the other way around!) we chose to pour just a little of the milk and whisk then pour that back into the pan with the rest of it rather than chucking it all in.
The recipe said 3-5 egg, quantity always varies when you make choux due to egg size, flour you use, etc etc, we found that we needed 3 and a half to get to the point where the dough is glossy and easily pipeable but still holds its shape once piped. Once the choux was baked we made small holes with a little knife in each one and popped them back in the oven (turned off) to dry out for about 10 mins, we always do this to avoid soggy choux!
Mixing the crem pat with cocoa and creme egg makes it delish, fact! Melting the creme egg was a little tricky – turns out the microwave was not the right choice for this and we unfortunately lost a creme egg finding out this information. Once we did this and had whipped up a batch of meringue (literally) for the top, it was just a case of assembling the eclairs! Piping in the crem pat and topping with meringue, we decided to pipe this in an artsy way we’ve seen all over Instagram and have been wanting to try out – turns out it easy and you just need a nozzle with a long thin opening! Then out came the blowtorch (always a fun time) and more creme egg on top!
- 500ml whole milk
- 1tsp vanilla
- 6 egg yolks
- 75g sugar
- 25g plain flour
- 20g corn flour
- 2 cadbury creme eggs, melted
- 15g cocoa powder
- 240ml water
- 0.25 tsp salt
- 120g butter
- 130g plain flour
- 4 eggs
- 75g egg white
- 0.25 tsp salt
- 75g caster sugar
- 2 creme eggs, chopped to decorate
- Bring the milk and vanilla to a boil in a saucepan
- In a seperate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, flour and corn flour to create a paste
- Once the milk is boiling, whisk in a small amount of the milk to the egg mixture, then transfer back into the milk and put back onto the heat
- Continue whisking until the creme pat has thickened, put the creme pat into a bowl, cover with cling film and push the cling film down to touch the surface of the creme pat, this will prevent a skin forming
- Set aside, or in the fridge to cool down
- Once cooled add the melted creme egg and coca powder and beat together until smooth
- In a saucepan, bring the milk, butter and salt to the boil
- Take off the heat, and add the flour and mix vigorously to combine until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan
- Place the pan back on the heat and stir for approx. 30 seconds to cook off the flour
- Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool for 2mins
- Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or in your bowl with a wooden spoon, beat in the eggs one at a time to create a smooth glossy choux dough
- Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 1cm nozzle, pipe onto a lined baking tray to make 10cm long eclairs – we got about 20 eclairs
- Put in the oven at 225C for 10-15mins unto puffed, golden brown and firm
- When baked turn off the oven and poke a knife hole into each eclair to release steam, put back in the off oven to dry out slightly for 5 mins
- Once cooled fill all the eclairs with the creme pat using a piping bag into the hole made previously, we did our on the top as they will be covered
- Whisk the egg whites using an electric whisk, until peaks form, add the salt and sugar and whisk again until stiff
- Transfer into a piping bag and pipe on top of your eclairs, using a blow torch, finish the meringue by browning it slightly
- Finish with chopped creme eggs
