Chocolate Eclairs
I ventured into Choux pastry this week, an unknown territory to me. My mum always made delicious Eclairs when I was a child, it was a Christmas or special occasion treat so I took on the challenge of keeping up the family tradition. Choux pastry can be a little tricky but using the thermomix makes it so much easier as you always know what temperature your mixture is at so no scrambling of the eggs is needed! I found this delicious recipe on Tenina's website
Ingredients
For the Choux
-250g water
-80g butter in small pieces
-pinch salt
-200g plain flour
-1tsp baking powder
-5 eggs
For the custard filling
-500g full cream milk
-1 egg
-50g caster sugar
-pinch salt
-30g cornflour
-1 vanilla pod
For the ganache
-200g dark chocolate
-80g double cream
Directions
-Preheat oven to 200C and line two baking trays with baking paper
-Place water, butter and salt into thermomix and cook 3min,100C,speed 1
-Add flour and baking powder and combine 1.5 mins speed 4
-Remove measuring cup and allow to cool to 50C
-Set the thermomix to 2 mins, speed 5. Add eggs slowly through lid. Mix a further 1 min, speed 5
-Place choux mixture in a piping bag and using a plain nozzle pipe abut 12-16 eclairs onto the baking trays. Don’t place them too close together or they will merge.
-Bake for 30-35 minutes. DON’T open the oven while they are baking or they’ll end up as flat as pancakes! Leave to cool on tray.
-I filled mine with fresh whipped cream but you can make a creme patisserie if you prefer. Place milk, egg, caster sugar, pinch salt, cornflour and scraped out insides of one vanilla pod in the thermomix while the eclairs are cooking . Cook for 8 minutes, 90C, reverse speed 3. Allow it to cool with plastic wrap on top to avoid a skin forming.
-Fill a piping bag with cream or creme patisserie and using a long thin nozzle inject the eclair from both ends.
-For the chocolate ganache, place chocolate in the thermomix and blitz for 10secs, speed 9. Then melt for 5 mins, 37C, speed 1, add the cream and mix 20 secs, speed 2. Pour the ganache into a shallow dish and dip the top of each eclair into it then leave to set on a wire rack. See how long you can wait before giving them a taste!
and about that... 