Chocolate Éclair Aga
once you know how to do choux pastry, eclairs, profiteroles, Religieuses, Paris-Brest, St Honore and many more are all at your fingertips!
Ingredients
Pastry Cream
- 500 ml milk
- 1 vanilla extract
- 2 egg yolks
- 60 g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp corn flour
- 1 tbsp flour
Choux Pastry
- 125 ml milk or water
- 50 g butter
- 100 g flour
- 2 medium eggs
- 50 g rock or pearl sugar broken into small pieces
- 1 egg wash made from 1 egg yolk with 1 tbsp water
- icing sugar to serve
Chocolate glazing
- 100 g dark chocolate chopped
- 100 g cream
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp honey
Instructions
- Firstly, prepare the pastry cream. Pour the milk into a saucepan and add the vanilla extract, bring to a boil. Then, Beat the egg yolks in a bowl with the sugar then sift in the cornflour and flour. Pour the boiling milk over the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Pour the egg and milk mixture back into the saucepan and bring back to the boil, stirring continuously for 3 – 5 minutes until thickened. Remove from the heat. Set aside to cool down in a bowl with a layer of cling film layered over the mixture.
- In the meantime, preheat the Baking Oven. Sift the flour into a bowl.
- Pour the milk into a saucepan and add the butter. Bring the mixture to a boil.Once boiling fully, immediately add the flour, stirring vigorously. Return the pan to a low heat and continue stirring until all the flour has been fully incorporated and the mixture forms a smooth ball for about a minute or so. Remove from the heat and transfer the mixture into a bowl. Add the eggs one at a time beating thoroughly after each addition, beat until smooth and glossy. Fill a piping bag, set with a 10 mm nozzle and pipe onto trays lined with parchment paper. Pipe 6 cm eclairs. Brush with some egg wash. Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until fully cooked. remove from the oven and transfer in the simmering oven for a further 10-15 minutes to allow the shell to dry. This will help the choux to dry and keep them hollow. remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
- When the choux have completely cooled down, pierce the base of the choux with a skewer and pipe in the cooled pastry cream.
- just before serving, prepare the glaze. in a saucepan, heat the cream to a boil. remove from the heat and stir the chocolate pieces until smooth. add the butter and honey.
- Dip each choux in the chocolate and serve within 2 hours at room temperature to ensure the glaze is still shiny. you can still serve them later but the shin on the chocolate will be more dull.