Recipe: Tasty Eclairs (choux pastry only)

Eclairs (choux pastry only). Eclairs, profiteroles, Paris-Brest, cream puffs… whatever you like to call them and whatever shape, they are my go-to indulgence every time. In case you don't live near Edgecliff or any other fabulous fresh cream eclair vendor in town, here is the recipe and some Choux pastry tips. In a standard French dictionary, you'll find that an éclair is not only a pastry, but also a flash of lightning.

Choux pastry truly is a little piece of magic. It starts out as a small little ball of dough, but turns into a light, airy and fluffy hollow ball in the oven! What about profiteroles, cream puffs, and cheesy gougères? You can have Eclairs (choux pastry only) using 7 ingredients and 9 steps. Here is how you cook it.

Ingredients of Eclairs (choux pastry only)

1. You need 240 ml of water.
2. Prepare 114 g of unsalted butter at room temperature.
3. It's 133 g of bread flour.
4. Prepare 4 of large eggs.
5. It's 1/2 tsp of salt.
6. It's 1 tbsp of white sugar.
7. Prepare 1/2 tsp of vanilla extracts.

Aside from making us drool just thinking about them, the one thing all these pastries have in common is that they're made from pâte à choux — a staple of the French pastry kitchen. Think you can't make them at home? Make perfect light and puffed up choux pastry for eclairs or profiteroles. Wet your finger and press down any peaks.

Eclairs (choux pastry only) step by step

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
2. Place salt, water, sugar and butter in a saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When the water is begins to boil (butter should be melted at this point), add all the flour (do this with the saucepan off the stove) and vigorously mix the flour in, so that it absorbs all of the water (use a wooden spoon or spatula to do this). When the flour has absorbed the water and it's forming a dough, put the pan back on the stove..
3. Cook the dough for 1 – 3 minutes while you mix and move it around in the pan until you get a dough that pulls away from the sides of the pan, forms a film or oil droplets on the bottom of the pan, and when you stick a spoon in the dough, it stays upright..
4. Transfer the dough to a bowl, and let it cool down slightly for a few minutes. Add the vanilla extract and then with a hand whisk, mix the dough while adding the eggs mix a little at a time, mixing it really well after each addition. Make sure the eggs are lightly beaten so that you can stop adding eggs immediately, when you reach the right consistency (i.e. a glossy dough with pipeable consistency..
5. To check that the dough is the right consistency dip the hand whisk into the mix. If it come out with a firm v shape bottom, it is ready..
6. Get a bowl of water and two teaspoons and put the teaspoons in the water. Get the pre-floured eclair tins or the baking tray with parchment you are using and with the wet spoons take some of the mixture and spoon it on the trays. Don’t worry if you don’t have eclair tins you can do this with a normal baking tray..
7. Once all the eclairs have been put into the moulds, use a wet spoon to smooth the tops..
8. Bake the choux in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes. Do not open the oven until it has been AT LEAST 25 minutes. Once the eclairs are golden, remove from the oven and use a butter knife to make small incisions on the side of the eclairs where you will pipe the cream. Then leave them to cool on a cooling rack.
9. Don’t pipe cream inside until they have cooled down. For the fillings please see my eclair fillings recipe on my cookpad.

Most people associate choux with pastries like eclairs, profiteroles, and beignets. But choux's versatility makes it useful for savory preparations like gougeres and even French gnocchi. Choux is relatively easy to make; the tricky part is knowing how to get the right consistency. Je voulais une pâtisserie à la fois gourmande et facile à réaliser. Choux Pastry dough can be used to make pastries for Carolines, Chouquettes, cream puffs, Croquembouche, éclairs, French crullers, Herzogbrot Some versions of Choux Pastry dough use whole eggs, others use only the yolks.

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