French food friday...Vanilla-caramel éclairs with chocolate glaze

photo and recipe from here

Bonjour mes belles,

I hope that you are having a fabulous start in 2014. Mine has started with putting lots of items into boxes along with a domain name that is not working....enough said but if anyone wishes to purchase anything from fabulously french, please use the link on the right hand side of my blog.

We are kicking 2014 with one of Guy's favourites, he adores eclairs and the more imperfect looking, the better they taste according to him.

Vanilla-caramel éclairs with chocolate glaze

Ingredients

• 165 gm (¾ cup) caster sugar
• 140 gm dark chocolate (55% cocoa solids), finely chopped
• 70 ml pouring cream

  
Vanilla-caramel crème pâtissière

• 220 gm (1 cup) caster sugar
• 450 ml milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
• 5 egg yolks
• 45 gm cornflour
• 60 ml (¼ cup) thickened cream, whisked to soft peaks

 Choux pastry

• 75 gm butter, coarsely chopped
• 110 gm plain flour
• 3 eggs

Method

1. For vanilla-caramel crème pâtissière, stir 150gm sugar and 80ml water in a saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, bring to the boil and cook, without stirring, until dark caramel (3-4 minutes). Remove from heat, add milk (be careful as hot caramel will spit), then vanilla bean and seeds, return to heat and whisk to combine. Meanwhile, whisk yolks and remaining sugar in a bowl until pale (2-3 minutes), add cornflour and whisk to combine. Strain milk mixture over egg mixture, whisking continuously, then return to pan and whisk continuously over medium heat until thick and smooth (2-3 minutes). Transfer to a bowl, cover closely with plastic wrap and refrigerate to chill. Whisk until smooth, fold in whipped cream and refrigerate until required.
2. For choux pastry, preheat oven to 220C. Bring butter and 185ml water to the boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat, ensuring all butter melts. Add flour, beat continuously until mixture is thick and smooth and pulls away from sides of pan (1 minute), remove from heat and stand to cool (10 minutes). Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a 12mm plain nozzle and pipe into 10cm lengths on an oven tray lined with baking paper, leaving space between each for pastry to puff. Bake for 20 minutes, reduce heat to 180C, prick bases with a skewer and bake until golden and dry (15-20 minutes). Cool to room temperature on a wire rack.
3. Meanwhile, combine sugar and 60ml water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and stir until sugar dissolves, then cook, without stirring, until light caramel (6-8 minutes). Remove from heat, add cream and 60ml water (be careful as hot caramel will spit), add chocolate, return to heat, stir until smooth and combined, set aside and keep warm.
4. Halve éclairs horizontally with a bread knife, carefully dip tops in chocolate glaze and place on a tray to set. Transfer vanilla-caramel crème pâtissière to a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain nozzle, pipe over éclair bases, sandwich with tops and serve.

 .....bon appetit à tous, Leeann x