Chocolate eclairs recipe

Ingredients

1 batch choux pastry

Pastry cream

1 1/4 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup caster sugar
20g plain flour
3 tbsp cornflour

Chocolate icing

1 cup icing sugar
2 tsp cocoa
3 tbsp hot water

Method

Preheat oven to 220C. Prepare two baking trays with baking paper and set aside.

Fill a piping bag with the choux pastry and then pipe 10 cm ‘sausages’ directly onto the baking tray. Brush with a little of the beaten egg before going into the oven.

Place in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 200C and slip a wooden spoon into the oven door so that it is ajar while it cooks for another 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in a protected area on a baking rack.

While the pastry is cooling, make the pastry cream. Mix the sugar and egg yolks in a mixing bowl.

Once thoroughly combined, sift the plain flour and the cornflour into the egg mixture and continue to mix until it creates a smooth paste.

In a saucepan, combine milk and vanilla extract and put on a medium heat until it is just boiling. Remove from heat and slowly add to the egg mixture while constantly whisking to avoid the egg curdling.

Place the egg mixture back on the stove and cook over a medium heat until boiling. Continue whisking for another minute until it becomes very thick.

Pour into a bowl and allow to cool before use.

Once the pastry and pastry cream are both cool, either cut the pastry open and spoon the cream in, or place the pastry cream into a piping bag, make a small hole in the underside of the pastry case and carefully pipe the cream inside.

To make the chocolate icing, combine all the ingredients in a bowl thoroughly and then dip the topside of the eclair into the icing.

Notes:

Chocolate eclairs are not something you want to tackle in a hurry! But if you have the time to make them from scratch, you’ll relish the tasty results!
The ‘proper’ name for pastry cream is creme patisserie.
If you don’t have time to make the pastry cream, whipped cream sweetened with a little icing sugar is a great substitute.
This recipe was created by Ella Walsh for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.