What kind of dough are eclairs made from? How to make homemade choux pastry for eclairs

Airy cakes, which appeared thanks to Marie-Antoine Careme, who served not only the French court, but also the Russian Emperor Alexander I, quickly gained popularity in Europe and beyond. Light, tender, coated with sugar or chocolate glaze, with a creamy filling - eclairs are loved by both adults and children.

Moreover, not only as a separate dessert, but also as a basis for the “Lady Fingers” cake. Later their modifications appeared - shu and profiteroles, but they are all prepared using choux pastry.

Key principles of choux pastry

Perhaps this dough really is in the group of the most difficult ones, sharing the leading position with puff pastry. However, absolutely any dish has a lot of tricks and nuances, so it cannot be said that in cooking there are very simple recipes that do not require attention. However, sometimes even those who are trying to bake pastries sometimes have to tinker with eclairs, and this applies to all their subtypes.

  • Eclairs are sweet cakes that are covered with icing or chocolate and filled with cream inside. Accordingly, the dough for them can be either fresh or sweet. But profiteroles mainly involve meat, fish or vegetable fillings, since they are the main one for appetizers at buffets, so they require unleavened dough.
  • For proper choux pastry, the temperature of the ingredients plays an important role. The eggs must be removed from the refrigerator and allowed to warm to room temperature before beating; the butter should be brought to softness. And, of course, these components must be as fresh as possible.
  • If we talk about the classic recipe for choux pastry, then it cannot contain either vegetable or olive oil, even margarine is prohibited, since this will spoil the structure of the finished product at the time of baking. Either the proper “air” will not appear, or it will be in excess and in the form of small bubbles. Take only good butter with 82% fat content.
  • It is noteworthy that some French chefs do not use butter at all, and, surprisingly, the baked goods turn out just as good as with it. This is a great way to get a relatively dietary dish, if a similar definition can be applied to sweets.
  • The splendor that appears when the pieces are placed in the oven is established at the kneading stage: it must be done using a mixer that runs at high speed for quite a long time - 5-7 minutes. It is very difficult to achieve the same effect manually, and the beating time increases to 12 minutes.
  • The consistency of the finished dough is also important; to check whether everything is done correctly, lightly press it with your finger and look at the reaction - if the dent gradually straightens out, but not completely, you can form eclairs. If the dent is very deep and holds its shape, the dough does not have enough liquid; quickly disappearing, on the contrary, indicates a shortage of flour.
  • To achieve that unsurpassed fluffiness and weightlessness of the cake, you need to place a container of water (about 150-200 ml) in the oven on the bottom shelf: this is the move that allows you to activate the process of inflating the baked goods from the inside, the appearance of “chambers” without baking powder and yeast.
  • If it happens that you need to make several batches on the same baking sheet, before laying out new pieces, pour cold water into it and leave for 3-5 minutes. Once it cools down, you can continue working with it.

It’s worth talking about the remaining nuances directly when studying the step-by-step combination of ingredients and their transformation into blanks on a baking sheet. As for the filling and glaze, the latter should not be very liquid, otherwise the cake will turn out to be wet after a while. It is advisable to introduce butter cream inside, which is prepared on the basis of milk, yolks, butter, sugar and flour.

Classic choux pastry for eclairs: step-by-step recipe

In traditional technology, the main liquid is milk, but you can also use plain water if you need to reduce the calorie content of the dish or remove excess protein and lactose. Sugar is only added to the dough for sweet cakes - if you want to make profiteroles, use the same recipe, but without sugar and with water. Eggs can be of the highest category, but their total weight for the specified volume of ingredients should not exceed 280 g, otherwise the dough will be liquid and will not rise.

Compound:

  • Milk – 185 ml
  • Wheat flour - 200 g
  • Butter - 100 g
  • Eggs of category 2 - 6 pcs.
  • Granulated sugar - 40 g

Preparation:


It is recommended to bake eclairs at a temperature of 200 degrees if convection is turned on, or 210 degrees if it is not. The baking tray should be positioned on the middle level; the oven door should not be opened during the entire cooking time. It is recommended to set the timer for 12 minutes, then another 12-15 minutes. oven at 160 degrees. Then you need to check the color of the cake through the glass: if it is soft golden, you can take it out. It is very important here not to overcook the baked goods, otherwise it will not only darken greatly, but also acquire a bitter taste.

How to prepare choux pastry for eclairs using vegetable oil?

Of course, according to leading French chefs, vegetable oil cannot be present in such a dish, but if you are not a strict gourmet who adheres only to traditional recipes, this idea is also worth trying to bring to life. The finished baked goods are as tender as those made with butter, but their taste is rather bland, so the recipe is aimed at either snack profiteroles or very sweet fillings.

Compound:

  • Water – 200 ml
  • Vegetable oil – 70 ml
  • Eggs of category 2 - 5 pcs.
  • Flour - 180 g
  • Salt - a pinch

Preparation:


Recipe for “Choux pastry for eclairs and profiteroles”:

1. Mix milk, water, salt and sugar in a saucepan (preferably with a thick bottom. I have a Zepter saucepan, so you can beat it with a mixer without any problems), add butter, bring to a boil.

2. As soon as the water boils, add all the flour IMMEDIATELY (it is better to sift it first, because then it is saturated with oxygen, and the baking will be more airy). Beat well until the dough becomes soft.

3. Beat for another 2-3 minutes until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan. We do all this while the pan is on the stove. Form a big ball.

4. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the dough into a deep bowl. In the photo I have a separate bowl, although it looks the same as the pan (THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT POINT, because you need to add eggs one at a time for a uniform and light structure of the dough). And we begin to add eggs one at a time, beating until the egg is completely mixed with the dough.
The finished dough should look like this, i.e. the consistency is thick enough that it does not drip from the whisk, but falls slowly.
After this, you can fill the pastry syringe and proceed directly to baking.

5. ADVICE FROM THE CHEF: “it’s best to freeze the preparations. Form either eclairs (approximately 8-9 cm long) or profiteroles (4-5 cm), place them on parchment at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other and put them in the freezer.
I usually do this because I usually make the dough and cream in the evening and bake the next day. It’s convenient to do this because you need to fill the eclairs immediately before serving, otherwise they will become soggy. And fiddling around with preparing dough (even a simple one) is not always convenient. Of course, I take the dough out 20 minutes before baking and just leave it in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (for those with gas - 4), lay out our preparations (if someone is baking right away, use a pastry syringe of the shape you need on a baking sheet covered with parchment).
The chef recommends sprinkling eclairs or profiteroles with crushed almonds and sugar for a sweet filling. I don't always make it, but it turns out delicious.

Here are the profiteroles:

Note: I make profiteroles with different fillings. This time, on a whim, there were walnuts, a lot of garlic, “Astoria” sauce “Onions with sour cream”, paprika, ground red and black pepper, finely grated cheese (my favorite, well, he really likes spicy))) .
And the second filling was with the same sauce, eggs, processed cheese + leftover cheese, garlic and finely chopped chicken salami.

6. Place in the oven and bake for 7-8 minutes (the eclairs should increase in volume and rise, but remain the same in color). Then open the door and continue baking for another 15 minutes until golden brown. After that, I turn off the oven (I have an electric one) and leave them there to cool.

7. That's all, actually. For the filling I use French buttercream. The recipe can be found below. I cut the profiteroles lengthwise and fill them with cream using a culinary syringe. I make the glaze according to AlexEustace's recipe (recipe is also below). I liked it (there are no photos of the finished eclairs, however, I still don’t have time to take a photo, they are eaten instantly))

Bon appetit everyone!

1) The oven should be opened, no wider than a matchbox. If you open it wide, nothing will save you - they will fall. And you should not slam the oven door and, in general, not shake the stove and the surrounding area.
2) For those who don’t know: stir with a mixer or spoon in one direction only, do not add the next egg until the dough has “eaten” the previous one. Then you can immediately determine by consistency whether you need to add more eggs. As I already wrote, I once needed 6 eggs and 1 yolk to bring the dough to the desired state.
3) Problem with removing baked goods from paper. “It sticks to death. I tried both coated paper and dry paper - the result was the same” - when the eclairs are frozen, they themselves are easily removed from the cling film on which I usually place them before freezing. But in general, as for any baking: I was once taught a long time ago to sprinkle even parchment paper with flour (or semolina). Of course, semolina is not applicable to eclairs (I often use it for biscuits). But there have never been any problems with flour.
4) There was a comment when the eclairs cracked when baked (without freezing). Honestly, I don’t know if freezing was the key factor, but the last time I made profiteroles (those are the photos I post), my dough also cracked. I didn't have time to freeze. I had to bake right away. Another tip: either freeze well or bake right away. I decided to put it in the freezer for at least 20 minutes to “freeze”. As a result, I had to scrape the profiteroles off the film.
5) The flour must be toasted well. This is exactly the “choux” dough. It should look like a smooth, shiny ball. First, when I add flour, I stir with a mixer, then, when the mass already looks like dough, I start working with a wooden spatula (stirring in one direction).
6) If someone sees that the eclairs are not completely baked inside, then you can simply turn off the oven and leave them to stand there. In principle, I always leave mine in the oven to cool. The temperature decreases gradually.
7) In conventional ovens, as a rule, there is no fan. I have it. The instructions describe it as “convection mode”. So, through trial and error, I realized that neither eclairs, nor biscuits, nor yeast dough can be prepared in this mode. It just won't rise. Maybe my hands grow from the wrong place, but I’ve never been able to bake well using convection.

Consistency of the dough before freezing: the dough should have the structure of mashed potatoes, that is, the dough should not leak out of the syringe, but should hold its shape. In order for the dough to have this consistency, it is not necessary to add 5 eggs, less is possible.

eclairs after 8 minutes in the oven


This is what profiteroles look like after 8 minutes in the oven (closed).

Choux pastry for eclairs can be prepared in different ways. In this article we will present several accessible and simple recipes with which you can make your own delicious base for sweet cakes or savory snacks.

How to prepare choux pastry for eclairs? (recipe step by step)

To make delicious and sweet cakes for a festive or simple dinner table, you don’t need a lot of expensive products and free time.

So, for the choux pastry we will need the following components:

  • filtered, settled water - a full glass
  • high-grade flour - a full glass;
  • country eggs (total weight about 250 g) - 5 pcs.;
  • not too coarse iodized salt - ½ dessert spoon;
  • unsalted butter as fresh as possible - about 100 g.

Kneading the base on the stove

Choux pastry for eclairs has its name for a reason. After all, in order to mix it, all the ingredients must be boiled on the stove for some time. To do this, you need to put a saucepan with a thick bottom on low heat, and then pour the settled water into it, add the butter and add iodized salt. Next, wait until the cooking fat has completely melted and boil all the ingredients for three minutes.

After all the described actions have been carried out, it is necessary to pour high-grade flour into the bubbling oily liquid and mix it thoroughly with a large spoon. As a result of this, you should get a soft base of uniform consistency.

The final stage in preparing the choux pastry

After thermally treating the choux pastry for eclairs on the stove, it should be removed from the heat and then cooled to 60-70 degrees. This is necessary so that after adding chicken country eggs they do not curl, but are evenly distributed throughout the base.

You can check the temperature of the dough using a thermometer or simply by dipping your finger into it. If you are not very hot, then you can safely add country eggs. Moreover, it is recommended to introduce this ingredient not immediately, but one by one.

Thus, having broken one egg into the dough, it must be mixed with a spoon so that it is completely distributed throughout the dough. Next you should enter the second, third and fourth. Before laying out the fifth egg, you need to pay attention to the consistency of the base. If it is too liquid, then you should not add the mentioned product. If the choux pastry for eclairs remains thick, then you need to add an egg.

After thoroughly mixing all the components, you should have a fairly viscous base.

The process of forming custard products

After the choux pastry for eclairs, photos of which you can see in this article, is well mixed, you can safely begin shaping the products. To do this, you need to take a large sheet, line it with baking paper, and then lay out the base using a regular tablespoon. At the same time, it is not necessary to ensure that you get identical and even balls. After all, under the influence of heat treatment, they will still rise and become beautiful.

Baking eclairs in the oven

The presented recipe for choux pastry for eclairs can be used not only to make delicious and beautiful cakes, but also to prepare aromatic snacks.

Having formed the products, the baking sheet should be immediately placed in the preheated oven. It is recommended to bake them for 25-30 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees. It should be noted that during such heat treatment it is extremely undesirable to open the oven lid. If you neglect this advice, then all the products may simply settle and remain dull inside.

After the dough has been baked properly, it must be carefully removed from the baking paper and cooled completely. In the future, the products should be used for their intended purpose.

Choux pastry for eclairs: cooking at home together

We talked above about how to make such a base on a kitchen stove. However, you can cook eclairs in a slow cooker. For this we need:

  • settled, filtered water - 180 ml;
  • high-grade flour - 230 g;
  • large village eggs - 4 pcs.;
  • not too coarse iodized salt - ½ small spoon;
  • unsalted butter as fresh as possible - about 80 g.

Preparing custard base in a slow cooker

Eclairs made from choux pastry always turn out very tender and tasty. To make these cakes, you don't have to put in much effort. After all, they are prepared quite easily and simply.

The principle of creating choux pastry in a multicooker is almost the same as presented above. But if you don’t know how to operate such a device, we’ll tell you about it right now.

So, pour all the filtered water into the multicooker bowl, add salt and add the freshest possible butter. After turning on the baking mode, you need to wait until the cooking fat has melted and all the products have boiled. Next, add light flour to the seething oily mass and mix everything thoroughly until a homogeneous lump is formed. It should be transferred to a deep bowl and left aside for a while.

After the base has cooled slightly, you need to break the village eggs one by one. As a result of mixing these components, you should form a viscous mass that comes off well if you lift it with a spoon.

The process of forming and baking products in the oven

How should you properly bake choux pastry for eclairs? The slow cooker recipe does not recommend using this mentioned device. This is not due to the fact that the base will not cook well in it, but because you can only fit a few products in one container.

So, taking a large baking sheet, you need to line it with baking paper. Next, you need to take the viscous choux dough into a culinary syringe and squeeze it out in the form of a thick strip 8-10 centimeters long.

Having formed the eclairs, they should be placed in the oven, which must be preheated to a temperature of 180 degrees. The dough needs to be baked for about half an hour. During this time it should rise well and lightly brown.

How to use baked goods in cooking?

As mentioned above, choux pastry eclairs can be used to make delicious sweet cakes and savory snacks.

For the first course, it is advisable to use oblong products, which must be slightly cut in the side. Through the resulting hole, you can introduce any cream into the eclair using a culinary syringe. So, an ideal option would be a protein or custard filling, which is very often used to prepare various cakes.

After all the cakes are properly formed, they must be decorated using powdered sugar, glaze made from cocoa powder or melted chocolate. It is recommended to serve the finished cakes to the table with tea.

As for salty snacks, it is better to take spherical baked goods for them. They should be cut in half so that you end up with some kind of baskets. In the future, they can be filled with black or red caviar, crab stick salad, mayonnaise mixed with garlic, cheese and herbs and other ingredients.

Let's sum it up

Now you know how you can make your own choux pastry using simple and very affordable products. As you dare to note, there is nothing complicated about this.

Thus, if you want to make a delicious dessert or a hearty snack at home, then you can safely use one of the above recipes.

Eclair is a custard cake. According to historical information, it was invented by the French cook Marie-Antoine Carême, who was a great connoisseur of French cuisine.

How to make eclairs at home

Eclairs are very “picky” cakes. To prepare them correctly, everything is important: kneading and thickness of the dough, oven temperature, baking time.

To prepare the dough you need:

  • 1 glass (250 ml) water;
  • 1.25 cups or 200 g flour;
  • 4-5 large eggs;
  • 100 g butter;
  • a pinch of salt.

Let's start cooking:

  • To prepare the choux pastry, take a stainless steel pan with a thick bottom.
  • Pour water into the pan, add salt and oil.
  • Place the pan on the fire and let it boil.
  • When the butter has melted, turn the heat down to low, add the flour and stir vigorously with a spoon so that there are no lumps.
  • Remove from heat, let the dough cool to 60-70°C, and break 1 egg into the dough, mix vigorously with a spoon by hand until the dough is homogeneous.
  • We also add the remaining eggs to the dough. When adding the last egg, you need to make sure that the dough is not runny, perhaps you only need to add half an egg. The dough should be like very thick sour cream, but not spread on the baking sheet.
  • If the dough is still thick after mixing in the eggs, you can add another egg while it is warm.
  • And if you added all the eggs at once, it will be difficult to knead the dough until smooth, and besides, it may be liquid, and there is no way to fix it (you cannot add flour, otherwise the dough will not rise in the oven). The only way to fix a batter is to knead a new portion of thick dough and mix both portions together.
  • Grease a baking tray with a small amount of vegetable oil, squeeze out sticks about 10 cm long from a pastry bag. The sticks can also be laid out with 2 tablespoons, after first soaking one in cold water, and using the other to help form oblong sticks.
  • You need to place the sticks at a distance of 2-3 cm, they will increase in volume.
  • Heat the oven to 180°C, place a baking sheet with the dough, bake for 30-40 minutes, until browned. The oven must not be opened during the entire baking period, otherwise the cakes may not rise.
  • Let the cakes cool, cut them on one side and fill them with cream using a pastry syringe or a teaspoon.

How to make eclair cream at home

Custard for eclairs

For the cream you need:

  • 4 yolks;
  • 1 glass of sugar;
  • 4 tbsp. level spoons of flour;
  • 0.5 l of milk;
  • 20 g butter;
  • vanillin.

Let's start cooking:

  • In a saucepan, mix the yolks, sugar, vanilla and flour, gradually pour in the milk and stir so that there are no lumps.
  • Let it cook over low heat, stirring all the time.
  • When the cream begins to thicken, add oil and cook, stirring until thickened.
  • Stuff the eclairs with the cooled cream.


Curd cream

For the cream you need:

  • 200 g cottage cheese (fat);
  • 100 ml cream 33% fat;
  • 0.75 cups powdered sugar.

Let's start cooking:

  • Beat the cream with a mixer until foamy, add powdered sugar (half the required volume).
  • Grind the cottage cheese through a sieve 2 times, add the remaining powder, mix.
  • Mix whipped cream with cottage cheese and fill eclairs.


Chocolate buttercream

For the cream you need:

  • half a can of condensed milk;
  • 200 g butter;
  • 3 tbsp. spoons of cocoa powder.

Let's start cooking:

  • Beat the softened butter with a mixer, add condensed milk little by little and continue whisking, add cocoa and mix well. To improve the taste, you can add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of cognac. The cream is ready, you can stuff the cakes.


How to make glaze for eclairs at home

Chocolate icing for eclairs

For the glaze you need:

  • 1 bar of dark chocolate;
  • 1 tbsp. spoon of butter.

Let's start cooking:

  • Break the chocolate bar into small pieces, pour it into a saucepan, add butter and melt in a “water bath”, stir.
  • Using a pastry brush, brush the cream-filled cakes with glaze and let the cakes dry.



So, we learned how to cook delicious eclairs with cream at home.

What are your favorite childhood cakes? I am sure that the majority will answer: eclairs! Of course, who doesn't like light, crispy cakes with a delicate cream inside, covered with shiny icing? Yummy, and that’s all!

Eclairs are French pastries that have been widely known throughout the world since the end of the nineteenth century. They are elongated choux pastry pies with light cream inside.

Ideal eclairs should be smooth, even and uniform, with a length of 10 to 14 cm.

Many people do not dare to cook them at home, but prefer to buy ready-made ones in the store. It seems that such a delicious dessert must have a complex, multi-step recipe with a long list of ingredients. But in reality it turns out to be just the opposite.

The ingredients are very affordable and can be found in any refrigerator, and the preparation method is quite simple if you strictly follow the instructions. Believe in yourself and be sure to try cooking. I think the result will exceed all your expectations!

Basic rules for preparing dough for eclairs

Proper eclairs are made only from choux pastry. What is it really? The basic principle is that a mixture of flour, butter and water is “brewed” and then, after cooling slightly, eggs are added. The result is a sticky, thick dough that does not spread, so to speak, holds its shape.

The increase in dough volume occurs due to the formation of steam inside the eclairs during baking at high temperatures.

Proper cakes do not tear because they are made only from dense, strong dough.

Classic recipe

Ingredients:

  • water - 250 ml;
  • butter - 100 g;
  • flour - 200 g;
  • eggs – 4 pieces;
  • salt.

Cooking time: 70 min.

Calorie content per 100 grams: 204 kcal.

Choux pastry recipe for eclairs step by step:


Choux pastry for eclairs: recipe according to GOST step by step

The recipe is designed to make 20 cakes. Please note that water for cooking must be measured in grams, and not, as usual, in milliliters.

Ingredients:

  • wheat flour – 200 g;
  • large chicken eggs - 5 pcs. (or 6 pieces of medium size);
  • butter – 100 g;
  • pure water – 180 g;
  • table salt - a pinch.

Cooking time: 1 hour. 10 min.

Calorie content per 100 grams: 210 kcal.

How to cook:

  1. In a saucepan, bring a mixture of diced butter, water and salt to a boil;
  2. Sift the flour thoroughly. It is advisable to do it a couple of times so that the baked goods are airy and fluffy;
  3. Pour the flour into the pan and mix thoroughly with a spoon or spatula;
  4. The dough will begin to brew and stick together into one lump. Let it brew thoroughly, continuing to stir quickly right on the burner;
  5. Transfer to a bowl and let cool;
  6. Beat eggs in a separate container;
  7. Add them gradually to the dough, gently kneading it with a spatula or using a mixer;
  8. Line a baking tray with baking paper;
  9. Using a cooking bag or a regular plastic bag, squeeze the dough onto a baking sheet in the form of sticks about 12 cm long and 18 mm in diameter (you can also in the form of circles, then you will get round eclair balls);
  10. Bake in a preheated oven first for 10 minutes at 220°C, then another 25 minutes at 180°C;
  11. Prepare your favorite cream and fudge, fill and decorate the eclairs according to your own preferences.

How to prepare lean choux pastry for eclairs

If you adhere to a vegetarian diet and exclude animal fats from your diet, then this is not a reason to deny yourself such wonderful and tasty desserts as eclairs.

The following recipe is just for you: it does not contain eggs, milk or butter!

Ingredients:

  • 2 stacks flour;
  • 2 table. spoons of vegetable oil;
  • 1 stack boiling water;
  • salt.

Cooking time: 65 minutes.

Calorie content per 100 grams: 198 kcal.

How to cook:

  1. Mix the flour with salt, fold it into a mound and make a depression in the middle;
  2. Pour boiling water and vegetable oil into the center of the well;
  3. Stir the dough slightly and leave to cool until warm;
  4. Now you can knead it with your hands until it has a homogeneous consistency, this will take about 10 minutes;
  5. Let the dough rest for 25 minutes;
  6. Knead lightly again for a couple of minutes;
  7. That's it, the lean dough for eclairs is ready, you can make cakes from it and bake them as usual.

How to make choux pastry for eclairs with milk and dry yeast

Choux pastry does not tolerate experiments with the composition and stages of preparation. However, you can try to prepare another time-tested variety of it. Here the water is replaced with milk and dry yeast, and the result is almost better.

Keep in mind when you start baking that milk gives the products a darker color.

Therefore, make sure that the rosy color of the eclairs does not confuse you, and that they are well baked.

Ingredients:

  • 200 g of premium flour;
  • 200 g cow's milk;
  • 4 medium chicken eggs;
  • 70 g plums oils;
  • 10 g dry yeast;
  • 20 ml water;
  • salt and sugar - a pinch each.

Cooking time: 2 hours.

Calorie content per 100 grams: 285 kcal.

How to cook:

  1. Boil the milk and pour it over the sifted flour;
  2. Beat the resulting mixture with a mixer until smooth;
  3. Melt butter;
  4. Dissolve dry yeast in warm water and mix it with sugar, add to the custard mixture;
  5. Beat the eggs thoroughly until a thick foam forms;
  6. The eggs should be poured a little at a time into the main dough, stirring constantly;
  7. Add salt, add oil and mix again until a viscous state of fatty sour cream;
  8. It is better to let the dough rise for one hour, then form sticks out of it and bake for 30 minutes in a hot oven at 200°C.

How to form and what to bake eclairs from choux pastry

The easiest way to form eclairs is to use a piping bag. You can use a variety of attachments, especially beautiful eclairs are obtained using “round” or “open star” attachments with a diameter of 10-12 mm.

There is a little trick to quickly fill such a bag: you need to place it in a tall glass and straighten the edges. Then the dough will fill it evenly, without voids, and you won’t stain anything.

If you don’t have a cooking bag yet, then you can use a regular plastic bag, cutting off one of its corners to the desired diameter. This method is less convenient, but economical.

Eclairs are placed on a baking sheet covered with cooking paper in a checkerboard pattern, obliquely, diagonally. The preferred length is 10-14 cm. Try to leave enough distance between them, at least 3 cm, because they will increase in size during baking.

To ensure that the eclairs are the same size, you can make some kind of marks on the baking sheet for your convenience using a ruler and flour.

The best filling options for custard cakes: recipes

There are a great variety of fillings and creams for filling eclairs. The most common options are vanilla, coffee and chocolate, the most unusual are caramel, pistachio, coconut. But everyone has the right to choose their favorite, especially since there is plenty to do here!

Eclairs are filled with cream using a pastry syringe.

If you don’t have one, you can simply carefully cut the cake from the edge and spoon in the filling.

Classic custard

Ingredients:

  • 400 ml milk;
  • 150 g plums. oils;
  • 2 table. l. Sahara;
  • 1 ½ table. l. flour;
  • 2 whole eggs and 1 yolk;
  • 1 table. l. powdered sugar.

Cooking time: 40 min.

Calorie content per 100 grams: 215 kcal.

How to cook:

  1. Add sugar to milk, bring to a boil. Check that the granulated sugar is completely dissolved;
  2. Let the resulting mixture cool slightly;
  3. Mix the flour with all the eggs and powdered sugar, add to the sugar-milk mixture;
  4. Put on fire and stir;
  5. Cook until the cream thickens. Make sure that it does not boil;
  6. Cool, add soft butter and beat with a mixer into a fluffy mass;
  7. You can play with the flavor of the cream by adding vanillin, vanilla essence, citrus zest or cocoa powder if desired.

Ingredients:

  • 200 g cottage cheese;
  • 1 stack granulated sugar;
  • 200 ml cream;
  • 1 packet of vanilla sugar.

Cooking time: 20 min.

Calorie content per 100 grams: 112 kcal.

How to cook:

  1. Mix low-fat cottage cheese with granulated sugar well by hand with a fork or spoon, and then beat with a mixer or blender;
  2. Add vanilla sugar and cream, beat thoroughly again;
  3. The delicate and airy cream is ready. Very simple and fast!

How to make chocolate glaze

Glaze applied to eclairs , while it's still warm. It is convenient to spread it with a pastry brush. There is another way: carefully prick the bottom of the cake with a fork and dip the top into the liquid glaze.

By adding butter, the glaze for this recipe becomes smooth and shiny after hardening.

The top of the glaze can be sprinkled with nuts, confectionery powder, caramel, decorated with fresh berries or fruits, mint leaves, and chocolate figures.

Ingredients:

  • 4 table. spoons of milk;
  • 100 g butter;
  • 4 table. spoons of cocoa;
  • 150 g sugar.

Cooking time: 20 min.

Calorie content per 100 grams: 442 kcal.

Recipe step by step:

  1. Mix milk with sugar and cocoa powder in a suitable container;
  2. Put on fire;
  3. When granulated sugar dissolves, add butter;
  4. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly and making sure the glaze does not burn.


And the main advice: cook with love and in a good mood, then you will definitely get an elegant, delicious dessert on the level of the famous French confectioneries!

Another choux pastry recipe is very clearly shown in the following video.

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