Éclairs with Caramel Cream

How to prepare éclairs with caramel cream

Caramel Cream

1. Beat the egg yolks well with the cornstarch. Thin the paste with 50ml milk.
2. Put the sugar in a saucepan and caramelize it over low heat until it turns golden. Pour the remaining milk (slowly at first) over the caramel. If the caramel hardens a bit, don't worry, leave the milk over low heat until it dissolves. When the milk starts to form small bubbles around the edges, remove it from the heat.
3. Pour the caramel milk over the egg-cornstarch mixture slowly, like adding oil to mayonnaise (so the eggs don't scramble), stirring constantly with a whisk.
4. Place the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly. After about 2-3 minutes you'll feel it starting to thicken. At that point, lower the heat and stir very quickly with the whisk until the mixture reaches the consistency of mayonnaise that holds on a spoon (about 1 minute).
5. Remove the cream from the heat and continue stirring for another 3 minutes until it cools down. If you want it to cool faster, you can place the pot in a bowl of cold water.
6. Cover the cream with plastic wrap touching the surface and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Éclairs

1. Put in a saucepan over medium heat: milk, water, butter, salt, and sugar. When the butter has melted and the mixture is boiling, add all the flour at once and stir quickly. You'll see the dough gather around the spoon. Continue stirring for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let the dough cool.
2. When the dough is just warm, add the eggs one at a time. With each egg you'll see the dough separate into pieces, but keep stirring until it comes together again. Only add the next egg when the dough has come together.
3. Put the dough in a pastry bag with a tip about 2cm wide.
4. Pipe 10cm long strips onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Don't crowd them too much because they'll expand when baking.
5. Bake at 200°C for 10 minutes, then reduce to 180°C and leave for another 20 minutes. Don't open the oven door during this time. After 30 minutes the éclairs should be puffed and golden.
7. Remove from the oven, make a hole on top with a knife (to release the steam) and let them cool completely.
8. When cool, they can be filled with cream in two ways:
   - either use a pastry bag with a filling tip; fill the éclairs through the hole made with the knife.
   - or cut a lid on top of each éclair (using a serrated knife!), fill the bottom with cream, and then place the lid back on.

Glazing
* if you don't want to glaze them with chocolate, you can just decorate with whipped cream

1. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Add the butter cut into cubes and let it melt as well, stirring occasionally.
   * if you use dark chocolate and want to sweeten the glaze, you can add 1-2 tablespoons of powdered sugar when melting the chocolate
2. Remove from the double boiler and add the oil and water.
3. Let the glaze cool for 10-15 minutes.
5. Dip one side of the éclairs in the glaze. Let sit for 30 minutes for the glaze to set.

Print