Impress your guests with these sweet and fluffy pastries at your next tea party.
A LITTLE EFFORT 40 minutes
Éclairs
50g butter
190ml (¾ cup) water
100g cake flour, twice sifted
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
Crème filling
300ml fresh milk
30ml (2 tbsp) vanilla extract
2 large egg yolks
60g castor sugar
50ml cake flour
50ml corn flour
- Preheat the oven to 200°C and apply some Spray and Cook to a large baking tray.
- Éclairs: melt the butter in a saucepan with the water and bring to the boil.
- Remove from the heat and very quickly beat in the flour until well-incorporated. Return the saucepan to the heat and continue to beat until the mixture comes away from the sides. Allow to cool.
- Slowly beat in the eggs, one by one, until the mixture is thick and glossy. You may not need all the eggs.
- Spoon the mixture into a piping bag and pipe onto the prepared baking tray. Spray with a little water and neaten the top of each raw éclair with your fingertip.
- Bake until golden, puffed and cooked through.
- Remove from the oven, make a small slit in the base of each and return to the oven to dry out roughly 5 minutes. Cool completely before filling. You can keep the éclairs in an airtight container for a day or two – until you are ready to fill them.
- Crème filling: heat the milk in a small pot and add the vanilla extract.
- Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cake flour and corn flour. Pour the hot milk over this mixture.
- Pour the mixture into a pot and return to the heat. Whisk continuously until the back of a wooden spoon is coated.
- Leave to cool completely before spooning into a piping bag and filling the pastries. Dust with icing sugar and serve.
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