Delicious crisp and deep-filled Éclairs topped with a lucious layer of ganache!

Éclairs and profiteroles are made from the same pastry which is called “choux” or “Pâte à Choux” which is cooked twice. Firstly you cook the basic “roux” on the hob, then the finished choux goes in the oven to bake.

There are various things that can go wrong.

Stodgy and sunken: If you add too much liquid your dough, the same thing will happen if your oven is too cold or you take them out of the oven too soon.

Deflated after baking: This happens if you don’t prick them 5 minutes before they are finished baking.

Uncooked choux pastry will keep in the fridge for a week or freezes very well. The cooked buns also freeze fantastically!

Diagnosis of why these éclairs have failed

Ingredients

• 70g Plain Flour
• 50g Butter
• 1 Tsp Cater Sugar
• 115g Water (Yes be that precise!)
• 3 Eggs
• 120g Dark Chocolate
• 300ml Double Cream
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tbsp Icing Sugar

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 190°C or 400°F (Gas Mark 6), and line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Sift the flour.
3. Place the water, caster sugar and butter in a pan, stir over a low heat until the butter has completely melted.
4. Turn up the heat to medium and bring the water to a boil, as soon as it starts to boil remove from the heat.
5. Add the flour in one go and mix with a wooden spoon for 30 seconds (use a timer).
6. Place back on a medium heat and stir for 2 minutes (use a timer), a film should have formed on the bottom of the pan.
7. Remove from the heat and spread the mix on to a plate so that it cools down.
8. Whist waiting for the choux to cool, crack the eggs into a jug and beat them until smooth and no stringy bits.
9. Place a large star nozzle in a piping bag or freezer bag, cut the end off so the nozzle comes through.
10. The dough should have cooled now, tip into a large bowl. Using a wooden spoon add 1/5th of the egg and beat (you can absolutely use an electric whisk here, it will be a lot easier).
11. The dough will break into nuggets but keep beating until it comes together.
12. Keep adding the egg a little at a time until you have added 2/3 of the egg.
13. At this point flick the spoon with some of the mixture on, some of the mix should fall off and the part that the dough has broken from should form a triangle.
14. Put the dough into the piping bag.
15. At a 45° angle pipe 4 inch lengths of the pastry onto your lined tray.
16. Use the left over egg to brush over the tops of the buns, this will give them a beautiful shine.
17. Bake for 30 minutes, remove from the oven and prick them a few times with a skewer then place back in the oven for 5 minutes to dry out.
18. Whip the cream until it starts to thicken, then add the icing sugar and vanilla extract, whip until slightly stiff and pipeable. If it has over whipped add some more cream and fold it through, milk would also work.
19. Chop the chocolate into small pea size pieces, place in a bowl. Boil the kettle and pour 40ml of water over the chocolate, stir until the chocolate has melted. This is called a hot water ganache.
20. Place the smallest nozzle in a piping bag, fill the bag with cream.
21. Once the Éclairs have cooled, poke in 3 holes into the bottom, big enough so that the end of your piping bag can poke through, fill the buns with as much cream as they will take.
22. Dip the tops of the buns in the chocolate, leave to cool on a wire rack, then eat straight away.