For some strange reason, I had a sudden urge to bake yesterday and I thought, let’s try making eclairs for my dinner party later that night. So I dug out a cookbook of mine and went online to watch videos on how to make eclairs. I’ve always thought that eclairs were challenging to make but after trying it out myself, it turned out to be very easy and fool-proof.

Things that you need to make eclairs are pipping bags with a large round tip and a middle round tip. I always struggle with pipping bags – just not good with it and I made a mess in the kitchen haha. You also need a flex edge beater to make the eclairs.

To make the eclairs, start off by making the custard first as it takes time for the custard to set. To make the custard, mix all the dry ingredients into the milk first before heating the milk up. This allows the corn starch to dissolve. You can use skim milk but honestly whole milk makes the custard taste better. Once the custard is done, leave it in the refrigerator to cool then move on to make the eclairs.

To decorate the eclairs, you can make a chocolate ganache or salted caramel. I accidentally grabbed the coffee liquor chocolate yesterday without realising it and I was wondering why is there a coffee flavour in my eclairs. But hey, it turned out really well and my friends absolutely loved it!

Baby chocolate eclairs

Preparation time: 30-40min
Baking time: 20-25min or when eclair turns lightly golden brown and crisp

Nutrition per eclair
*One batch makes 16 eclairs

Ingredients

For the custard

1. 460ml of full cream milk
2. 30g corn starch
3. 40g caster sugar
4. 4 egg yolks
5. 1 tsp vanilla essence
6. A pinch of salt

For the eclairs

1. 50g unsalted butter (cold)
2. 150ml cold water
3. 65g plain flour
4. 2 eggs

To decorate (chocolate ganache)

1. 50ml full cream milk
2. 80g dark chocolate chips
3. A pinch of salt
4. Chopped almonds (optional)

Directions

To make the custard

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (convectional oven)
2. Add all your custard ingredients in a  saucepan and with the heat turned off, whisk them all together to combine.
3. Place your custard over medium heat and cook it, stirring the whole time until the custard thickens. Be very patient and make sure that you watch over the custard before it burns.
4. Once the custard is ready, place it in a bowl and pop it in the refrigerator to set

To make the dough

1. Sift the plain flour twice
2. Heat the butter in a saucepan with 150ml of cold water until the butter is melted
3. Add the sifted flour into the melted butter all in one go and remove from the heat
4. Beat hard with a wooden spoon until the dough forms
5. Place the dough into your mixer and using a flex edge beater, mix it at low speed for about 1 min to cool the dough down – this is to prevent your eggs from getting cooked in the hot dough
6. With the mixer at medium speed, add the eggs in one at a time. The mixer will form a sticky paste which holds in shape when you life the whisk up
7. Spoon the batter into a pipping bag and pipe 16-20 lines about 5cm long onto the baking sheet with a small distance apart.
8. Bake in the oven for 20-25min or until the eclair turns lightly golden brown and crisp
9. As soon as the eclairs come out of the oven, use a skewer and make a little hole at the end of each side so the steam can escape, allowing it to cool completely
10. Once the eclairs have cooled down, take the custard out from the refrigerator, place it into a pipping bag with a middle tip and start pipping the custard into the eclairs.

To make the ganache

1. Heat the milk in a small saucepan and remove it from the flame just before it starts to boil
2. Pour the heated milk over the chocolate chips and using a wooden spoon, mix it well until a ganache forms. Leave it to cool
3. Once the ganache has cooled, dip the eclairs into it. You can also chop up some almonds to decorate over the eclairs for an added crunch