Éclairs
An éclair is lifted by steam, so everything in this recipe serves it. The paste is dried in the pan so excess water cannot interfere; the oven stays shut until the steam-built frame has set; and the hole for the cream is made only in a cold shell. Open the oven early and the éclair sinks and never rises again.
- Prep
- 45 min
- Cook
- 35 min
- Rest
- 2 h
- Total
- 3 h 20 min
- Servings
- 12
- Level
- Challenging
- Per serving
- 250 kcal
Ingredients
Choux pastry
Pastry cream
Glaze
Makes: 12 éclairs
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
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Step 1: Make the cream first
Whisk the yolks with sugar and cornflour, pour in the hot milk in a thin stream, return it to the pan and cook to thick, stirring constantly. Once it boils and thickens, take it off and stir in butter and vanilla.
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Step 2: Chill under film
Press film onto the surface and chill 2 hours. The film stops a skin forming, which would otherwise break up into lumps.
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Step 3: Cook the choux
Bring the water, milk, butter, sugar and salt to the boil, take it off the heat, tip in all the flour at once and beat to a smooth ball.
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Step 4: Dry the paste
Return it to low heat for 2 minutes, stirring, until a thin film forms on the base. That is the excess moisture leaving — skip it and the éclairs stay low.
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Step 5: Beat in the eggs one by one
Cool 5 minutes and add the eggs one at a time. Add the last in stages: the paste is ready when it falls off the spatula in a broad triangle.
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Step 6: Pipe the lengths
Pipe 12 cm lengths with a star nozzle, 4 cm apart. The star nozzle is not decorative: its ridges give the paste room to expand so the éclair does not split.
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Step 7: Bake without opening
Fifteen minutes at 200 °C, then 20 at 170 °C. Do not open the oven at all for the first 25 minutes — the steam escapes and they collapse.
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Step 8: Fill and glaze
Fill the cold shells through two holes underneath. Melt the chocolate with the cream and dip the top of each éclair.
Tips & variations
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Tip
Eggs are a texture, not a number: they vary in size. The last one always goes in gradually, judged by the paste rather than the recipe.
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Tip
Cracked éclairs mean an oven that is too hot or sharp peaks left when piping. Smooth them with a wet finger before baking.
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Variation
Coffee éclairs: 2 tsp of instant coffee in the cream's milk and in the glaze. Caramel: replace part of the sugar in the cream with dulce de leche.
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Storage
Filled, 12 hours in the fridge before the shell softens. Empty shells keep two days, or a month frozen.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 12 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 250 kcal | 3,000 kcal |
| Protein | 6 g | 72 g |
| Fat | 14 g | 168 g |
| Carbohydrates | 25 g | 300 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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