The most delicious eclairs at home

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-12 17:37

• Category:

  Bakery

• Cooking time:

  1.5 hours

Ingredients

• butter
• flour
• water
• salt
• eggs
• milk
• sugar
• vanilla sugar
• cocoa
• milk
• powdered sugar

Eclairs are choux pastries that French cuisine brought to the world. Many housewives consider a recipe with a photo of making such a dessert difficult, but it's not so scary, the main thing is to know how to brew the dough correctly. And now we will tell you step by step how to bake a delicious treat at home.

Custard eclairs - a classic recipe

The eclairs recipe is not as complicated as it might seem to many. The main thing is to learn how to knead the custard dough, then the cakes will turn out to be fluffy and tender.

Ingredients for the dough:

• 100 g butter;
• 150 g flour;
• 250 ml of water;
• a pinch of salt;
• 4 eggs.

For the cream:

• 500 ml of milk;
• 2 eggs;
• 180 g sugar;
• 200 g butter;
• 3 tbsp. l. flour;
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar.

For dark glaze:

• 4 tbsp. l. cocoa;
• 50 g butter;
• 2 tbsp. l. milk;
• 4 tbsp. l. icing sugar.

For light glaze:

• 180 g icing sugar;
• 10 g butter;
• 2 tsp milk.

Preparation:

Put butter cut into pieces in a saucepan, add a little salt, pour in water and put on fire

As soon as the butter melts and is about to start to boil, remove from heat and add flour. Stir everything very quickly until smooth. It is important to act promptly here, since the flour should dissolve in hot oil, this is the peculiarity of the choux pastry. Be sure to pre-sift the flour, otherwise the dough will be heterogeneous and eclairs will not work

After the stewpan with the contents, return to the stove and continue to knead over low heat for another 1-2 minutes. As a result, the mass should easily move away from the sides and bottom of the stewpan. Transfer to a bowl and let cool to room temperature

Now we drive eggs into the custard dough one by one, knead until smooth each time. It is important that the eggs are not cold, otherwise the dough will be heavy and the eclairs will not rise

The dough for custard cakes should turn out to be viscous, moderately liquid and smooth. It must hold its shape so that the cakes can be shaped. If the dough does not flow off the spoon, does not fall in lumps, but slides down in a heavy thick ribbon, then it has turned out to be of the correct consistency

We transfer the dough into a culinary bag and plant it on a prepared baking sheet with parchment in the form of oblong blanks from 6 to 8 cm long. Do not forget that the cakes will increase in size, so we keep a distance of about 7 cm between them

We send the custard products to the oven for 15-20 minutes, temperature 220 ° С. As soon as the eclairs rise, we reduce the heat to 160 ° C and wait another 10 minutes, during which time they will dry out well inside and brown. It is important not to look into the oven while baking, otherwise the cakes will turn into flat cakes. If there are no more bubbles left on the surface of the products and they have become golden, then the oven can be turned off

For the cream, pour the flour into a clean container along with half the sugar, drive in the eggs and beat with a regular whisk until a light foam appears

Pour milk into a saucepan, pour in the remaining regular and flavored sugar, put on fire and bring to a boil

Now pour the third part of the hot milk mixture into the beaten eggs, quickly return everything to the saucepan, put it back on the stove

Cook the cream until thick, then remove from heat, bring to a warm state, beat until smooth and uniform, adding softened butter

On cooled eclairs, we make side cuts and generously fill with a spoon with cake cream, which it is advisable to pre-hold in a cool place

Now we move on to the final stage, namely, we prepare light and dark glaze. For dark glaze, take cocoa, butter, icing sugar and milk. We mix everything in a saucepan and put on fire. As soon as the mass becomes homogeneous and similar to melted chocolate, remove from heat. If the icing is too liquid, then add powdered sugar, if thick, then add milk

For light glaze, also mix milk with butter and icing sugar in a saucepan. Warm up over low heat until thickened

We cover some of the eclairs with dark glaze, the rest with light. We cool the cakes in the refrigerator and can be served

Interesting! Cooking cabbage soup according to the classic recipe

Many confectioners believe that the dough for eclairs should not be kneaded with a mixer or blender, since the dough is liquid. It is better to use a regular whisk, the main thing is to knead the dough very quickly, while it is still not completely cool.

Eclairs with cream on condensed milk with chocolate glaze

Today there is not a single recipe with a photo of making eclairs at home. As a rule, their differences are only in the filler. And now we will tell you step by step how to bake an amazingly delicious dessert with condensed milk.

Ingredients for the dough:

• 150 g flour;
• 100 g butter;
• 250 ml of water;
• 2 g salt;
• 4-5 eggs.

For the cream:

• 1-2 eggs;
• 1 can of condensed milk;
• 150 ml of milk;
• 4 tbsp. l. flour;
• vanilla essence;
• 250 g butter.

For glaze:

• 100 g of chocolate;
• 60 g butter.

Preparation:

As in the previous recipe, we start by kneading the choux pastry and for this, combine salt, oil and water in a small saucepan

We put on fire, bring to a boil, then quickly mix the creamy mixture with flour and dry the dough until it gathers into a single lump

After we cool the custard base, add the eggs one at a time and place the resulting dough on a baking sheet with parchment using a culinary bag

We bake eclairs for 5-10 minutes at a temperature of 210 ° C. and then bring it to dryness and ruddy at a temperature of 190 ° C

For the cream, pour ordinary and condensed milk into the bowl, drive in the eggs and add flour. We combine the ingredients with each other with an ordinary whisk and set on fire

With constant stirring, cook until the mixture becomes thick. After completely cool

Put butter in the mixer bowl, beat until fluffy. Then add the custard base, vanilla essence in small proportions and continue to knead until a homogeneous airy cream is obtained

We make cuts on the cakes, fill them with cream. You can also fill custards with a sweet filling using a culinary bag with a long nozzle through a puncture made on the side or on top

For the glaze, melt the pieces of chocolate along with the butter and cover the eclairs with the resulting fondant, cool in the refrigerator and serve

Interesting! How to beautifully decorate a salad for the New Year 2020 with your own hands

It is better not to get ready-made eclairs out of the oven right away, but let them stand for an hour and rest right in the oven.

Custard cakes with cream

Recently, the recipe for eclairs with cream, which can also be baked at home, has been especially popular. The cakes are lighter, softer and just as appetizing as in the step-by-step photos.

Ingredients for the dough:

• 150 g flour;
• 100 g butter;
• 250 ml of water;
• 5 eggs;
• a pinch of salt.

For the cream:

• 500 ml cream;
• 100 g sugar;
• vanillin optional;
• cashew nuts.

Preparation:

We send the stewpan with water, oil and salt to the fire, and bring it almost to a boil

Then pour out all the sifted flour at once and stir everything quickly

Then we turn on the fire again and boil the dough for a couple of minutes, do not stop kneading

Cool the custard base for the cakes and add the eggs one at a time, knead a smooth, homogeneous dough that slides off a spoon

We transfer the custard mass into a pastry bag and with the help of an asterisk attachment we place the cakes on a baking sheet with parchment in the form of rings

We send the products to the oven, bake for 15 minutes at a temperature of 220 ° С and another 20 minutes at a temperature of 190 ° С

For the cream, pour the chilled cream into the mixer bowl, add sugar and beat until persistent peaks

We put the cream in a pastry bag

We cut the cakes in half, put the cream on one half, sprinkle with fried and crushed nuts, cover with the second half

At the end, sprinkle the eclairs with powdered sugar and delicious cakes are completely ready

The texture of the dough largely depends on the quality of the food, for example, you may need fewer eggs if they are large or, on the contrary, larger. Of course, when kneading the base for future cakes, you can trust your intuition, but do not forget that the batter will quickly settle in the oven, and the thick dough may not rise at all.

Custard cakes with curd cream

Some housewives note that the best step-by-step recipe with a photo of eclairs that can be baked at home is cakes with cottage cheese cream. And really, this option is also worth taking note of, because the dessert turns out to be delicate, with a creamy taste.

Ingredients for the dough:

• 100 g flour;
• 50 g butter;
• 90 ml of water;
• 1 g salt;
• 3-4 eggs.

For the cream:

• 200 g of cottage cheese (5%);
• 100 g butter;
• 45 g icing sugar;
• 35 ml of condensed milk;
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar.

Preparation:

Pour water into a saucepan, put oil, pour salt, put on fire, bring to a boil and add sifted flour. Mix everything quickly and keep on fire until the mass becomes smooth and gathers in a lump

Then put the flour mixture into a bowl and cool for 10-15 minutes

Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, add the egg mixture in portions to the flour mass and stir thoroughly each time

After that we transfer the choux pastry to a pastry bag, place it on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 15 minutes at a temperature of 220 ° C and 20 minutes at a temperature of 180 ° C

For the cream, rub the cottage cheese through a sieve

In a separate container, beat the soft butter for 2 minutes, then add the condensed milk and stir until smooth

Pour vanilla sugar and powdered sugar into cottage cheese, beat well, and then combine the two masses together

Fill the cooled blanks with cream, and sprinkle the finished eclairs with powdered sugar

When kneading the dough, you do not need to melt the butter separately, it should gradually melt as the water heats up. Also, if desired, instead of vanilla sugar, you can add 1 teaspoon of lemon zest to cottage cheese.

If you decide to bake eclairs at home according to one of the proposed step-by-step recipes with a photo, then you will understand why such a dessert is called royal in France. Having mastered all the intricacies of choux pastry, you can easily prepare cakes with different tastes. But be sure to cover the finished dessert with sugar, chocolate or lemon glaze, so the eclairs will look spectacular and sparkle with new shades.