Spring is here! This is a recipe from John Lewis COOK Edition…
A short while ago in the food world, a prediction was made that éclairs would be the new cupcake and there are now all sorts of weird and wonderful flavours to try in the trendiest bakeries. I’m sure we’ve all had one from our local bakery – traditionally, an éclair is made from choux dough or pastry, filled with cream and topped with chocolate or fondant icing.
In this post, Love & Olive Oil set their readers a challenge to bake éclairs and they came up with some stunning entries. And I’ll never forget reading this wonderful post by David Lebovitz on Éclairs in Paris – or l’éclair – not to be missed.
The éclair originated in France in the 19th century and, as I’ve discovered this week, they can be made at home, with relative ease. I say that, because there are a couple of steps to follow when making the choux and you do have to pipe, but since the choux is later split and filled and topped with chocolate, they don’t actually have to be perfect.
If you can make éclairs then you can make profiteroles (or cream puffs) and vice versa, so they are a good thing to add to your repertoire. Plus, anyone you serve them to will be incredibly impressed!
A good éclair is light and fluffy, the filling should be whipped cream (which can be flavoured as my cream was for this banoffee version), or you can fill them with a French custard or crème pâtissière.
With the éclair being of French origin, I was confident that Richard Bertinet’s Banoffee Eclairs, as spotted in the spring edition of the John Lewis COOK Edition (download in iTunes or pick up for free in store) would work a treat. The recipe uses surprisingly few ingredients and they bake in just under 20 minutes, so I’d say that homemade éclairs make the perfect project for the Easter weekend ahead. If you can pull these off (and I did on my very first attempt) you’ll feel so proud that you’ll want to ditch your job and open up a French pastry shop the very next day!
Richard has simplified the method for making his choux pastry. Once you’ve heated the water, salt and butter in a pan, you tip in the flour, give it a quick mix and then transfer the mixture into a stand mixer. I waited for the mixture to cool a little before adding the eggs, one by one, until, as if by magic, a smooth, glossy mixture formed. Then it’s simply a case of piping the dough into straight lines, baking, cooling, splitting and filling. They are actually really fun to make!
To make my éclairs, I used my Kenwood Chef Sense Stand Mixer. I also drizzeld a little salted toffee sauce onto my banana on the inside of the éclairs…for good measure.
I learnt that éclairs rise seemingly without any raising agents because of the high water content in the dough, which evaporates to steam causing the choux to rise – clever!
The choux should also be cooked for long enough to dry on the inside, so that they don’t collapse when you take them out of the oven.
Et voilà – a pretty spring Banoffee Eclair tea party.
Spring tea set (left) – Bluebellgrey stoneware, cake stand by Sophie Conran for Port Merion, pink plates Pip Studio – all John Lewis.
Prep
Cook
Total
Kenwood Chef Sense Stand Mixer and spring ‘tea set’ props provided by John Lewis. The cost of my ingredients were covered, too.
Gil levi says
Great photos the food looks yummy and gorgeous yet funky presentation!
Jacqueline Meldrum says
I don’t know how I missed these. If ever there was a night when I could do with one, this is it.
Made With Pink says
These sound delicious! I Love making Eclairs, but have never thought about doing banoffee ones before. Live this idea. Your look gorgeous.
Ren Behan says
Thank you so much for stopping by to comment! Hope you have a great Easter
Lokness @ The Missing Lokness says
Beautiful eclairs! Love the banana in them! I wish I have a dozen now!
Ren Behan says
Thank you so much for popping over to visit!
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
These look wonderful, I LOVE the idea of making them banoffee flavour!! Great way to make them a bit different. I’m not sure I’ll ever find it in me to make my own eclairs, but I thoroughly enjoy looking at yours 😉
Ren Behan says
Thanks Becca, hope you try them, they were a joy to make 🙂
Sarah Maison Cupcake says
Oh lordy! These are wicked! I’ve pinned them to my eclairs & choux pinterest board !
Ren Behan says
Thanks Sarah I’ll pop over and have a drool!
Helene @Croque-Maman says
Such an inspiring post. I LOVE eclairs. I think my favourite ones in Paris are the ones from Fauchon: http://www.fauchon.com/fr/macarons/eclairs.html. Only looking at such pictures make me dream 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
laura@howtocookgoodfood says
This is one recipe I am going to have to make on my return from holiday. I think you will be making these for many more friends after they see them on here! You have mastered these Ren, well done :)))
Ren Behan says
Hope you do Laura!!
Jeanne Horak-Druiff says
Oooh – eclairs! When I was at school, my dad used to work upstairs from a bakery and they used to make eclairs filled with chocolate cream – I was absolutely obsessed with them and could not wait for the random days when he brought a box home with him. Your eclairs look PERFECT!
Ren Behan says
How lovely! I can just imagine the smells from the bakery!
Ren Behan says
They look amazing Helene! Thank you for your top tip!
ohmydish.com says
I absolutely love how these eclairs look! I can imagine them being so amazing to eat 🙂
Ren Behan says
Thank you so much!
Deena kakaya says
my goodness, they sound devilishly good! Your pasty looks so light, I want to get my fingers straight in! X
Ren Behan says
Thank you Deena – hope you are well!
kellie@foodtoglow says
These look dangerously delicious. And staggeringly pretty. I don’t know how you and your family held off eating them long enough for you to snap them!
Ren Behan says
Thanks Kellie – they were gone pretty quickly!
Alice says
These look AMAZING. I’m cooking for one though, do you have any idea whether these could be frozen?
Thank you 🙂
Ren Behan says
Hi Alice, yes you can freeze the shells – cooked, but unfilled. When you defrost them, then I’d fill them with the fresh cream etc and decorate the. You could perhaps halve the filling quantities when making so you don’t have too much cream to use up! Ren