The Choux Pastry for the second time after My Profiteroles Recipe. This time I used water instead of milk, which results in the taste, too. I have got two advices: use of a mixer and excellent ingredients.
This is truly a wonderful treat for breakfast, coffee and tea dessert or a spectacular dot after a lighter dinner – Famous Coffee Éclairs. Beautiful choux pastry, whipped cream with a little twist and frosting to die for. Let’s start.
Total Time: 2 hours
Shopping List
The Coffee Cream:
150ml of double cream, lightly whipped
4 tablespoons of strong instant coffee
5 tablespoons of icing sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons of crème fraîche
The Choux Pastry:
50g of butter
Pinch of sea salt
80g of plain flour, sifted
2 whole eggs, lightly whisked
The Coffee Chocolate Topping:
1 tablespoon of quality cocoa powder, sifted
4 teaspoons of strong instant coffee
100g of icing sugar, sifted
Instructions
The Coffee Cream
In a medium metal bowl whip the cream up to two-thirds of its stage.
Add instant coffee and icing sugar. Continue whipping until you get beautiful and shiny texture.
Then, gently stir in crème fraîche, one spoon at a time. Taste and taste. Cover the bowl and place it in a fridge.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
The Choux Pastry
Place 125ml of water in a medium non sticking deep pan. Increase the heat and add butter and a pinch of salt.
Once the mix starts bubbling, all flour in and take off the heat. By using a wooden spoon, quickly mix. In the final, the pastry should resemblance to a homogeneous piece of dough that doesn’t stick to the sides of the pan (takes around 1 minute).
Let it cool down for about 4 minutes and take a mixer. Start kneading on a low-speed by adding eggs, little bit at a time. Increase the speed and slowly continue adding the eggs. The choux pastry should have a nice shiny texture. Thick enough and easy to work with.
Fill up the frosting bag with the pastry, cutting approximately 1cm big hole. Now, you ready to create the éclairs. Start placing them directly on a baking tray lined with a baking paper. Try to work fast and pull quickly away the bag after piping each of them (if they are not equal, they will still be delicious). Smoothen the endings with your wet finger.
Place the tray in the oven and bake them for about 30 minutes until they are nicely puffed and golden all over.
Take them out on a rack and cut them in the middle (just the way you cut the bread buns). This way you release the air out and it makes your work easier with the filling, later on. Let them cool down completely.
Once the éclairs are chilled out, you can fill them with The Coffee Cream. Place it all into a frosting bag and inject each of the éclairs with a good amount.
The Chocolate Coffee Topping
By using a small dessert spoon, mix 4 tablespoons of hot instant coffee with 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder. Start adding the icing sugar until you process it all into a shiny and thick texture.
Sprinkle them with a spoon and serve immediately (or keep them nicely in the fridge). Decorate with sugar bowl or fresh fruits. So yummy!
Makes 8 éclairs.