Morning everyone. How was your weekend? I had a busy one with friends visiting both days. On Saturday, I hosted an afternoon tea party for some friends. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to bake anything during the week and was out late on Friday. So in Great British Bake Off style, I had 3 and a bit hours to bake a Victoria sponge, earl grey tea biscuits, mini eclairs, mini fruit tarts and plain scones. I was a little worried about the time management but also about the pastry bakes as frankly I'm scared of pastry! Somehow I managed to pull it off and we had a lovely afternoon tea.
I've made choux pastry once a few years ago and not tried it again since so I was a little apprehensive. I followed a recipe by Eric Lanlard and it worked beautifully. The choux pastry was light and crispy and the creme patissiere was divine. As I was in a hurry, I didn't have time to set the chocolate which is why it looks so shiny and messy in the photos. I just poured some melted chocolate on top of each eclair and served it. My guests said they've never had eclairs with a warm chocolate topping before and it made for quite messy eating but it was absolutely delicious.
I'm sending this to the Pastry Challenge hosted by Jen from Jen's Food and Lisa from United Cakedom.
I'm also sending these to Treat Petite hosted by Stuart from Cakeyboi and Kat from the Baking Explorer. The theme this month is Mum. My mum lives abroad so I'm not able to send these to her but she loves eclairs so I know how much she will love these. I'm definitely baking these for her when she next visits and I'm sure she will be impressed!
melt butter and water then add in the flour all at once and stir 
The dough should come together and look like this. Allow to cool for a few minutes. 
beat in the eggs one at a time. Drizzle in the second egg as you may not need all of it. 
choux pastry! 
I didn't have time to draw lines so I just piped these free hand 
fresh from the oven
making the creme patissiere
I used the recipe from Eric Lanlard's book Home Bake page 214. You can find similar recipes online such as this one which also has a very helpful video. He tells you the ingredients at the beginning of the video which is different to what is typed underneath!
Choux pastry is a bit nerve racking but well done for conquering your fear, the eclairs look great and I think a warm chocolate topping makes a nice change. Thanks for entering #thepastrychallenge :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting such a brilliant challenge. I'll definitely try making more pastry now.
DeleteI am so impressed by how much you baked in so little time! The eclairs sound great.
ReplyDeleteThanks! It was very stressful and the kitchen was a complete mess but it was worth it in the end!
DeleteWow, it would probably take me 3 hours to bake the eclairs, nevermind everything else. You're definitely a Bake Off contender! Now you've got me massively craving eclairs, mmmmm.
ReplyDeleteHa ha I was so stressed I think I'd have a meltdown on the bake off! I definitely want to make eclairs again now.
DeleteJust over three hours for all that? Well done! I haven't done eclairs for ages..... Must rectify with a large chocolatey batch!
ReplyDeleteWell it was a very stressful few hours! Definitely not putting myself through that again!
DeleteLove the ooey gooey chocolate Ros - thanks for entering Treat Petite - really appreciate it x
ReplyDeleteThanks! My mum said they looked really good and she can't wait to taste it :)
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