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I make a lot of cream puffs, whether it’s for the blog or to share with my friends and family. I make them so often that I have my choux memorized, even down to the gram (57g of unsalted butter and 110g of eggs which is about 2 large eggs and a spoonful of egg whites). Choux is such a versatile recipe to master and have on hand because you can make so many other things with it — profiteroles, crullers, gougeres, churros (yes!!), Parisian gnocchi, the list goes on.
Today we’ll be making one of my personal favourites, the éclair. While the choux batter for cream puffs are piped as a mound so they become round as they bake, the batter for éclairs is piped into an oblong shape and baked until it is crisp and hollow inside. After the pastry has cooled, it is then filled with crème pâtissière (pastry cream) or whipped cream and the top is glazed with icing.
I have always loved eclairs, even though the first “éclair” was far from it is supposed to be. My high school cafeteria was divided into two stations: hot food and a snacks bar. The snacks bar was superior because they always sold 75 cent cookies, one dollar chocolate cake slices (it was McCain’s deep n delicious which is arguably my favourite cake), and the $1.50 éclair. There was no choux found in this éclair. It was a store-brought long john doughnut filled with whipped cream. It was the furthest thing away from homemade but it was always the perfect treat between my science and English classes. Maybe one day we’ll revisit that version on an éclair but we’re sticking with more of a classic preparation today.
These eclairs are a celebration of spring — crisp, golden brown choux pastry is filled with an intensely fruity whipped strawberry ganache and matcha cheesecake whipped cream, before being topped with it’s little hat glazed with a simple royal icing. I served these with edible flowers and edible gold flakes because we might as well go all the way.
There are a few things that make it much easier to achieve the perfect éclair (especially for those who are beginners at making choux):
- Using a scale: The ingredient list for choux is quite short and usually only includes basics like butter, water, milk, flour, and eggs but choux pastry requires a delicate balance of wet to dry ingredients for it to rise properly. Instead of relying on a leavening agent like basic soda or powder, choux pastry uses its high moisture content to create steam, which evaporates when baked and puffs the pastry during the baking process.
- Using a sturdy baking sheet: There is nothing more frustrating than creating the perfect choux batter, piping it out, and finding all the pastries lopsided or shaped irregularly because the baking sheet warped in the oven. This tends to happen with thinner and cheaper baking sheets, hence why I think it’s important to invest into good quality baking sheets, whether you’re using it for choux or cookies. I like using the Williams Sonoma Goldtouch® Pro half sheet pan because distributes heat quickly and evenly for consistent results and never loses it shape when baking.
- Adding craquelin: Craquelin is a cookie top that is often added to cream puffs. Besides being very delicious and a good addition of texture to the pastry, a layer of craquelin also helps the pastry rise more evenly. The craquelin is very easy to make and only require three ingredients: butter, brown sugar, and flour.
Matcha Strawberry Éclairs
Ingredients
Craquelin
- 30 g (2 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 30 g (2 tbsp) brown sugar
- 30 g (5 tbsp) all-purpose flour
Pâte à Choux
- 57 ml (1/4 cup) water
- 57 ml (1/4 cup) whole milk
- 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 57 g (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
- 70 g (1/2 cup and 2 tbsp) all-purpose flour
- 110 g (~2 1/2) large eggs , lightly beaten
Whipped Strawberry Chocolate Ganache
- 114 g strawberry chocolate , or white chocolate with 3 tbsp of freeze-dried strawberry powder
- 228 g (1 cup) heavy cream
- 1/4 tsp salt
Whipped Matcha Cheesecake
- 228 g (1 cup) heavy cream
- 250 g (1 block) cream cheese, softened
- 30 g (1/4 cup) powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp culinary-grade matcha powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
Royal Icing
- 120 g (1 cup) powdered sugar
- 1-2 tbsp whole milk
- A few drops of food colouring, optional
Instructions
Craquelin
- In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and mix with rubber spatula until smooth.
- Roll out the craquelin dough to 1/8-inch in thickness. Using a knife, cut. Set aside.
Pâte à Choux
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
- In a saucepan, combine the water, milk, sugar, salt, and butter. Bring to a light boil, remove from heat, and immediately add in all the flour. Quickly stir in the flour, using a rubber spatula, and return saucepan back over medium-high heat.
- Continue to stir the mixture, without stopping, until the paste is smooth, about 1-2 minutes. It will pull away from the sides of the pan and leave a thin coating of cooked paste on the bottom when ready. The texture should resemble dry mashed potatoes.
- Transfer the paste to a stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low for the choux to cool down.
- While the mixer is running on medium, gradually stream in the lightly beaten eggs. Mix until well combined.
- Transfer the pâte à choux to the prepared piping bag with a round tip. Pipe out 6 oblong strips (3 – 4 inches in length) onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving roughly 2 inches between each eclair. Add the craquelin to the choux strips.
- Place the baking sheet in the oven and immediately bake eclairs for 35 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet and turn down the oven to 325F, then bake for 10 minutes more until choux are deeply golden. Remove from oven and set on cooling rack to cool.
Whipped Strawberry Chocolate Ganache
- Finely chop the strawberry chocolate and place into a bowl.
- In a saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Once mixture has boiled, pour milk mixture over the chopped chocolate and let sit for 1 minute.
- Whisk the chocolate mixture until thoroughly melted and combined. Set in the refrigerator to chill, at least 3 hours.
- Once chilled and ready to use, transfer the ganache to the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment. Whip ganache to medium-stiff peaks. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a medium round pastry tip to pipe into choux pastries once baked.
Whipped Matcha Cheesecake
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip heavy cream, until it reaches to medium-stiff peaks. Transfer to another bowl and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whipped cream cheese, powdered sugar, matcha powder, and vanilla on medium speed until smooth and no clumps remain, 1 – 2 minutes.
- With a rubber spatula, fold in the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.
- Transfer the whipped cheesecake cream to a piping bag fitted with a large star pastry tip.
- Keep whipped cheesecake cool until ready to use.
Royal Icing
- In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and whisk until smooth.
Assembly
- With a sharp serrated knife, cut choux lengthwise. Dip the craquelin top into royal icing, allowing excess to drip off.
- Pipe the choux cavity with whipped strawberry ganache until it reaches the brim of the bottom choux half.
- Pipe a layers of whipped matcha cheesecake on top of the strawberry ganache.
- Top eclair with other choux half like a hat.
![day two: sparkly matcha neapolitan shortbread cookies ✨
the instructions might seem confusing, but if you watch the video to see how the different flavour layers are stacked, it will make much more sense! these slice and bake cookies freeze extremely well so you can make the dough now and bake them off when you want to gift them. (makes 40-44)
vanilla dough:
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g (6 tbsp) powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
matcha dough:
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g (6 tbsp) powdered sugar
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
2 tsp culinary matcha powder
1/4 tsp salt
strawberry dough
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g 6 tbsp) powdered sugar
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
2 tbsp freeze-dried strawberry powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg white
coarse sanding sugar
for the vanilla dough, combine butter and powdered sugar in a bowl. mix until smooth. add vanilla. add flour and salt and mix until no dry streaks remain. do the same for the matcha and strawberry doughs in separate bowls
place one portion of the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll into a 5 x 9-inch rectangle that is about 1/4-inch thick. slide rolled out dough onto a baking sheet and freeze for 10 min until firm. repeat this step with the other portions of dough
remove the top piece of parchment from each slab and stack the strawberry, vanilla, and matcha dough layers. cut the slab down the middle the long way to form two 2.5 x 9-inch rectangles. with one half, carefully swap the order of the layers (example: if the first half of the dough is stacked svm, swap the second half so it’s msv. this will ensure that same flavour squares don’t stack on each other). stack the halves. press the layers gently to adhere them. return the stacked dough to the freezer for another 10min
[recipe cont’d in comments]
#christmasbaking #christmascookies #holidaybaking #holidaycookies #cookiedecorating](https://constellationinspiration.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
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