Coffee Eclairs

Yesterday was International Coffee Day and I completely missed the boat and didn’t share a delicious coffee themed recipe, but I’m making up for it today by sharing one for these super delicious Coffee Eclairs.

These light pastry shells are filled with homemade coffee-flavoured creme patisserie and then dipped in melted chocolate just for good measure.

They’re not too hard to make, believe it or not, and make such an awesome treat time or an after-dinner treat! The only thing I’d say is to make sure you follow step 9 properly so that you don’t land up with scrambled egg custard, so not a vibe 🙂

If you make some, do let me know, I’d love to hear what you think 🙂 And if coffee isn’t your thing then you can always try my Profiteroles dipped in warm chocolate sauce.

INGREDIENTS: Makes ±9 eclairs

 75g plain flour

· A pinch salt

· 150mls water

· 50g unsalted butter

· 2 large eggs, beaten

CUSTARD INGREDIENTS

· 250 ml full cream milk

· 2 and 1/2 tbsp instant coffee powder OR a triple espresso

· 2 Egg Yolks

· 45g (3 tbsp) caster sugar

· 30g (1/4 cup) cornstarch

FOR THE TOP OF THE ECLAIRS:

100g dark or milk chocolate – chopped

100 ml cream

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C and line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper.
2. Sift the flour and salt twice and set them aside in a bowl.
3. Place the water and butter into a medium-sized pot and gradually heat until the butter melts and then increase the temperature. As soon as the water reaches a brisk boil, lower the heat again and tip in all of the flour. Beat quickly using a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a ball and leaves the sides of the pot clean.
4. Remove the pot from the heat and cool slightly before you add the eggs, one at a time, beating hard until the mixture is shiny and firm. My mixture was a little lumpy so after I beat it with a wooden spoon, I mixed it a little more with my electric beater and it came out nice and smooth.
5. Pipe the pastry onto the tray, I used a large round tip nozzle and made ±6 cm long tube-shaped eclairs (this mixture made ±9 eclairs).
6. Bake in the oven for ±25 mins, or until golden-brown and puffed up. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
7. In a small pot, bring the milk and coffee to a boil over a medium heat. Then remove from the heat.
8. Whisk the egg yolks and castor sugar in a separate bowl. Add the cornstarch and mix well until there are no lumps. 
9. **This is important, you must continue whisking the mixture above while you slowly add HALF your hot milk/coffee to the eggs. Whisk quickly to make sure that the eggs don’t scramble! Then pour this batter back into the pot with the rest of the milk/coffee, again whisking the whole time!
10. Place the pot back on the heat and vigorously whisk until it starts thickening. Once thick remove from the heat then pour your crème patissière into a shallow dish and cover the surface with cling-film to prevent a skin from forming.
11. When the profiteroles are cooled use a sharp knife to cut a small cross at the bottom of each one then fill them with the crème patissière. I used a piping bag with a small round tip. You could also use a ziplock bag with a corner snipped off. I filled mine until a bit of mixture came out the bottom.
12. Place your chopped chocolate in a small shallow bowl. Then add the cream to a small pot and place on a medium heat, gently bring it to a boil. Once boiling remove and pour it over the chopped chocolate. Allow the chocolate to melt for 5 minutes before stirring the mixture until smooth.
13. Dip each eclair topside down into the melted chocolate then stuff your face! 🙂