El Elegant Eclair
An éclair is a pastry made with Pate a choux butter, water/milk, and egg….we will be using egg replacer) dough filled with a cream and topped with icing. An easy recipe to Veganism my friends!!
The dough, which is the same as that used for profiteroles, is traditionally piped into an oblong shape with a pastry bag and baked until it is crisp and hollow inside. But of course, I did different shapes and sizes! NO RULEs!! Once cool, the pastry then is filled with acustard filling of your choice or a fruit filling, then dipped in a glaze!! Oh chocolate glaze how I love thee….
The word éclair is French and means “flash of lightening”. Not sure really why, perhaps it’s because that’s how fast they disappear!! Here is a picture of my last one going down at our Lakeview location…within 3.25 minutes! Entire batch gone like a flash of lightening!!
Éclair VS The Long John
Do not be confused friends, Long Johns and Éclairs are NOT the same. Some places here in the states classify them together. We won’t see that in France that’s for sure! Long Johns use a dough pastry (check out donut blog for that recipes) and a pudding in side, which makes in simpler and less expensive to make then the éclair.
The Pate a Choux Recipe
Ap Flour 1 cup
Organic Sugar 2 tsp
Sea Salt ¼ tsp
Baking Powder ¼ tsp
Vegan Butter 2 tbl
Soy/Almond Milk 1 cup
Egg Replacer 2 Tbl
Whipped with 1/3 cup water
First get that over rolling at 400 degrees. Preheat it so it’s ready to go when the dough is.
-Place the whipped Egg Replacer aside so it’s ready to roll also.
-Sift the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together in a bowl.
-In a small sauce pot, bring the milk and butter to a boil.
-Add all the dry ingredient into the pot and reduce the low.
-Stir with a spoon or spatula until a bowl forms (this happens quickly)
-Remove the pan form the heat, add the whipped replace in quarters, mixing well between each batch. The dough will have a shine to it
-Prep up a cookie/baking sheet with wax paper cause they stick….BAD!!
-Place the dough in a piping bag or zip lock bag with a tip cut off and form away!
-Bake for 7 to 11 minutes, keep an eye on them! Allow them to cool completely before stuffing with your filling!
Custard Recipe
Soy/Almond Milk 1 ½ cups
Organic Sugar ¼ cup
Cornstarch/Tapioca Starch 2 Tbl
Other Flavors:
Cocoa Powder 4 tbl
Espresso/Coffee Shots 2 oz
Almond Extract 2 tsp
Peanut Butter ½ cup
Orange Extract 2 tsp
-In the sauce pot over medium high heat, place very thing in the pot and allow it to come to a full on boil. Be sure to stir constantly to avoid lumps. The picture below is what you DON”T want you cream to look like!! Ew…..
Easy fix…place the lumpy clumpy cream in the blender and buzz away! See…nice and smooth!! Place the cream in a bowl on ice and lay a piece of plastic over the top. This will prevent a “skin” forming.
Once the cream and choux are cooler and ready, you can slice them in half or create a crave for the filling fun!!
Then glaze away!!! Chocolate, White Chocolate, Sugar Glaze, Sprinkles, you name it! Get crazy!! Like they did….
