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Recipes  

Perfect Valentine's Day Caramel Eclairs

Ingredients:

Pastry Cream

  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla crystals

    Choux Pastry

  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • Pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 2 large eggs

    Caramel Icing

  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup whipping cream
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons butter
  • 1/8 teaspoon vanilla crystals
  • 1 tablespoon strong coffee
  • 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

    Preparation:

    Pastry cream:

    In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar. Whisk in flour, cornstarch, vanilla crystals and milk. Continue to whisk constantly over medium heat. The mixture will bubble and should become harder to pull whisk through the custard. When thick, remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour into a small bowl, refrigerate 1 hour.

    Choux pastry:

    Preheat oven to 400 and bake an additional 25 minutes. They should be lightly browned. The easiest way to beat in one egg at a time is to use the edge of the wooden spoon to "cut" the eggs into the dough. The mixture will be slippery at first, keep stirring and cutting in until it becomes sticky. Stir vigorously at this point until well blended, repeat with second egg. It is easy to drop tablespoonfuls onto a greased baking tray for bite size OR to make larger Eclairs you can fit a pastry bag with a 5/16-inch plain tip and pipe out 3 or 5-inch strips that are approximately 1/2-inch wide. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 25 minutes. They should be lightly browned. Set the pastries on a cooling rack, then use a scissors to cut a small slit in the side of each pastry to allow steam to escape. Pastries are best kept in a cool dry place at room temperature. When ready to serve, use a clean piping bag and fill with custard.

    Caramel icing: In a 1-quart saucepan, heat brown sugar, cream and butter over medium heat until sugar melts. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla crystals, milk and confectioners' sugar. Top filled pastries with warm icing. Place in the refrigerator if you are not serving the pastries immediately. Variation: You could also use a chocolate icing of choice. This recipe makes 12 medium size pastries or 24 bite size.

    Story:

    I found this recipe on Vanillacrystals.ca. I used the all natural crystals in place of extract and they were heavenly. Remember the movie Simply Irresistible? Well I believe these could be the magic love eclairs. Yummmm!

    Submitted by: Toni


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