Would you like some éclairs? I do have them 🙂 Only where I come from, Kartsev and Zhvanetsky, Khait and Barats, and even Nika Belotserkovskaya, all call them “custard pastry”. Everything except our neighbour, Aunt Firochka, her food is called exclusively diminutive. Fira dough with small chocolate caps, Fira certainly spreads with a teaspoon! How else? You don’t know that in Odessa little finger pancakes, tiny dumplings, tiny little darlings, meatballs of three silver muffins and without fail to be a fan were always in fashion? Odessa food is delicate, it requires patience, female hands and a good neighborly recipe! And Aunt Fira also said that she eats a lot when she is nervous. Judging by her figure, she did not know a calm life at all 😊
Would you like some éclairs? I do have them 🙂 Only where I come from, Kartsev and Zhvanetsky, Khait and Barats, and even Nika Belotserkovskaya, all call them “custard pastry”. Everything except our neighbour, Aunt Firochka, her food is called exclusively diminutive. Fira dough with small chocolate caps, Fira certainly spreads with a teaspoon! How else? You don’t know that in Odessa little finger pancakes, tiny dumplings, tiny little darlings, meatballs of three silver muffins and without fail to be a fan were always in fashion? Odessa food is delicate, it requires patience, female hands and a good neighborly recipe! And Aunt Fira also said that she eats a lot when she is nervous. Judging by her figure, she did not know a calm life at all 😊- Prep time: 1 hour
- Cook time: 15 minutes
- Makes: 12 large or 24 smalls
- Difficulty: medium
- Course: pastry
- Cookware: bain-marie pan, pastry bag with a round nozzle 0.9-1.2 cm diameter, whisk, silicone spatula
- Cuisine: Odessa
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 150 g flour
- 200 ml water
- 100 g butter
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 3-4 eggs
For the custard cream:
- 50 g corn flour
- 100 g icing sugar
- 4 yolks
- 500 ml of milk
- 30 g butter
- seeds of 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla paste
Or for the chocolate custard cream:
- 50 g corn flour
- 100 g icing sugar
- 4 yolks
- 500 ml milk
- 30 g butter
- 90 g dark chocolate (at least 72%)
- seeds of 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla paste
For the chocolate glaze:
- 100 g dark chocolate (at least 72%)
- 5 tbsp milk
Cooking method
Step 1
Heat the oven to 180°C. Dice the butter. Sift the flour. Pour water into a saucepan with a heavy bottom, add butter, salt, sugar. Wait until butter has completely dissolved and bring to a boil. Remove saucepan from the heat, add flour, and, stirring vigorously with a spatula, knead the dough. Return saucepan to a low heat and cook the dough for 2-3 minutes, until it begins to easily form into a ball and comes away from the sides of the pan. Transfer the dough into a bowl and allow it to cool slightly for 2-3 minutes. Break one egg into a small bowl and mix well with a fork. Add the first egg into the bowl with the dough and stir intensively until the dough completely absorbs the egg. Repeat for the next two eggs, one at a time. Check the look and consistency of the dough: it should be elastic and shiny. If the dough is too steep, add half of the fourth egg. Recheck the consistency of the dough. Add the rest if necessary.⠀
Step 2
Cover the baking sheet with parchment paper. Put 24 balls of dough on a baking sheet with a teaspoon, or 12 tablespoons, at a distance of 3 cm from each other. Before picking the dough, each time the spoon must be moistened in cold water. Sweep each bun with a brush dipped in water. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Lower the temperature to 160°C and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove buns from the oven and set aside to cool.
Step 3
Cook the custard cream. Pour corn starch, icing sugar into a large bowl, add the yolks and stir with a whisk until a thick homogeneous mass. Cut vanilla bean along in half. From each half, scrape seeds with a knife. Pour milk into the saucepan, add the vanilla bean and seeds, put on a low heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, remove the vanilla bean. Pour milk into egg mass in a thin stream and mix well. Put on low heat and constantly stirring with a whisk, bring to boil. Keep stirring, remove from heat and add butter, bring to an even consistency. Leave the cream to cool.
Cook the chocolate custard cream. Pour corn starch, icing sugar into a large bowl, add the yolks and stir with a whisk until a thick homogeneous mass. Cut vanilla bean along in half. From each half, scrape seeds with a knife. Pour milk into the saucepan, add the vanilla bean and seeds, put on a low heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, remove the vanilla bean. Pour milk into egg mass in a thin stream and mix well. Put on low heat and constantly stirring with a whisk, bring to boil. Without ceasing to stir, remove from heat and add chocolate, bring to an even consistency. Leave the cream to cool.
Step 4
Make chocolate icing. Break the chocolate into small pieces. Pour milk into a bain-marie pan, add chocolate. Heat and, constantly stirring, bring to an even shiny mass.
Step 5
Transfer the custard cream to a pastry bag with a nozzle. Fill each bun with cream: make a small hole on the side with the nozzle and squeeze out the cream. Brush the eclairs with chocolate.
My tips and tricks:
How to carefully transfer the cream into a pastry bag with a nozzle, without dirtying yourself and everything that surrounds you? First prepare a tall glass or measuring cup from a hand blender. Take a pastry bag with a nozzle in your hand, and twist it once with your other hand once at the junction of the pastry bag and nozzle. Then, put the bag in the glass with the nozzle down so that the nozzle lies on its side and the twisted end does not unwind. Pull the wide part of the bag onto the glass so that it completely fits it inside and out. And voila – you can slowly fill the bag with cream!
- 150 g flour
- 200 ml water
- 100 g butter
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 3-4 eggs
- For the custard cream:
- 50 g corn flour
- 100 g icing sugar
- 4 yolks
- 500 ml of milk
- 30 g butter
- seeds of 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla paste
- Or for the chocolate custard cream:
- 50 g corn flour
- 100 g icing sugar
- 4 yolks
- 500 ml milk
- 30 g butter
- 90 g dark chocolate (at least 72%)
- seeds of 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla paste
- For the chocolate glaze:
- 100 g dark chocolate (at least 72%)
- 5 tbsp milk
- Heat the oven to 180°C. Dice the butter. Sift the flour. Pour water into a saucepan with a heavy bottom, add butter, salt, sugar. Wait until butter has completely dissolved and bring to a boil. Remove saucepan from the heat, add flour, and, stirring vigorously with a spatula, knead the dough. Return saucepan to a low heat and cook the dough for 2-3 minutes, until it begins to easily form into a ball and comes away from the sides of the pan. Transfer the dough into a bowl and allow it to cool slightly for 2-3 minutes. Break one egg into a small bowl and mix well with a fork. Add the first egg into the bowl with the dough and stir intensively until the dough completely absorbs the egg. Repeat for the next two eggs, one at a time. Check the look and consistency of the dough: it should be elastic and shiny. If the dough is too steep, add half of the fourth egg. Recheck the consistency of the dough. Add the rest if necessary.⠀⠀
- Cover the baking sheet with parchment paper. Put 24 balls of dough on a baking sheet with a teaspoon, or 12 tablespoons, at a distance of 3 cm from each other. Before picking the dough, each time the spoon must be moistened in cold water. Sweep each bun with a brush dipped in water. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Lower the temperature to 160°C and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove buns from the oven and set aside to cool.
- Cook the custard cream. Pour corn starch, icing sugar into a large bowl, add the yolks and stir with a whisk until a thick homogeneous mass. Cut vanilla bean along in half. From each half, scrape seeds with a knife. Pour milk into the saucepan, add the vanilla bean and seeds, put on a low heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, remove the vanilla bean. Pour milk into egg mass in a thin stream and mix well. Put on low heat and constantly stirring with a whisk, bring to boil. Keep stirring, remove from heat and add butter, bring to an even consistency. Leave the cream to cool.
- Cook the chocolate custard cream. Pour corn starch, icing sugar into a large bowl, add the yolks and stir with a whisk until a thick homogeneous mass. Cut vanilla bean along in half. From each half, scrape seeds with a knife. Pour milk into the saucepan, add the vanilla bean and seeds, put on a low heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, remove the vanilla bean. Pour milk into egg mass in a thin stream and mix well. Put on low heat and constantly stirring with a whisk, bring to boil. Without ceasing to stir, remove from heat and add chocolate, bring to an even consistency. Leave the cream to cool.
- Make chocolate icing. Break the chocolate into small pieces. Pour milk into a bain-marie pan, add chocolate. Heat and, constantly stirring, bring to an even shiny mass.
- Transfer the custard cream to a pastry bag with a nozzle. Fill each bun with cream: make a small hole on the side with the nozzle and squeeze out the cream. Brush the eclairs with chocolate.