Then i came across this yummy looking recipe in one of Jamie Oliver's 'Jamie making you a better cook' magazine!
It was for Coffee Eclairs. To be honest Im not the biggest coffee fan!
I don't drink it and have no idea about coffee.
Once i got stuck in a conversation with one of my patients about coffee.....i had nothing to bring to this convo may i add!
But i don't mind coffee flavoured thinks, such as ice cream, tarts, ice coffee (does that count?)
Yet these coffee eclairs can turn even the biggest coffee hater into a lover!
They are subtle and delicate and just enough!
Coffee Eclairs
Ingredients
Eclairs (makes around 12-15)
65ml Milk
65ml Water
50 g Unlsalted Butter (softened)
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
75g Flour
2 Eggs, beaten plus egg wash
Coffee Custard Filling
Coffee Custard Filling
250ml Full cream Milk
2 Tablespoon Whole Coffee Beans
60g Sugar
1/2 Vanilla pod, split lengthways, seed scraped or I used 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste
1 Egg
2 Tablespoon Cornflour
25g Butter, diced into small cubes
Coffee glaze
100g Pure Icing Sugar
2 Tablespoon Espresso or Strong Coffee
Eclairs
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4 and line a baking tray with paper. Place the milk, butter, sugar, water and a pinch of salt in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat.
2. Remove from the heat, add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Return to a medium heat and cook for 1 minute, until the mixture comes away from the sides and a little skin forms on the bottom of the pan.
3. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the eggs till you have a smooth batter that just drops off the spoon. Cover with glad wrap and leave the mixture to cool.
4. Fit a large piping bag with a 1 cm plain nozzle, fill with cooled mixture and pipe out your eclairs onto the baking trays, spaced at about 5 cm apart. Brush with egg wash and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and puffed.
5. Transfer to a wire rack and pierce each pastry with a skewer so the steam can escape. Leave to cool.
Coffee Custard Filling
1. Place the milk, coffee beans, sugar, and vanilla pod and seeds or paste and a pinch of salt in a saucepan and heat to just under the boil. Remove the milk mixture from the heat, cover and leave to steep for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the egg and cornflour in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Strain the milk mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Return the mixture to the pan and heat again to just under the boil, then whisk 2 tablespoonsful into egg mixture.
3. Pour this back into the pan and whisk constantly over a low heat until you have a thick custard.
4. Strain the custard, then stir to release the steam. Stir in the butter cubes, one by one. Place a sheet of glad wrap on the custard's surface so a skin doesn't form, and leave to cool.
Construction
1. Cut the eclairs across the side till just attached.
2. Place the custard mixture in a piping back with a regular nozzle make sure they're nice and full! Pop the top on.
Coffee Glaze
1. Sift the icing sugar into a small bowl, then gradually whisk in the espresso. When smooth and glossy, spoon the glaze over the elcairs. Place on a board or rack and allow the icing to set before serving.
And your done!
