Sweet 'n' Savoury: Mini Chocolate Eclairs

24th of the month..and my daughter Vaanya turns 15 months- the reason I celebrate 'Sweet day' on our blog. Today is an extra special sweet day for us being Amma's(mother-in-law) birthday too. Every 24th of the month is dedicated to something sweet to celebrate the spirit of the day Vaanya was born. This being an extra sweet one,I decided to attempt Chocolate Eclairs. This recipe was confirmed when Vishal admitted to loving these creamy chocolaty yummies just a few days back.

The Eclair is a basic recipe of a 'Choux' Pastry (pronounced shoo pastry). This basic recipe can be used to make eclairs, cream puffs and profiteroles.

The difference being in the way they are shaped and their respective filling.The eclairs have an elongated shape with a pastry cream filling and chocolate coating on top whereas cream puffs are circular with a whipped cream filling and powdered sugar dusting. Profiteroles on the other hand are circular and have an ice-cream filling.

Ingredients: Choux Pastry- makes 6 eclairs

1/2 cup water
4 tbsp unsalted butter
a pinch of salt
1 cup refined flour
2 eggs

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius. Line a baking tray with butter or parchment paper.

Combine water, butter and salt in a pan set over medium heat. Heat until the butter melts.

Remove from the pan and add all the flour at once, stirring well. Return to the pan and cook over medium heat till the mixture becomes smooth.

Remove from heat and let the mixture cool for 5-10 mins.

Beat in eggs one at a time mixing well with a mixer.

Take a zip-lock bag or a thick plastic bag. Fill this mixture in the bag and snip off the end. Now pipe 5"logs about 1" in diameter. Space them 3" apart to allow expansion. You can make 6-7 such logs with this recipe.

Put them in the preheated oven and bake for 15 mins and then reduce temperature to 170 degree Celsius to bake for 20-25 mins or till they are golden brown.

Place them on a rack to let them cool and then make a slit lengthwise for the pastry cream.

Ingredients:For Pastry cream

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup sugar
a pinch of salt
1tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tbsp refined flour
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

Procedure:

In a saucepan, stir together 1 cup of the milk, the sugar, salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Meanwhile, whisk the cornstarch, flour, and egg yolks with the remaining milk.

Whisk some of the hot milk mixture with the egg yolks to temper them. This keeps the yolks from turning to scrambled eggs when you add them to the simmering milk.

Pour the egg mixture back into the remaining simmering milk. Doing this through a strainer will help prevent lumps later. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a whisk, until the mixture thickens.

Remove from the heat and strain through a fine sieve. Stir in the vanilla extract.

To complete, fold the whipped cream into the cooled pastry cream.

Assembling the eclairs:

Fill the slit made in the eclairs with pastry cream. Top the eclairs with chocolate sauce made with mixing melted chocolate and cream (or by mixing some nutella with hersheys chocolate sauce ,as I did!)