Eclairs au Café

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I’ve been addicted to coffee ever since I can remember. Growing up, my mother would sometimes come back from our local baker with a box filled with a medley of patisseries. She knew exactly which pastry was each of her kids’ favourite. Mine was éclair au café – a light choux bun filled with a coffee flavoured pastry cream and topped with fondant icing. I must admit I don’t often make these because I can just walk to one of the many patisserie shops down the road to get one; but if you’re not as lucky as I am and have time on your hands, this recipe is well worth a try; especially if you like coffee as much as I do.

Tried & Tasted Recipe 

For the Choux:

• 250 ml water
• 100g butter
• 1 tbsp suger
• 1 pinch salt
• 150g flour
• 4 eggs

For the Pastry Cream:

• 500ml milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 100g sugar
• 40g plain flour
• 2 tbsp coffee granules
• 250g icing sugar and strong coffee for the fondant icing

Preheat oven to 190°C.
In a large saucepan, bring water, butter, salt and sugar to the boil. Once the butter has melted and the water is boiling, dip the flour in, take the pan off the heat and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together in a ball.
Add the eggs one at a time, stirring the dough in between. Don’t add another egg until the previous one has been fully incorporated.
Cover a baking tray with parchment paper and drop eight large spoonfuls of the mixture, leaving room for them to rise. Alternatively, and to keep with the traditional recipe method, you can use a piping bag to get the oblong éclair shape. Cook in the middle of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Then, turn the oven off and leave the choux in it to dry.

To prepare the cream filling, first put the milk to boil in a saucepan. Meanwhile, beat the yolks and sugar until pale and creamy, then mix in the flour. Once the milk  has reached boiling point, add the coffee granules and pour into the egg mixture slowly while you keep stirring/whisking.  Put the mixture back into the saucepan and, over a low heat, continue whisking until thick, smooth and glossy (this takes about 10 minutes). Remove from heat, pour the pastry cream into a bowl, cover with cling film and let it cool completely before using.

Once the cream has cooled, give it a good whisk and either use a piping bag to pipe the cream into the choux or cut the choux and fill using a spoon.
You could serve them like this with a light dusting of icing sugar.

To make the fondant icing, simply stir in a couple teaspoons of strong coffee, like espresso, into icing sugar. Dip the éclairs into the icing and leave them in the fridge for a couple of hours to set.