My dad's favourite desserts are Brandy Snaps and Chocolate Eclairs. I will often buy the brandy snaps (although I have made my own in the past), but I am always on the lookout for a good choux pastry recipe. Last night was the night before Reuben was due to start school so I wanted to make a nice dessert for them as a treat. Actually it was also the night before Harry was due to start school too but I got confused and thought it was the next day...until the school called me mid-Powhiri at Reuben's school, to ask why Harry was sick. You can only imagine the panic and the bad-mother-moment feeling that arose form that! We ended up, rather sheepishly, getting him to school by 11am so all was not lost. Anyway I digress.... The boys also love choclate eclairs so I thought this was a perfect excuse to try a different choux pastry recipe and to make them a treat I know they love. Bring on Dorie and her 'Around My French Table' book. I have learned to trust in Dorie. Her recipes are pretty much always reliable so I thought they would turn out well. And they did.
I made both round and long pastries. Last night I served them with whipped cream (for Reubs) or ice cream (for Harry) and a real chocolate sauce. I have to say that even though I only used 62% dark chocolate, it was still a bit bitter and didn't really complement the pastry all that well as the flavour was quite dominant so next time I'll use just the plain old dark. Today I decided to whip up some more cream and make a basic chocolate buttercream for a more traditional Kiwi chocolate eclair and they were delicious. In fact far too good for me so I'll have to freeze them for a later day treat.
The recipe itself differed from the one I usually make which has all water. This one had both milk and water. They were very easy to make, rose well and tasted great. For anyone who is scared of making choux pastry, give it a go as it is actually deceptively easy so long as you follow the instructions.
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