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Éclair

6/7/2015

Éclairs are one of my favorites from childhood. Vanilla pastry cream from this classic dessert makes me feel like I am a young little girl again. In Thailand we make these Éclairs like little round cute cookies that can be a treat or a snack during the day. Don't fool yourself from what it looks like- these are little cute small balls. Then when I realized 10 of them were all gone. So I might prefer the big long ones that look like what we have here. It fills you up and your mind would say one is good ( not 10 ).

I chose to make Éclairs to bring to the temple on May 31, 2015. As Buddhists we know this day is Vesakha day, also known as Buddha day or Buddha's Birthday. It is to celebrete the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha. For more details, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesak

Yum

These little cute puffs can be filled with original pastry cream with creamy vanilla incorporated with buttery choux pastry make this a perfect treat for all. A little twice for this pastry can add all kinds of flavor, based on what you like. I love Matcha green tea and espresso. A little more flavor goes a long way- with my morning coffee that would be a lovely breakfast. You can also use seasoned fruit that your local market offers you different times of the year. Like strawberries, use 2 tablespoons of blended strawberry instead of Matcha green tea powder or espresso.

Ingrediants
Choux Pastry
1 cup water
1/2 cup or 1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tbs, plus 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
4 large eggs
Pastry cream, 1-3 tablespoons optional : espresso powder, Matcha green tea powder or blended fresh strawberries.

- Preheat the oven 400 degree. In a medium saucepan, bring the water, salt, sugar and better to boil ( start bubble). Remove the pan from the heat. Add flour and stir with silicone spatula, until it combine or you are not see the white stuff on the dough. Put the pan back to the stove, over the medium low stir the dough until the dough start to cook. You will see the white stuff start sticking on the side or on the bottom of the pan, in about 2 mins. Transfer the dough in to the electronic mixing bowl, beat at low speed until slightly cooled, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl with remaining ingredients, wish together 4 eggs with folk until it smooth. When the dough cool down. Add egg, suppurate in 3 addition in about 2 minutes.

- Transfer the dough to a pastry bag. Pipe fitted with a 1 cm round tip( Wilton number 195 ), pipe mounds about 1 inch in diameter onto the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the over down to 350 and bake the shell for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer shells to a rack and let it cool.

- Transfer Pastry cream to a pastry bag. Pipe fitted with round tip ( Wilton number 7 ), pipe the pastry cream right in to the shell, until it is fill up.

Serve with coffee or tea