Kat of The Bobwhites hosted this month's challenge and encouraged everyone to get creative with the shapes and fillings of our choux. She made some cute swans, and here's the link.
Yesterday, my sister and I made these and everyone loved them!!! We don't really have anything that we could have piped the swans with, so we just used some cookie cutters and made hearts and stars!Also, we had been wanting to try making faux caviar for a while and found a recipe here that didn't require any special ingredients, so we incorporated some chocolate "caviar" into the mix as well. Here's the recipe:
Cappuccino Cream-Filled Eclairs with Chocolate Ganache and Chocolate "Caviar"
For the cappuccino creme patissiere:
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 teaspoons very hot water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons instant cappuccino mix
- In a bowl, combine 1/4 cup of milk and the cornstarch, stirring until smooth.
- Heat the rest of the milk in a saucepan until boiling. Remove from heat.
- Stir first the whole egg, and then the yolks, into the milk/cornstarch mixture. Add about 1/3 of the hot milk to that gradually, whisking the entire time.
- Put the saucepan back on the stove over low heat. Pour in the tempered egg mixture in a stream, whisking constantly. Continue whisking until cream thickens and boils, to avoid lumps.
- Stir in the butter and vanilla.
- Combine the water and cappuccino mix, stir into the cream.
- Pour cream into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, making sure that the wrap touches the surface of the cream. Refrigerate.
For the choux:
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup flour
- 4 eggs
- In a medium sized saucepan, combine water, butter and salt. Bring to a rolling boil, remove from heat. Dump in all of the flour at once and stir until it forms a smooth paste. Cook a little bit longer until the flour pulls from the edges of the pot.
- Dump dough into a bowl, work for a few minutes until it is cool enough to touch.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating a little bit after each addition. Beat until a smooth, thick paste forms.
- Preheat oven to 375, grease or line baking sheets. Spoon or pipe out paste into desired shapes, making sure to smooth down any edges before baking.
- Bake until golden and puffy.
- Remove from baking sheets, let cool completely before filling.
For the ganache:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 12 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 14 tablespoons sugar
- 6 tablespoons oil
- Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan.
- Heat until everything is combined. Pour into a container.
For the chocolate "caviar":
- 2-3 cups oil (refrigerated overnight)
- 1/4 cup salt
- 3 oz hot chocolate (we made ours with milk and the ganache above)
- 2 packs unflavored gelatin
- 3 tablespoons water
- Combine the water and gelatin, stirring until there are no clumps of gelatin. Let sit while you prepare the hot chocolate.
- Fill a large bowl with ice, add water till about 2/3 full. Stir in the salt. Pour the cold oil into another bowl, set inside the ice bath.
- Pour the hot chocolate into the gelatin mixture, stir until the gelatin melts. With a dropper, drop 2-3 drops of chocolate mixture into the cold oil to make a "caviar". Keep dropping the chocolate into the oil until the bowl is full. Let sit about 3-5 minutes, remove with a strainer and set finished caviar in another bowl. Repeat this process as many times as you can before your gelatin mixture gets too thick.
For assembly:
- Once pastries are cool, poke holes in each one that are large enough to pipe the cream into. Fill a pastry bag with some of the creme patisserie, and pipe it into each eclair until it is full but not stuffed.
- Once all eclairs are filled, drizzle some of the ganache on top, and then sprinkle with the "caviar".
- Enjoy! :D
So there ya have it, our take on a "fun" filled choux! If anyone tries this, please let me know what you think!!!!
See ya later!
