What have I been doing for the last 2 weeks? Baking, filling, and photographing eclairs. It’s been a weird but delicious few weeks, friends! I set my mind on perfecting a small batch eclair recipe, and even though the recipe testing process is over, I’m still craving eclairs. Because the 1129 eclairs I’ve eaten in the last 10 days isn’t enough. If last year was the year of the macaron (or was it the year of the donut?), then I’m proclaiming 2016 as the year of the eclair. Eclairs sound so fancy. Well, they are fancy. I buy them at my favorite patisserie often (passionfruit eclairs are my death bed food), but I wanted to make them at home for friends.
This recipe is based on my mini eclairs recipe; it makes 6 skinny eclairs. The eclairs are only 4" long, which is about 3 bites each. The pastry cream recipe is just enough to fill 6 small eclairs. The salted caramel sauce is easy–just open a jar. No, seriously I buy pre-made fleur de sel caramel sauce, and it’s perfect in this recipe. When you’re making homemade pastry and pastry cream, you don’t also want to make salted caramel sauce. Or, do you? There’s a recipe in my book, if you like. The finicky thing about eclairs is that they are best eaten the day they’re made. While I have stored them overnight, they soften too much. Maybe I’m not doing it right by enclosing them in a glass container, but they lose their crisp crust that contrasts so nicely with the cool, creamy filling. You can (and should) make the pastry cream the day ahead, though.
Caramel eclair recipe game plan:
Make the pastry cream the day before, cover and store in fridge. Then, a few hours before you want to eat eclairs, make the pastries. I can whip up the recipe in 10 minutes, and the ingredients are simple (flour, butter, water, a smidge of salt + sugar). Let them cool, stuff them with pastry cream, and then dunk them in warm caramel sauce right before serving. Serve while wearing a fancy apron, of course. Little pinch bowls of fleur de sel and raspberries on the table are nice, too.
