Eclairs

Ingredients

Choux pastry:

• 80 ml milk
• 80 ml water
• 70 g butter
• 1 pinch of salt
• 10 g sugar
• 100 g flour
• 2 eggs, medium size, beaten

Custard:

• 3 egg yolks
• 500 ml milk
• 150 g sugar
• 30 g cornstarch
• 1 vanilla pod

Glaze:

• 100 g white chocolate
• 10 g cocoa butter

To decorate (optional)
– Edible black food colouring (gel)
– Writting clear stamps. I used one similar to this

Directions

1. Prepare custard. In a saucepan bring vanilla pod, 400 ml milk and sugar to the boil. Mix remaining milk and corstarch. Beat the egg yolks, and mix in. Remove milk from heat, remove vanilla pod, and then gradually stir in egg yolk mixture. Reduce heat to low, bring back saucepan to heat, and let thicken stirring constantly. Reserve until cold (cover with a plastic film)
2. Preheat oven to 150º C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Prepare and weight all ingredients for the choux pastry. In a medium saucepan, bring the water, milk, butter, salt and sugar to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, immediately take the pan off the heat. Stirring with a wooden spoon, add all the flour at once and stir hard until all the flour is incorporated. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, about 1 minute. Scrape the mixture into a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer). Mix at medium speed. With the mixer running, add 2/3 of the beaten eggs. Stop mixing and check the consistency of the dough. Dough should be smooth and glossy and thick. If it is too thick, add the remaining egg until incorporated.
3. Fill a piping bag fitted with a plain 2 cm nozzle. Position it at a 45 degree angle in relation to the baking tray and push out the mixture while moving the bag in one clean movement to give the éclair a nice straight shape; apply an even pressure to the piping bag so that the tube of mixture that comes out has the same diameter as the nozzle. When the éclair is 10-15 long, cut off the mixture with a smooth-bladed knife. If necessary, smooth the éclairs with some water. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Turn off the oven, lightly open the door, and let the eclairs rest for 10 minutes inside the hot oven. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
4. Fill the eclairs with the custard
5. Melt chocolate and cocoa butter in the microwave. Dip the top of a filled éclair in the icing, then hold it vertically and run a finger over it to remove the excess icing. Run a finger around the edge of the icing so you have a nice clean edge. Chill until set
6. To decorate, begin by putting a generous squish of coloring on your blank ink pad and spreading it out with a brush. Do a few test prints on paper to be sure you are getting the full pattern inked sufficiently. Every time you tamp an eclair, press the stamp onto the ink pad and then make a first impression on paper to remove any excess ink. Chill until ready to serve