Eclair

What you need

Ingredients

• 125ml water
• 125ml whole milk
• 110g unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 150g plain flour
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 300ml heavy cream
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 120g dark chocolate, chopped

How to make it

Directions

1. Make the pastry cream first. Heat 300ml of the cream until steaming, then whisk in the icing sugar and vanilla. Chill until thick and cold, at least 1 hour.
2. Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan) and line a baking tray with parchment.
3. Combine the water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a rolling boil.
4. Add all the flour at once and stir hard with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a smooth ball that pulls away from the pan, about 2 minutes.
5. Transfer to a bowl and cool 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure each is fully absorbed before adding the next. The batter should be glossy and fall slowly from the spoon.
6. Pipe 12cm fingers of batter onto the tray, spaced well apart. Smooth any points with a wet finger.
7. Bake 30 to 35 minutes until deeply golden and firm. Prick each shell with a skewer to let steam escape, then cool completely on a wire rack.
8. Split each shell, fill generously with the chilled vanilla cream, melt the chocolate and spread it over the tops, and let set 20 minutes before serving.