Recipe- Mouthwatering Eclairs With Whipped Cream

I see the fancy Eclairs and I love the fancy Eclairs. They have the fabulous glazes, flavored creme patisserie, decorations that are impossibly beautiful. Those are not the Eclairs I make. The Eclairs I make are those of my youth. They are the ones my mother made in our kitchen in Jeddah, messy imperfect looking eclairs. They are the bakery Eclairs from Karachi – oozing with pillowy whipped cream and with a simple smooth chocolate glaze. I find them hard to resist even now and apparently so do my girls because we have gone from 20 to 0 in 48 hours! That said let’s all be happy this is a smaller batch of Eclairs with Whipped Cream because at this rate we would have consumed a larger batch too!

Eclairs can seem daunting to make so here I am going to try and break down the process for you. None of the individual components are tricky I promise! I have been making them for years now and have tips that can help you along. Read them through and follow the recipe and you’ll be whipping up this smaller batch of Eclairs with Whipped Cream in no time!

Ingredients

4 tbsp butter
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup flour
2 egg
1 1/2 cup Whipping Cream
1/4 cup Sugar Granulated where it's fine, Caster otherwise
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 cup Whipping cream
1/2 cup Chocolate Chips

Method

* Bring the first four ingredients to a boil in a small pot

* Remove from the heat and add the flour all at once, stir well with a wooden spoon

* Put the pot back on medium heat, keep stirring with a wooden spoon till it comes together – about a minute.

* Transfer the dough to a mixing bowl, let it cool for a few minutes.

* Add your eggs one by one beating well until the dough comes together to create something that is cohesive and shiny. When you lift your beater up you will see thick ribbons forming.

* Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

* Draw lines on a parchment paper (I used a credit card!) making sure to space them 2.5 inches apart and then flip the parchment paper

* Put your dough into a piping bag with a 1.5-2.5 cm opening depending on how thick you want the final result.

* Pipe lines (you can trim the ends with a knife as you pipe)

* Bake for 16-18 minutes for slim eclairs, 20 minutes for thicker ones.

* The pastry cases should look a deep golden and feel hollow when you tap them.

* TIP: For a humid environment pile all your finished cases on to one sheet, turn the oven off and leave them in for a few extra minutes.

* Heat the cream to barely simmering, stir in chocolate chips to melt, set aside to cool (and thicken)

* Start whipping the cream on medium heat

* As it thickens then add the sugar gradually until stiff peaks form

* Mix in the Vanilla, adjust for taste adding in more sugar if needed.

* Fill your cream into a piping bag with a metal tip (I use my star tip)

* Use the tip to poke a hole into the side of the case

* Apply pressure to fill the hollow case with cream

* Dip the tops of the eclairs in your glaze (if it is too runny refrigerate it for a little bit, if it is too hard then warm it a little).

* Eat cold.