French fancies: Long live the eclair

Chef ko wai on action

After its mouth-watering makeover, the éclair is now sexier than ever.

THE éclair is officially no longera faded French beauty. After years of being outshone bycupcakes and macarons, thetorpedo-shaped éclair – which means flash of lightning for the speed it is gobbled down – has now gotten the facelift it so deserves, thanks to patissiers such as Christophe Adam of L’Eclair de Génie, in Paris.

Adam is said to do for the éclair what Pierre Hermé did for the macaron. From limited-edition chocolate-and-truffle éclairs inspired by Mademoiselle Coco Chanel’s little black dress to vivid rainbow-coloured éclairs to represent Gay Pride, these 21st century éclairs are fun and fashionable.

Adam has stripped the pastry off its standard choc-and-cream get-up and replaced it with an ever-changing lineup of flavours, including passionfruit, yuzu, caramelised pecans with vanilla cream, or even popcorn and salted caramel. 

Local pastry chefs have been slow to follow the trend. In a hurry to get it going, we ask a local patissier to show us the possibilities and share recipes so that we can all make them at home.

Chef Ko Wai from the Academy of Pastry Arts Malaysia agrees that it’s an art that’s still largely underappreciated in Malaysia, where a close cousin of the éclair, the choux a la creme and choux chantilly, also known as the cream puff, is a common and cheap dessert.

Unlike a macaron, an éclair has to be freshly baked, according to KL-based pastry consultant Jean Francois Arnaud.

One of France’s top patissiers, the MOF-awarded chef recalls a time when the classic éclair was a bestseller in his family’s pastry shop in France.

He sums up the perfect éclair: “The choux bun needs to be crunchy, not soft; the filling needs to be creamy and tasty, of course. In order to preserve the texture of the choux, and the freshness of the cream, it needs to be freshly baked, and eaten within a few hours, no more.”

The best éclairs then, are the ones you make at home. Before tackling this culinary trend head-on, it is helpful to learn its history.

Eclairs are made from the same light, airy dough as cream puffs or profiteroles. Known as choux pastry or pate a choux (pronounced pata shoe) in French, it is traced back to the late Renaissance, to a chef in the service of Italian noblewoman Catherine de Medici. Eventually, they travelled with her to Paris when she was crowned the queen of France.

Smitten by the eclair, the Academy of Pastry Arts Malaysia's Chef Ko Wai reimagines it in 101 ways.

It was there that this precursor to the éclair – baked in a round form, sans filling – became the star of royal parties.

A century went by before the legendary pastry chef Marie-Antoine Carême came up with the éclair as we know it today: filled with pastry cream and iced with a dark and gleaming chocolate sauce.

What’s great about the choux is that it doesn’t call for any particular pastry skills, like lightness of hand or careful rolling.

In her article “How to Make the Perfect Parisian Éclair”, food journalist Limor L. Tiroche wrote:

“To make pate a choux, you begin by melting butter in a pot, in hot water, over a low fire. You then add the flour all at once and cook, stirring constantly, to vaporise the liquids.

"The cooking and constant stirring release the gluten stored in the flour, until the batter stretches like rubber. The resulting batter is smooth and homogenous, and has a consistency that is flexible but not sticky.”

Bakers are then advised to transfer the batter to a mixing bowl and add several large eggs, one at a time and very patiently, until the batter is soft and delicate.

This is, in Ko Wai’s opinion, the trickiest part of the process. “Keep in mind that the amount of eggs needed vary each time according to the moisture levels of the flour.

"If the dough is too liquid, the pastry won’t expand during baking. As such, it will be helpful if you mix each additional egg in thoroughly before adding the next.”

And here’s a tip: you know your batter is ready if it makes a V shape when you tilt it out of the bowl.

The next step – piping it onto baking paper – requires a steady hand. “Once you get the form right, everything will fall into place,” says Ko Wai. “If not, the pastry will not expand the right way.”

Once you’ve got that sorted, it’s time to move on to the filling; and the great part about this choux pastry is that it’s highly versatile.

L’Atelier d’Éclair in Les Halles stuffs theirs with chorizo, sundried tomatoes and smoked salmon, while Stohrer, the oldest pâtisserie in Paris, fills theirs with foie gras.

CHOUX BUN
Makes 15-20 buns

125g full cream milk
125g water
125g unsalted butter
5g sugar
5g salt
160g all-purpose flour, sifted
250g eggs, beaten

In a saucepan, combine the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt, and bring to boil over medium heat. Add the flour and stir with wooden spatula until the mixture leaves a film on the bottom of the pot.

Remove from heat and tip the hot choux dough into the bowl of a stand mixer.

Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed until the dough cools down to lukewarm.

Add the eggs gradually as you continue to mix, scraping the dough from the sides of the mixing bowl from time to time, until batter is smooth.

Fill the mixture into a piping bag attached with an 8B star nozzle. Pipe strips of 13-14cm length on a parchment- or silicone mat-lined baking tray, about 5cm apart.

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Spray non-stick coating on the choux buns, and bake for about 90 minutes, until buns are light and airy, and golden brown in colour. Cool before filling.

Mango Passionfruit Éclair

MANGO PASSIONFRUIT ÉCLAIR

1 recipe choux bun

mango passionfruit curd

185g eggs
160g egg yolks
15g sugar
100g passionfruit pulp or puree
400g mango puree
185g butter, at room temperature
6g gelatine powder
30ml water to soak gelatine

For the curd

Mix eggs and egg yolks with sugar. In a medium size saucepan, bring passionfruit and mango puree to boil and pour gradually over the egg mixture; stir to mix. Return mixture to the saucepan and continue to cook on medium heat until hot (82-85°C). Pour out from the pan immediately, and let it cool down until lukewarm (50-55°C) before stirring in the softened butter. Keep in the chiller until ready to use.

To assemble éclair

Fill a piping bag with a round nozzle with the mango-passionfruit curd. Using the tip of a knife, poke three holes on the bottom of the choux bun. Pipe the curd into the éclair to fill it. Decorate as desired or simply dust top with icing sugar.

Black Sesame Éclair

BLACK SESAME ÉCLAIR

1 recipe choux bun

black sesame ganache

60g sesame seeds
60g sugar
6g water
220g UHT whipping cream
125g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
125g milk chocolate, roughly chopped

chantily cream

250g UHT whipping cream, cold
25g caster sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, or 1/2 tsp extract

streusel (crumble)

113g cold butter, cubed
113g brown caster sugar
1 pinch fine sea salt
95g all-purpose flour

For the black sesame ganache

Preheat the oven to 160°C. In a mixing bowl, mix together the sesame seeds, sugar and water.

Spread mixture onto a baking paper- or silicone mat-lined baking tray and bake for about 45 minutes. Put in the food processor and blend into a paste.

Heat up the cream, and pour onto the dark and milk chocolate in a bowl. Stir to dissolve the chocolate, and cool the mixture until just warm (35-40°C).

Add the black sesame paste and stir to mix well. Chill for 1 to 2 hours, or until it’s firm and ready to use.

For the chantily cream

Place the cream in the bowl of a stand mixer and add the sugar. Scrape the vanilla seeds from the bean into the cream or add extract. Whip until stiff peaks form. Keep in the chiller if not using immediately.

For streusel

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Combine the streusel ingredients and rub into the flour with the fingers until crumbly. Thiscan also be done in a mixer. Tip crumbs onto a baking paper- or silicone mat-lined baking tray and spread them out evenly.

Bake for 10 minutes, stir the streusel, even out, and continue to bake for another 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool and store in an air-tight container until ready to use.

To assemble éclair

Trim the top of the choux bun away (1/3 of the bun). Fill a piping bag with the black sesame ganache and pipe ganache to fill the hollow in the choux bun.

Fill a piping bag with the chantily cream and pipe over the black sesame ganache. Top with the streusel crumbs. Decorate as you like.

Peanut Banana Éclair

PEANUT BANANA ÉCLAIR

1 recipe choux bun

banana nutmeg ganache

130g UHT whipping cream
90g banana puree
1/2 vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp extract
25g sorbitol powder
1 pinch ground nutmeg
135g milk chocolate, roughly chopped
175g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
33g unsalted butter, at room temperature
15g cocoa butter

pastry cream (crème pâtissière)

25g custard powder
65g caster sugar
1 pinch fine sea salt
40g egg yolks
250g milk
1/2 vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp extract
25g unsalted butter

peanut praline

263g raw skinned peanuts
263g caster sugar
1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp extract
71g water
2g fine sea salt

speculos crisp

160g all-purpose flour
160g unsalted butter
100g egg white
240g brown caster sugar
20g mixed spices powder
2g fine sea salt

peanut mousseline

100g peanut praline
100g butter, softened
200g pastry cream
70g speculos, crushed

chocolate glaze

14g gelatin powder
85g water for soaking gelatin
135g water
160g sugar
260g glucose
160g neutral glaze*
300g dark chocolate

For the banana ganache

In a saucepan, combine the cream and banana puree. Scrape the vanilla seeds from the bean into the cream (if using extract, add later with the butter). Bring to boil on medium heat. Add the sorbitol powder and nutmeg.

Place the chocolates in a bowl and slowly pour hot cream mixture over as you mix with a hand blender (or you can do this in a stand mixer) until mixture cools to lukewarm (35-50°C).

Mix in the softened butter and cocoa butter (at 35°C) with the hand blender. Chill for 1 to 2 hours, or until it’s firm and ready to use.

For the pastry cream

Place the custard powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl and mix with a whisk to remove any lumps. Add egg yolks and whisk to mix well.

Put the milk in a saucepan and scrape in the vanilla seeds from the bean or add extract. Bring to boil and pour gradually into the egg yolk mixture while whisking.

Return mixture to the pan and cook over low heat until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the butter.

Transfer to a bowl and cover with cling film directly on the pastry cream to avoid the forming of a skin. Chill for 1 to 2 hours, or until it’s firm and ready to use.

For the praline

Place the water and sugar in a saucepan and scrape the vanilla seeds from the bean into the mixture or add extract. Bring to boil and cook on medium heat until it reaches 121°C. Add the peanuts and continue cooking and stirring until it caramelises and turns brown. Pour onto a greaseproof paper- or silicone mat-lined tray and leave to cool until hardened. Crush the candy and blend to a paste.

For the speculos

Preheat the oven at 160°C. Place all the ingredients in a stand mixer. Mix with the paddle until it forms a paste. Spread thinly on a greaseproof paper- or silicone mat-lined tray.

Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool before storing in an airtight container until ready to use.

For the mousseline

Mix softened butter and peanut praline with a whisk. Add pastry cream and speculos, and mix well.

For the chocolate glaze

Soak the gelatin in the water. Bring water and sugar to a boil. Add glucose and return to a boil. Add neutral glaze and bring back to boil. Add gelatin and stir until dissolved. Place the chocolate in a mixing bowl and pour the hot mixture onto it; blend well with a hand blender. Cool the glaze and maintain it at around 28-30°C.

To assemble éclair

Fill the banana ganache and peanut mousseline into piping bags. Using the tip of a knife, poke three holes on the bottom of the choux bun. Pipe the banana ganache, and then the peanut mousseline into the éclair to fill it. Glaze the éclair by dunking the top upside down into the chocolate glaze. Garnish as desired.

The Academy of Pastry Arts Malaysia is at Lot 2A, 2nd Floor, Wisma Thrifty, 19, Jalan Barat, Petalling Jaya, 46200 Selangor. Tel. [phone].