Recipe Coffee eclairs - Kitchen / Madame Figaro Icon / Brand / F Plume Close the panel Open the panel Icon / Brand / F Plume
Preparing the coffee custard
Put the cornstarch and half the sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Pour in the milk, stirring with a whisk. Add the 5 g of soluble coffee and the 5 g of coffee extract and bring to the boil, whisking.
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks for 3 minutes with the remaining sugar. Sprinkle with a little milk, still whisking.
Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook, whisking.
Once boiling, remove from heat. Remove the vanilla pods, pour the cream into a bowl and immerse it in a large container filled with ice cubes.
When the cream has cooled (50°C), add the butter, whisking vigorously.
Preparation of the choux pastry
Pour the water and fresh milk into a saucepan; add salt, sugar and butter. Bring to a boil, stirring with a spatula.
Add all the flour at once. Stir vigorously with the spatula until the dough is smooth and homogeneous. When it comes away from the sides and bottom of the pan, keep stirring the dough for 2 or 3 minutes, to dry it out a bit.
Place it in a salad bowl; add the whole eggs, one at a time, making sure the first is fully incorporated before adding the next.
Continue working the dough like this. Lift it from time to time: when it falls down forming a ribbon, it means that it is ready.
Put it in a pastry bag and drop it on a baking sheet in the shape you want, in the shape of a sausage, for example, for the éclairs.
Cooking eclairs
Preheat the oven to 190°C.
Slip the dough into a pocket fitted with a large no. 13 or no. 14 fluted nozzle. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, place 12 sticks, 12 cm long (they should weigh about 30 g each). Bake them for 20 minutes, opening the oven door a little after the first 7 minutes.
Then place the eclairs on a wire rack and let them cool completely.
Preparation of fondant
In a saucepan with a very thick bottom, heat the water over high heat, with the sugar and glucose. Remove the syrup from the heat when it reaches the “small ball” stage (121°C).
Pour it on a very cold and oiled marble or work surface, and let it cool down.
Work it vigorously with a metal spatula, spreading it and picking it up on itself several times until it is perfectly homogeneous, smooth and white.
Put it in an airtight box or in a terrine covered with cling film and reserve in the refrigerator (4°C).
Preparation of the icing
In a saucepan, put the water and the sugar and bring to a boil to make a syrup. In another saucepan put the fondant to heat in a bain-marie. As soon as it is softened, add the coffee extract and gradually pour in the syrup in a thin stream, swirling very slowly with a wooden spoon, without making bubbles. As soon as the fondant has become pasty and supple (its ideal consistency), do not add any more syrup. It will then spread easily without running.
Finishing and dressing the éclairs
Put the pastry cream in the pocket fitted with a medium smooth no. 7 nozzle. Push the nozzle into one of the ends of each eclair; stuff them one by one.
Pour the fondant into the pocket fitted with a flat nozzle and coat the top of the éclairs.
It freezes in 5 to 10 minutes and the éclairs are ready to be tasted; otherwise, keep them cool.
