Salted Caramel Eclairs

Ingredients

Choux Pastry

  • 120g butter
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup flour, sifted
  • salt
  • 4 eggs – lightly beaten

Custard Filling

  • 1/2 litre  milk
  • 60g flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk – lightly whisked
  • pinch of salt

Caramel Sauce

  • 100g  butter
  • 150g soft dark brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons of golden syrup
  • 50ml of double cream

Method

Choux Pastry

  1. Preheat oven to 200ºC.
  2. Bring butter and water to boil, remove from heat and add sifted flour and salt. Return to heat, all the time beating mixture until it forms one ball and leaves the sides of the saucepan, roughly 3 minutes.
  3. Place pastry into a mixer and beat until it cools to a luke warm temperature. Then slowly add in the eggs until it’s all thoroughly incorporated.  Place the pastry into a piping bag and pipe 10cm lines onto a lined baking tray (or you could make mini versions). Let cook for roughly 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Custard Filling

  1. Place 3/4 cup of sugar and the water into a heavy based saucepan.
  2. Let the sugar boil for 8-10 minutes or until the sugar turns a caramel colour. You should also be able to smell once it has caramelised. Take the pan off the heat and place the base in some cold water. This will stop the sugar from burning. Add the milk a little at a time and then place back on the heat on low. Keep stirring, the caramel will harden but then soften and melt as the milk warms up.
  3. In a separate bowl mix the remaining sugar, flour and salt. Slowly add the eggs whilst beating the mixture to prevent lumps. Add this to the pan of milk a little at a time and just keep mixing for 2-3 minutes! If all else fails and the mixture becomes lumpy you can always bamix it. (I did!) You’ll need to get rid of all the lumps as this may cause issues when piping into the pasty.
  4. Place the custard into a piping bag. Create a small hole in the end of the pastry and poke the nozzle into the end and pipe! Hold the eclair and you should be able to feel when it’s full.

Caramel Sauce

  1. A generous pinch of good quality salt to serve
  2. Place the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil until the sugar is dissolved.
  3. Add the cream and whisk together. Bring to a steady simmer for 3 minutes.
  4. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly before drizzling over the top. Sprinkle with a little salt