Coffee Eclairs

I absolutely love a good eclair from the famous O’Connors bakery at home in Co.Clare. I’m also partial to it’s rival the coffee slice and so you could say that coffee eclairs are the perfect blend of the two. Choux pastry gets a bad rap for being fiddly and tricky, when in fact, once you measure your ingredients right and set a timer (that works!) you really can’t go far wrong. There are a few steps involved in assembling these but all in all very doable and well worth the effort!

Coffee Eclairs

Ingredients

For the choux pastry
60g butter
150ml water
2 eggs
75g plain flour

For the filling and icing
1 tsp instant coffee
15g butter
2 tbsp water
90g icing sugar

200ml cream (whipped)

Method

For the choux pastry

1. Place the cubed butter and water in a pan and heat until the butter melts. Allow to boil.
2. Remove from the heat and sift in the flour, stirring well until the mixture forms a soft ball as pictured.
3. Allow to cool a little before adding the well-beaten egg and mixing until the mixture looks smooth and glossy.
4. Place the mixture into a piping bag with a 1cm nozel. Alternatively, you can use a freezer bag and snip the corner with a scissors. Butter a baking tray and splash with a little water. Carefully pipe 8cm lengths as pictured and then glaze with beaten egg.
5. Place in the oven at 200C for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 170C and bake for a further 15 minutes. Cut the choux buns in half (lengthways) and allow to cool on a wire rack.

For the filling and icing

1. To make the coffee glaze, place the butter, coffee and water into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of boiling water. Heat gently until the butter melts.
2. Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the icing sugar, mixing until smooth. Dip the top half of each éclair in the glaze or alternatively use a spoon. Place the top halves in the fridge for ten minutes to allow the glaze to set and avoid the pastry becoming soggy.
3. Place the whipped cream into the lower half of the eclairs.
4. Remove the glazed tops from the fridge and assemble the éclairs carefully, sandwiching the tops onto the cream-filled bases.