Èclairs with Crème Pâtissière

My family comes from the Basque Country. I was born in Portugalete and raised in Santurce, Vizcaya. Although we moved to Madrid when my sister and I where still kids, I have plenty memories from those years …. and the largest parts of them are related to food.

My mother, big pastry fan, tough me to enjoy a good “gateaux” at a very early age. We used to go to Kai-Alde pastry workshop for the best millefeuilles and èclairs “in the world”.

Few weeks ago I met with my close cousins in Bilbao. We did not only enjoy pintxos, but my cousin Jorge, a talented graphic designer http://alambiquedg.com , took us to the coolest places in town.

Later we went to Santurce, straight to Kai-Alde. I will not tell you how many millefeuilles I bought. What I can show you is all èclairs I bake when I got home.

The recipe is from the book “Sucré” from Ladurée. I will not tell you this time about Ladurée. That’s for another time!

I hope you like it!!

Pâte à Choux

Ingredients

65 gr all purpose floor

2 medium size eggs

50 gr butter

Pinch of salt

150 ml of water

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Sieve the flour on a parchment paper. Beat the eggs slightly. Place butter, salt and water in a saucepan. Bring it to boil very slowly.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour at once, mixing it with a wooden spoon. Bring the pan back to the heat and whisk the mixture energically for two minutes. You should get a soft ball that easily comes off the sides of the saucepan.

Remove the saucepan from heat, let it cool two minutes. Slowly and whisking at the same time add eggs and vanilla extract.

Preheat the oven at 200º. Sprinkle flour on baking sheet. Get the warm dough in a pastry bag with a plain or circular nozzle. Press until you get the amount of dough desired. Leave 5cm between each choux.

Bake for 20 min at 200º and 10-15 at 180º. When the time is up, turn off the oven but do not open the oven. Let them cool inside the oven.

Crème Pâtissière

Ingredients

1 vanilla bean

40cl whole milk

4 egg yolks

80gr caster sugar

30gr cornmeal (Maizena)

25gr butter

Directions

With a knife, cut the vanilla bean length-wise and scrape the seeds into a saucepan with the milk and the bean. Bring the milk to shiver. Remove it from the heat, cover it and let the vanilla infuse the milk for 15 min.

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the sugar until the mix pales slightly. Add the cornmeal (Maizena).

Remove the vanilla bean from the milk and re-heat until shivering. Pour 1/3 of the warm milk on the egg mixture and whisk; return the mixture to the saucepan. Bring the mixture to boil while whisking. Scrape down the sides of the saucepan.

Remove the cream from the heat and pour it in a bowl. Let it cool for 10 min, so the cream is warm but not boiling, then add the butter and whisk. Cover the cream with plastic film.