Strawberry & Custard Eclairs

Categories:

puddings
sweet treats

These elegant strawberry eclairs will make a fantastic addition to any afternoon tea or festive gathering. They combine light and airy choux pastry, whipped cream filling and fresh and juicy strawberries, and strawberry-flavoured icing on top.

Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
50 min
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This recipe was created by talented baker Anna. You can find more of her recipes via her website linked below. 

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Ingredients
Servings
10-12

 

For the choux pastry

150g plain flour

1 tbsp Lyles Golden Syrup

75g butter, plus extra for greasing

75ml whole milk

3 whole eggs and one extra egg yolk

For the filling

300ml double cream

50g Tate & Lyle Fairtrade Cane Icing sugar

5-10 strawberries, hulled and sliced

For the icing

200g Tate & Lyle Fairtrade Cane Icing Sugar

5 strawberries

Freeze-dried strawberries for decoration (optional)

 

Instructions
  1. Heat the oven to 180°C /fan 160°C. Lightly grease a large baking sheet and line it with baking parchment. 
  2. Sift the flour into a medium bowl. Put the sugar, butter, and milk in a pan with 125ml water and bring to a boil. Next, take the pan off the heat, add in the flour, and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until it turns into a smooth, thick paste/ dough, that comes away from the side of the pan. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, and beat for 2 minutes to cool it down ( this will prevent the eggs from cooking). 
  3. Beat the eggs with 1 tbsp of Lyles Golden Syrup, then gradually add to the pastry mixture, bit by bit, beating the mixture until smooth and glossy after each addition and stopping when it reaches a thick-dropping consistency (you may not need all the beaten egg mixture). Transfer the mix into a piping bag fitted with a plain round nozzle about 1½ cm wide (or snip off 2 cm from the tip of the disposable piping bag), and pipe thick lines, about 10cm long onto your baking sheet, spacing them about 3cm apart. Beat the yolk and brush it lightly over each eclair. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until risen, golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
  4.  To make the filling, beat the cream, and icing sugar until soft peaks. Set aside.
  5. Make the icing. Mash the strawberries with 1-2 tbsp of icing sugar in a small bowl and set aside for 5 minutes. Push the mixture through a fine sieve, then add enough icing sugar to make a thick icing (you can also add 1-2 drops of pink or red food coloring, if you’d like the color to be more intense).
  6. Slice the eclairs horizontally, then dip each top in the icing and put them cut-side down to dry (if the icing is thin and runny, you may have to dip them twice). Spoon the whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a decorative nozzle and pipe the cream along each eclair base. Place sliced strawberries on top of the cream on each eclair and place the lids on top. Decorate with some freeze-dried strawberries if you’d like.