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Strawberries and Cream Eclairs

By Manali Singh

5 from 1 vote

Jun 08, 2016, Updated Jan 02, 2018

Homemade eclairs filled with whipped cream and fresh strawberries! These eclairs are lightly sweetened and the perfect dessert to enjoy this summer!

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NFNut Free

Homemade Strawberries and Cream Eclairs – light and airy pastry filled with whipped cream and fresh strawberries!

Sometimes I go on this “no-desserts” for a while thing. It never lasts for more than 5 days. If you might have noticed, I haven’t shared much of desserts recently. I don’t know if this was deliberate but now that I think about it, maybe it was. The amount of dessert recipes I share on this blog is directly proportional to my weight. Just kidding! But honestly last few months have been super busy and I have been eating out a lot. Eating out for me mostly means eating dessert as well. So it’s just that I was getting more than enough of my sugar quota and so my body was craving savory food. But that’s behind now and once I get onto the dessert bandwagon, there’s no stopping me and you guys know that very well.

Let’s talk about these eclairs, shall we? Do you guys like eclairs? They used to be these treats in these fancy bakery stores that I always noticed but never bought them. Maybe the cake always looked more tempting! So I ate them pretty late in life but now I really like them, the chocolate one is my favorite. The first time I made eclairs was at this french pastry class which I took some 2 years back at Sur La Table. I think I mentioned about this class when I shared the puff pastry recipe. It was also then that I made pâte à choux  for the first time. By the way pâte à choux  is pronounced as pat a shoe, it’s french, I didn’t know till I attended that class! It’s a pastry dough which is used to make a lot of treats like eclairs of course, and profiteroles,  gougères , cream puffs etc. So once you master this dough, you can enjoy all these treats at home. The good news though is that it’s a very forgiving dough. Not complicated at all and most probably you will get it right the 1st time!

You need very basic ingredients to make these strawberries and cream eclairs, you most probably will have everything on hand. Eclairs are usually filled with pastry cream but I wanted to make something light for summers and so I made strawberries and cream eclairs. Plus who doesn’t like strawberries and cream? God, they are so good together! These eclairs are very lightly sweetened and are the perfect summer treat. Here’s how you make them.

Method

Place butter, water, salt and sugar in a pan on low heat.

Keep stirring till the butter melts.

Once the butter melts, increase the temperature and bring it all to a boil.

As soon as the mixture starts simmering, remove pan from heat and all the flour at once.

Beat constantly and vigorously till the dough comes together.

Now put the pan back on the gas stove. Continue to cook the dough by beating it constantly. You want to cook till the dough dries out, it will take 2 minutes or so. You will know it’s done when you see a thin film of dough on the bottom of the pan.

Now immediately transfer the dough into the steel bowl of you stand mixer. Beat for a minute on medium speed so that the dough cools down a bit. Beating also helps in developing the gluten.

With the mixture running on medium speed, start adding the eggs one at a time. Add the next egg only after the first one has been well incorporated.

Once all eggs are incorporated, the dough will be elastic and shiny.  It should also pass the “string test” – if you place a little dough in between your thumb and forefinger and then pull them apart, the dough should form a string. If the dough hasn’t reached this stage, you may need to add 1 more egg.

Transfer dough into a pastry bag fitted with 1/2 inch round tip or a french tip. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and pre-heat oven to 425 F degrees.

Pipe tubes 4 x 1 inches or 5 inches for bigger eclairs. Remember to leaves at least 2 inches of space between each eclair as they puff up during baking.

Most likely your eclairs will have pointy ends/tails, to correct this, dip your finger into water and gently tap the dough to fix it.

Bake the eclairs at 425 F degrees for around 12 minutes or till the eclairs start showing little color. Then reduce the temperature to 375 F degrees and baked for additional 12-15 minutes or till evenly brown. Take out of the oven and allow the eclairs to cool down. Cut each eclair into 2 parts, fill the bottom half with whipped cream and cut strawberries. Place the upper half on top, dust with powdered sugar and serve!

* The number of eggs you need in this recipe is not fixed. You may need all 4 eggs or maybe not. You might even need an extra egg. The number of eggs your dough needs might vary depending on the size of egg or the flour you are using. You have to make sure that the dough if soft and smooth and like mentioned before, it should pass the string test. It should also hold it’s shape when piped. The best way to go about this would be to add 4 eggs and then if you still think the dough isn’t done, simply whisk 1 egg in a bowl and add 1 tablespoon at a time and see if it reaches the desired consistency.

* Eclairs taste best the day they are made. I haven’t had much success storing them.

Strawberries and Cream Eclairs

5 from 1 vote

By Manali Singh

Prep: 20 minutes mins

Cook: 25 minutes mins

Total: 45 minutes mins

Servings: 20 mini eclairs

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Homemade eclairs filled with whipped cream and fresh strawberries! These eclairs are lightly sweetened and the perfect dessert to enjoy this summer!

Ingredients 

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Pâte à Choux [eclair dough]

• ▢ 1 stick 4 ounces unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon granulated white sugar
• ▢ 1 cup 8 ounces water
• ▢ 1 cup 5 ounces all purpose flour
• ▢ 4 large eggs you may need 1 more egg

Filling

• ▢ 1 cup heavy cream
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ▢ 10-12 strawberries chopped into small pieces

powdered sugar, to sprinkle on top

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Instructions 

Make Pâte à Choux

• Place butter, water, salt and sugar in a pan on low heat.
• Keep stirring till the butter melts. Once the butter melts, increase the temperature and bring it all to a boil.
• As soon as the mixture starts simmering, remove pan from heat and all the flour at once.
• Beat constantly and vigorously till the dough comes together.
• Now put the pan back on the gas stove. Continue to cook the dough by beating it constantly. You want to cook till the dough dries out, it will take 2 minutes or so. You will know it's done when you see a thin film of dough on the bottom of the pan.
• Now immediately transfer the dough into the steel bowl of you stand mixer. Beat for a minute or so on medium speed so that the dough cools down a bit. Beating also helps in developing the gluten.
• With the mixture running on medium speed, start adding the eggs one at a time. Add the next egg only after the first one has been well incorporated.
• Once all eggs are incorporated, the dough will be elastic and shiny. It should also pass the "string test" - if you place a little dough in between your thumb and forefinger and then pull them apart, the dough should form a string. If the dough hasn't reached this stage, you may need to add 1 more egg.
• Transfer dough into a pastry bag fitted with 1/2 inch round tip or a french tip. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and pre-heat oven to 425 F degrees.
• Pipe tubes 4 x 1 inches or 5 inches for bigger eclairs. Remember to leaves at least 2 inches of space between each eclair as they puff up during baking.
• Most likely your eclairs will have pointy ends/tails, to correct this, dip your finger into water and gently tap the dough to fix it.
• Bake the eclairs at 425 F degrees for around 12 minutes or till the eclairs start showing little color. Then reduce the temperature to 375 F degrees and baked for additional 12-15 minutes or till evenly brown. Take out of the oven and allow the eclairs to cool down.

Make the filling

• Place the steel bowl and whisk attachment in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
• Start beating the cream at medium speed. Add in sugar, vanilla extract and increase the mixer speed to medium-high.
• Continue to beat till the cream develops stiff peaks. Be careful not to over-beat.

Arranging the eclairs

• Cut each eclair shell into half. Fill the bottom half with whipped cream and strawberries. Place the upper half on top. Dust with powdered sugar and serve immediately!

Nutrition

Calories: 83kcal, Carbohydrates: 6g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 5g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 49mg, Sodium: 46mg, Potassium: 36mg, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin A: 220IU, Vitamin C: 3.6mg, Calcium: 15mg, Iron: 0.5mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: World

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Strawberries & Cream Eclairs