Custard Filled Eclairs

I've always enjoyed custard filled eclairs. Especially those frozen mini ones you find in the dessert section. Seriously yum.


Although I'd never really even considered making my own. Pastries and donuts and really any dessert that isn't cheesecake or cookies was totally out my league. But then one day my husband (oh so lovingly) said, "How come you've never made me custard filled eclairs? They're my favorite!"

Ok. You win husband.

Turns out these aren't even scary! I know I keep saying "Seriously it's so easy!" with everything I post. But seriously. It's so easy. AND how often do you show up to a party and someone brings custard filled eclairs? Basically never.


When I made these I hadn't planned on posting them in a blog, so my pictures are sparse. But its pretty basic stuff.
Custard. Pastry. Ganache.
Bake. Fill. Frost. Eat.

Custard Filled Eclairs

Ingredients:
Choux Pastry:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 large eggs
Custard Filling:
1 package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
Ganache:
1 cup semisweet baking chocolate (or chocolate chips)
6 tbsp heavy cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly grease a large cookie sheet and set aside.

Combine butter and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to melt butter. Reduce heat to low and stir in flour and salt with a wooden spoon until the mixture begins to form a stiff ball of dough.

Immediately remove from heat and add eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition to ensure they are incorporated. I created a bowl shape in the dough to drop the egg in and mixed quickly, especially with the first one, to prevent it from cooking into scrambled eggs on the bottom of my warm pan.

With a pastry bag fitted with a large tip (or cut the corner off a plastic baggie), pipe the thick dough onto prepared cookie sheet into 10 strips approximately 1 1/2 x 4″ each.

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 and bake another 20 minutes, until puffed and golden and hollow sounding when lightly tapped on the bottom. When removed from oven, IMMEDIATELY pierce the ends almost through to the other side to let steam escape and prevent any sogginess in the middle. This hole is also where you will be piping your filling into. Let cool completely before filling and icing (this will only take about half an hour).

Meanwhile, combine pudding and milk in a bowl and mix according to package directions. In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Fold whipped cream into pudding.

Scoop the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a smallish tip (I enlarged my steam holes a bit to make my tip fit, so do whatever works) and pipe mixture into centers of eclairs until full. It's kind of messy, but I found if you let the custard chill in the fridge before filling the eclairs and then place them in the fridge when they are done they will set up nicely.

Finally for the ganache, heat 1/2 cup of chocolate and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream in the microwave for 20 seconds. Stir until completely melted. With a spoon spread the ganache on each eclair. Repeat with the remaining ganache ingredients if necessary. Store the eclairs in the fridge.

Recipe adapted from: Hidden Ponies


Show up to a party with these. You'll win.

Sfogliatelle - Lobster Tails

Sfogliatelle. Seriously not even sure how to pronounce it. They look like lobster tails, SO we call them lobster tails. This is an italian pastry that I made for a birthday party by special request. It was the FIRST time I've ever made these.


If you are looking for an easy, fool-proof dessert to make on a whim...these are NOT for you. This pastry took approximately one billion hours to make. And it wasn't easy. BUT I'm always up for a challenge and (as is the point of this blog) I'm wanting to try new things. If THAT is what you're looking for, then make these. It was a fun experience and felt like quite an accomplishment.

The dough is pretty easy to start. Just mix the flours, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender. (I don't have a pastry blender so I just use a fork. It works; it just takes longer.) Slowly add the water until the dough forms.

I made the sfogliatelle two different ways. One with the homemade dough (shown above) and another using pre-made puff pastry. The puff pastry turned out a little flakier, but was WAY harder to work with. If I were to make this recipe again I wouldn't use the pre-made pastry, but I'm telling you about it so you at least have that option. (My first photo is of the puff-pastry.) 

One of the reasons this pastry is so hard to make is because it's most often not made at home. Usually it's made in a bakery and run through a pasta press 5 or 6 times until it's paper thin. But, since I don't have a pasta press or a mile long counter top, I just rolled it with a rolling pin as thin as I could possibly get it.

Brush the dough with the melted lard and roll it up like a jellyroll.

Cut the dough into 2 inch pieces. At this point you can see why rolling it as thin as possible will get you the best flaky layers.

Now make the filling. Heat the milk to boiling in a saucepan and slowly add semolina flour, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Simmer for a few minutes until it's thick and smooth. Remove from heat (to a separate bowl) and let cool for about 5 minutes. Use a fine mesh sieve to remove any lumps from the ricotta.

I made my own candied orange (which is SUPER easy by the way) because I couldn't find any in the store. Add the ricotta, egg, sugar, candied fruit, and cinnamon to the semolina/milk mixture. Beat until well blended and set aside.

Now comes the hard part. I wish I had taken pictures of the actual assembly of the sfogliatelle, but its like a four hand job so there's no way I could have taken a picture at the same time. 

So here's how you do it: 

Take one of the roll slices in the palm of your hand and press the thumb of your other hand in the center of the pastry to form a small ribbed cup. (Think of a collapsable cup.) Do everything you can to keep the ribs from separating and begin to stretch the dough. Work carefully around the cup, pushing down with your thumbs and pulling up with your fingers. Form each piece into a cone.  

Once the cone reaches about 3 inches at the opening, fill with a tablespoon or two of the ricotta cream filling and seal shut. 

Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Let cool completely and dust with powdered sugar before serving. 

These pastries turned out better than I thought they would. I'm certainly no pastry chef and had never attempted a recipe like this before, so they weren't perfect.  But it just goes to show you that you can make difficult things at home...you just have to try! 

Sfogliatelle - Lobster Tails

Pastry Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup semolina flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lard or margarine, melted

Note:  You may wish to substitute 1 (1 pound package of frozen
puff pastry dough, thawed, for the above pastry recipe)

Filling Ingredients

1 cup milk
1/4 cup semolina flour
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon candied orange bits
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Lightly grease or line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix the flours, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender.  Slowly add the water until the dough forms. Form the dough into a ball, cover, and refrigerate for two hours. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide in half. Roll the dough with a rolling pin into a 16x22 inch rectangle. Brush the dough with the melted lard and roll it up like a jellyroll. Cut the dough into 2 inch pieces.

Heat the milk to boiling in a saucepan and slowly add semolina flour, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Simmer for a few minutes until it's thick and smooth. Remove from heat (to a separate bowl) and let cool for about 5 minutes. Press the ricotta through a sieve to remove any lumps. Add the ricotta, egg, sugar, candied fruit, and cinnamon to the semolina/milk mixture. Beat until well blended and set aside.

Take a pastry slice in the palm of your hand and press the thumb of your other hand in the center of the pastry to form a small ribbed cup. (Think of a collapsable cup.) Keep the ribs from separating and begin to stretch the dough. Work carefully around the cup, pushing down with your thumbs and pulling up with your fingers. Form each piece into a cone.  

Fill each pastry cone with 1-2 tablespoons of the filling. Press the open edges together to seal the pastry.   Place the sfogliatelle 1-inch apart on the baking sheets. Repeat the procedure with the second piece of pastry dough.

Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Allow the pastry to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer the pastry to wire racks to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.


Recipe adapted from: Mangia Bene Pasta 

Make pasta or something and serve this Italian pastry for dessert. YUM.