Passion Fruit Raspberry Eclairs Food

RASPBERRY & CARDAMOM ECLAIRS

Steps:

• Make the eclairs and crème pâtissière using our classic recipe.
• Pick out 10 raspberries and set aside. Press the remaining raspberries through a sieve into a large bowl, extracting as much juice as possible. Add the fondant icing sugar and enough water to make a thick icing. Cover with cling film. Transfer the raspberry jam to a piping bag and pipe a line along the bottom half of the split eclairs.
• Pour the double cream into a bowl and add the icing sugar. Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods, pound them using a pestle and mortar, then tip into the cream. Beat with an electric hand whisk to stiff peaks. Fold through the crème pâtissière, then transfer to a piping bag. Pipe generous blobs over the base of each eclair.
• Spread the glaze over the top of the eclairs (be careful as they will be delicate). Position the tops on the cream. After every four or five eclairs, decorate the tops while the icing is still wet. Halve the raspberries and put on one end of each eclair. Sprinkle over some freeze-dried raspberry pieces to finish. For more help, see our how to make choux pastry and eclairs video.

CHOCOLATE-GLAZED RASPBERRY ECLAIRS

Steps:

• In a small heavy saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat to low; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat., In a small bowl, whisk a small amount of hot mixture into egg yolks; return all to pan, whisking constantly. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir 2 minutes. Immediately transfer to a clean bowl; stir in butter. Press plastic wrap onto surface of filling; refrigerate until cold., Preheat oven to 425°. For pastry, in a large saucepan, bring water, butter, milk, sugar and salt to a rolling boil. Add flour all at once and beat until blended. Cook over medium heat, stirring vigorously until mixture pulls away from sides of pan and forms a ball. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes., Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition until smooth. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and shiny. Transfer to a piping bag with a large round tip. Pipe twelve 4-1/2-in. strips about 3 in. apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°; bake until golden brown, 8-10 minutes longer. Pierce side of each eclair with tip of knife. Cool on wire racks. Split eclairs open. Pull out and discard soft dough from inside tops and bottoms., For the glaze, in a microwave, melt chocolate chips, cream and corn syrup; stir until smooth. Stir raspberries into chilled pastry filling, mashing berries lightly. Fill eclairs just before serving. Dip tops in chocolate glaze; replace tops. Top with additional fresh raspberries. Let stand until set. Refrigerate leftovers.

LEMON & PASSION FRUIT ECLAIRS

Steps:

• Make the éclairs and crème pâtissière using our classic recipe.
• Halve the passion fruits (the skin should be dark purple and crinkly, this shows they are ripe). Scoop the seeds into a sieve over a bowl, pushing through as much juice as possible. Add the fondant icing sugar and enough lemon juice to make a thick icing. Add enough yellow food colouring to create a vivid colour. Cover with cling film.
• Transfer the passion fruit or lemon curd to a piping bag and pipe a line along the bottom half of the split éclairs.
• Pour 600ml double cream into a bowl, add the lemon zest and icing sugar. Beat with an electric hand whisk to stiff peaks. Fold the cream through the crème pâtissière, then transfer to a piping bag. Pipe generous blobs of cream over the base of each éclair to cover the curd.
• Spread the glaze over the top of the éclairs (be careful as they will be delicate). Position the tops on the cream. Use an edible gold shimmer spray to give the glaze a shimmer and pipe a line on top using a black food icing pen. For more help, see our how to make choux pastry and eclairs video.