Strawberry Eclairs ( Baking Partners)

Since my childhood days , chocolate eclairs was one of  my most favorite bakery item and I would regularly buy it from Merwans cake shop.

 But as I grew there was a secret desire to try them at least once at home ,but the recipe in some cook books  sounded so complex and tedious I never really gave it a try.

And then Swathi  came up with the recipe of  these eclairs for this months Baking Partners  challenge  and finally I got a chance to make them .

Finally I gave it a try and thank god I did it well in advance , because my first try was a disaster. The batter called for five eggs and I got idly like batter consistency which I was not able to pipe so I baked it in cookie moulds , then I goofed up by over baking them and almost burnt them.

So I had to try the second time , this time I reduced one egg but still the batter was not hard enough to be piped . This time I baked in muffin pan and monitored the baking carefully.

Though what I got could not be called perfect eclairs but I was very close to the original pastry as the insides were soft and outside crispy . But now I think I should have baked them for some more time to get golden color.

Thanks Swathi  for suggesting this recipe and giving me  a chance to try my favorite pastry.

Ingredients : 

For the Choux Pastry :

175 gm ( 1 n 1/4 cup)................ All purpose flour
2 tsbp + 2 tsp ..........................sugar
240 gm ....................................water
120 gm................................... unsalted butter ( used homemade)
4 .............................................eggs
a pinch.......................................salt

Method :

Sift flour and sugar in the mixer.
In a pan heat water, salt and butter till it melts.
Simmer it and remove.
Now add the flour and mix well to form a paste like consistency.
Now again heat and stir this mixture till the dough becomes hard and starts pulling away
from the bottom.
The bottom of the pan should look clean when the dough pull away.
While still hot transfer this dough to the blender and blend for a minute to let some heat away.
Now add one egg at a time to the dough and each time blend very well .
The egg should properly mix with the dough.
At the end of adding all four eggs the dough should be able to hold its shape.
When pulled it should resemble the shape of birds beak .( here is where I went wrong)
Now put this mixture in a pastry bad and let it chill for 4 to 5 hours.
Preheat the oven at 180 degrees .
Pour the mixture in the greased muffin tray and bake.
Bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes and at 150 degrees for 10 minutes more.
What I got was very soft inside and little crispy outside round puffs.

For the filling :

5 tbsp...................strawberry crush
3/4 cup.................whipped fresh cream

Method :

Cut the puffs in the middle and spread whipped cream .
Close the puffs and again spread the remaining whipped cream .
Top with the strawberry crush.

Also sending it to :

   Vallis kids-delight   at    sizzlingtastebuds