Coffee Anyone?

Saturday night with the girls watching movies and chatting, i thought 'hmm...what to bring?'

Then i came across this yummy looking recipe in one of Jamie Oliver's 'Jamie making you a better cook' magazine!

It was for Coffee Eclairs. To be honest Im not the biggest coffee fan! 

I don't drink it and have no idea about coffee.

Once i got stuck in a conversation with one of my patients about coffee.....i had nothing to bring to this convo may i add!

But i don't mind coffee flavoured thinks, such as ice cream, tarts, ice coffee (does that count?)

Yet these coffee eclairs can turn even the biggest coffee hater into a lover!

They are subtle and delicate and just enough!

Coffee Eclairs

Ingredients

Eclairs (makes around 12-15)

65ml Milk

65ml Water

50 g Unlsalted Butter (softened)

1/2 Teaspoon Sugar 

75g Flour

2 Eggs, beaten plus egg wash

Coffee Custard Filling 

250ml Full cream Milk

2 Tablespoon Whole Coffee Beans

60g Sugar

1/2 Vanilla pod, split lengthways, seed scraped or  I used 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste 

1 Egg

2 Tablespoon Cornflour

25g Butter, diced into small cubes

Coffee glaze

100g Pure Icing Sugar

2 Tablespoon Espresso or Strong Coffee

Eclairs

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4 and line a baking tray with paper. Place the milk, butter, sugar, water and a pinch of salt in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat.

2. Remove from the heat, add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Return to a medium heat and cook for 1 minute, until the mixture comes away from  the sides and a little skin forms on the bottom of the pan.

3. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the eggs till you have a smooth batter that just drops off the spoon. Cover with glad wrap and leave the mixture to cool.

4. Fit a large piping bag with a  1 cm plain nozzle, fill with cooled mixture and pipe  out your eclairs onto the baking trays, spaced at about 5 cm apart. Brush with egg wash and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and puffed.

5. Transfer to a wire rack and pierce each pastry with a skewer so the steam can escape. Leave to cool.

Coffee Custard Filling

1. Place the milk, coffee beans, sugar, and vanilla pod and seeds or paste and a pinch of salt in a saucepan and heat to just under the boil. Remove the milk mixture from the heat, cover and leave to steep for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the egg and cornflour in a small bowl and set aside.

2. Strain the milk mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Return the mixture to the pan and heat again to just under the boil, then whisk 2 tablespoonsful into egg mixture.

3. Pour this back into the pan and whisk constantly over a low heat until you have a thick custard. 

4. Strain the custard, then stir to release the steam. Stir in the butter cubes, one by one. Place a sheet of glad wrap on the custard's surface so a skin doesn't form, and leave to cool.

Construction

1. Cut the eclairs across the side till just attached. 

2. Place the custard mixture in a piping back with a regular nozzle make sure they're nice and full! Pop the top on.

Coffee Glaze

1. Sift the icing sugar into a small bowl, then gradually whisk in the espresso. When smooth and glossy, spoon the glaze over the elcairs. Place on a board or rack and allow the icing to set before serving.

And your done!