Citrus Eclairs
3.22.16
It’s finally spring! Flowers are blooming, the weather is warming up, and everyone is agonizing over their March Madness bracket. Especially if you didn’t expect that Michigan State upset. So to celebrate the season, I wanted to use citrus for one last time.
French pastries have a knack for looking deceitfully simple and graceful. However, once you start looking deeper you soon learn it’s ALL about the technique and less about the ingredients working for you. Now as you scroll down, the recipe and instructions look dauntingly long, but take a deep breath before panicking! To make things easy (I hope) I’ve separated each component and its steps and in the order I would prepare them. Remember you don’t need to tackle all of these in one day and things like the citrus filling can be made a day ahead.
French pastries have a knack for looking deceitfully simple and graceful. However, once you start looking deeper you soon learn it’s ALL about the technique and less about the ingredients working for you. Now as you scroll down, the recipe and instructions look dauntingly long, but take a deep breath before panicking! To make things easy (I hope) I’ve separated each component and its steps and in the order I would prepare them. Remember you don’t need to tackle all of these in one day and things like the citrus filling can be made a day ahead.
Notes:
- I myself made two flavors of filings and icing: Meyer Lemon and Citrus Medley (Navel + Blood oranges). To do this yourself, just halve the below recipe and split it between whatever citrus you like.
- Large citrus like grapefruit and pomelos have too light of a flavor to do this. Your curd will end up tasting like custard (which isn’t bad!)
- Don’t chill the dough before baking as it’ll impede the rise and your pastries will be dense and flat.
- In order to get the best rise and firm shell. It’s best to only bake one tray at a time. If you do 2 trays, they end up deflating when out of the oven.
- As an alternative to piping the filling into the pastry, you can cut it into half and make it sandwich style.
- Optional special equipment: Piping bag fitted with Bismark piping tip
Citrus Curd Filling
Adapted from Tartine Bakery’s Lemon Cream
Makes roughly 2 cups
Ingredients
Instructions
Adapted from Tartine Bakery’s Lemon Cream
Makes roughly 2 cups
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup lemon juice (2 medium lemons)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3cup sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, cubed
- ¼ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Heat a saucepan with water to simmering over medium heat.
- Combine: juice, eggs, yolk, salt, sugar together into a bowl that can fit over the saucepan.
- Set bowl over pan when ready and whisk constantly to avoid the curd settling and cooking unevenly.
- Stir till thick (10-12 min) and whisk leaves a visible trail. If you have a thermometer, cook till 180F.
- Remove bowl from heat and cool for 3-5 min, stirring occasionally (Or till 140F).
- In the meantime, cut butter into tablespoon sized cubes.
- Move the mixture to a blender and while running add butter one cube at a time. Making sure each one is fully mixed in.
- Transfer the curd to a bowl, cover and chill for 60 – 90 min.
- When curd is fully chilled, whip heavy cream till stiff peaks.
- Fold cream into chilled curd and return fridge to cool for 1 hr.
Éclair Pastry
From Saveur
Makes about 14 éclairs
Ingredients
Instructions
From Saveur
Makes about 14 éclairs
Ingredients
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup water
- 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F
- Combine: milk, butter, salt, and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Add flour and stir until dough forms.
- Lower heat to medium and cook dough till slightly dried and forms a ball. Make sure to constantly stir dough using a wooden spoon.
- Transfer dough to a mixing bowl and over low speed start to mix for 1-2 min.
- Once cooled slightly, start adding eggs in one at a time. Making sure each one is fully incorporated before adding the next one.
- Prepare your baking sheet lined with parchment paper. For easy reference, measure and mark 4 inch guidelines. Remember to flip the paper so you aren’t piping directly onto your pencil or pen markings.
- Transfer dough into a piping bag (Ziploc bag is okay to do this) and pipe 4-inch long strips.
- Using a finger, dipped in water, flatten down any sharp edges.
- Place tray in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature down to 375F.
- Bake for 30 min or until golden brown. Remove and cool to room temp before filling.
Citrus Glaze
Ingredients
Instructions
Ingredients
- ¼ cup of citrus juice plus zest
- 1 – 1 ½ cup confectioners sugar
Instructions
- Whisk sugar, zest, and juice together till icing is a thick, paste-like consistency.
Assembly
Ingredients
Instructions
Ingredients
- Citrus filling
- Éclair pastry, cooled
- Citrus glaze
- Optional finishes: Candied lemon peel, mint leaves, sprinkles
Instructions
- Transfer each filling to a piping bag fitted with a pastry tip. (See alternative in Notes)
- Pipe 2-3 Tbsp of filling into each pastry. Fill all pastries before icing.
- Dip the tops of each éclair into the icing.
- Top them with optional finishes and enjoy!