The classic recipe for eclairs custard: ingredients, step by step recipe with photos and cooking secrets

Custard is good in all its forms - both as a filling for donuts or Napoleon, and in addition to vanilla ice cream, and as an independent dessert. The famous French pastries are also inconceivable without this cream - all kinds of eclairs, shu and profiteroles. Custard, or as it is also called, English cream is the first thing that future confectioners study in a culinary school. Below you will find some popular recipes for custard for eclairs with a photo and get acquainted with some tricks of its preparation

From Rome via Italy to France

Custard is not an invention of our time. The first mention of his prototype is found in records dated around 265 BC - even then the ancient Romans discovered that eggs and milk together form a viscous mixture and began to use it as a dressing for dishes.

Despite the fact that in many European countries the custard for eclairs according to the classic recipe is called "English cream", it was not invented in Britain at all. The first well-known description can be found in the book "Science in Cooking and the Art of Good Nutrition" by the famous Italian chef and businessman Pellegrino Artusi, who recommended serving it with gelato a la cream - a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

In France, the cream has become popular thanks to the chef and pastry chef Marie-Antoine Karen. It was with its supply that custard cakes, known since the 16th century, began to fill with English cream.

Choux pastry for the best french pastries

Cooking homemade eclairs with custard is not at all difficult. Let's start with the cakes themselves. At first glance it may seem that choux pastry is something complicated, accessible only to experienced housewives, but you should try it only once, and you will forever fall in love with this type of baking, because profiteroles, shu and eclairs are always obtained. Just follow the simple instructions.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour;
• 1 glass of water;
• 4 eggs;
• 150 grams of butter;
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Cooking:

1. Place water, oil and salt in a small pan, bring to a boil.
2. In a boiling mixture in small portions, stirring constantly, add flour.
3. Boil the dough for 3-4 minutes without stopping interfering, until the mass begins to separate from the walls of the pan.
4. Cool the resulting dough.
5. Insert eggs one at a time, thoroughly mixing the mass until smooth.
6. Put cakes on a baking sheet at a distance of 2 centimeters from each other. Bake at 200 degrees for 30 minutes.

Classic on milk

The author of a classic custard for eclairs is considered an Italian chef and TV star Luca Monterzino.

Ingredients:

• milk 3.5% fat - 500 ml;
• egg yolks - 3 pcs.;
• 50 grams of powdered sugar;
• vanilla essence.

Cooking:

1. Heat the milk in a stewpan, but not allow it to boil.
2. While the milk is heating, beat egg yolks, vanilla and icing sugar in a separate bowl.
3. Pour a glass of hot milk into the yolks, stirring constantly.
4. Put the resulting mass in a water bath.
5. Continuing to stir the mixture, pour the remaining milk into the cream.
6. Cook the cream until thick sour cream, stirring it with a whisk.
7. Cool the cream and fill the eclairs with a pastry syringe.

Creamy Tenderness from Australia

Another type of delicious custard for eclairs was offered by Australian chef Philip Sibley. He used equal proportions of milk and cream, as well as more yolks. According to Sibley, it is worth starting to beat eggs with sugar only after the milk boils - their long contact spoils the delicate structure of the yolk, which affects the taste of the cream.

To prepare a custard for eclairs according to the classic recipe of Philippe Sibley you will need:

• milk 3.5% - 250 ml;
• cream 15% - 250 ml;
• 70 g of powdered sugar;
• 4 egg yolks.

To begin, place milk and cream in a small saucepan. They should be warmed well, but not boiled. When the creamy milk mixture has become hot, beat the yolks with sugar using a mixer and, without stopping whipping, add half a glass of the milk mixture.

Place the future cream in a water bath. Add the remaining milk to the yolks. Warm the cream, stirring it with a whisk until it thickens. Fill the eclairs with a pastry syringe and top with chocolate.

Cream "Patissier"

Cream "Patissiere" is one of the varieties of custard for eclairs with oil.

Ingredients:

• milk 3.5% - 250 ml;
• sugar - 60 grams;
• vanilla - pod;
• yolk - 3 pcs.;
• corn starch - 25 g;
• butter - 25 g.

When preparing the basis for "Patissier" you need to follow the classic recipe for custard for eclairs.

1. Heat the milk with vanilla. Leave to insist 15-20 minutes. Strain and reheat.
2. In a bowl, mix starch and sugar. Add the yolks and beat.
3. Add part of the hot milk to the egg mass, constantly stirring it with a whisk.
4. Put the cream in a water bath and pour in the remaining milk.
5. Cook, stirring constantly until thick.
6. Cool the cream. Add butter at room temperature and beat.

This delicious custard for eclairs is great for Napoleon cake or all kinds of cakes. But he does not hold the form very well and therefore is not suitable for decoration or open profiteroles.

Stability and shape

When the filling does not hide inside the dessert, but also plays a decorative role, for example, as in custard cakes “Paris-Brest”, “Muslin” cream is prepared on the basis of “Patissier”.

• 300 grams of butter;
• 125 grams of Patisser cream;
• 100 grams of praline.

Beat softened butter. In one tablespoon, introduce Patissiere cream, each time whipping the mass with a blender or mixer. At the end, gently mix the pralines. Cool, put on cakes.

What is a cottage cheese and what is it used for?

A custard for eclairs according to the classic recipe has another name - cottage cheese. This concept combines all kinds of desserts based on eggs, milk, cream and sugar.

Custard serves as the basis for an almost infinite number of desserts - On its own - like ice cream sauce or cake soaking, with butter it turns into a pastry cream - the best filling for eclairs, profiteroles and other cakes. Baked - in cream caramel, creme brulee, cheesecake. Add whipped cream to the custard and get the most delicate mousse, put the resulting mousse in the oven and at the exit it will turn into a milk souffle.

Creme brulee

We have already learned how to cook custard according to the classic recipe for eclairs step by step. Let’s now try to make on its basis a baked cream-creme brulee.

Ingredients:

• Cream 33-35% - 500 ml.
• Egg yolks - 4 pcs.
• Sugar - 70 g.
• Vanilla essence.
• Brown sugar to sprinkle.

In addition to products you will need:

• Culinary felt-tip pen or gas burner.
• Ceramic molds for baked desserts.
• Deep pan.
• Towel.

Cooking:

1. First, prepare a custard for eclairs according to the recipe step by step. Since baked custard has a denser structure than the filling for cakes, we use fat cream instead of milk.
2. The finished cream must be poured into a bowl.
3. Place a towel on the bottom of the pan and place the tins inside.
4. Pour boiling water into the pan at 1/2 the height of the bowl.
5. Preheat the oven to 140 degrees and put the baking sheet at an average level. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Ready-made creme brulee will resemble jelly in consistency.
6. Cool the finished cream and refrigerate for 4-5 hours.
7. Remove the forms from the refrigerator and sprinkle with brown sugar. Flame each serving with a burner. Ready cream can be decorated with berries.

Cream caramel - airy tenderness of a French dessert

If you do not have a culinary felt-tip pen, then instead of a delicate creme brulee, you can serve caramel cream to the festive table. The ingredients and tools for its preparation can be found in any home.

For cooking you will need:

• milk 3.5% - 250 ml;
• cream 33-35% - 250 ml;
• yolks - 3 pieces;
• egg - 1 piece;
• brown sugar - 70 grams;
• vanilla essence;
• sugar - 100 g;
• water - 100 ml;
• silicone molds.

Cooking:

1. To start, prepare the custard already known to us. Mix milk and cream in a small saucepan and add the vanilla essence there. Warm the resulting mixture over medium heat.
2. Mix the yolks, egg and brown sugar in a bowl until homogeneous. Strongly beat the mixture is not worth it - the bubbles will ruin the structure of the future dessert.
3. Add part of the milk mixture to the egg mixture, mix thoroughly, put in a water bath.
4. When the yolks have warmed enough already, pour out the remaining milk.
5. Cook the resulting cream until thick, stirring constantly.
6. Now the time has come for caramel - put sugar in a saucepan and pour water and leave over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved. The mixture should not be stirred, otherwise the sugar will crystallize and everything will have to start all over again.
7. Boil caramel until light brown.
8. Pour 1-2 tablespoons of caramel into silicone molds, depending on volume. Caramel should completely cover the bottom.
9. Put custard on top.
10. Preheat the oven to 140 degrees. Put a folded towel or paper napkins on the bottom of a deep baking sheet, put the molds with the future dessert and pour boiling water to a height of about 1/2 the height of the molds.
11. Bake for 40 minutes.
12. Cool the dessert and refrigerate for 4-5 hours.
13. Carefully remove the finished caramel cream from the mold so that the caramel bottom is on top, garnish with fruit and serve.

How to cook eclairs with custard?

At the very beginning of the excursion into the world of custard desserts, we prepared the basis for eclairs. It's time to fill them with one of the custards. There are several ways to do this.

The easiest way is to cut the cake along and use a spoon to fill with cream, put the “hat” back in place and glaze.

But real confectioners do nothing at all. Confectionery custard is typed in a cooking bag. Two small holes are made on top of the cake through which the eclair is filled with cream. Top glaze and decorate. You can make holes from the narrow ends of the eclair and fill it like a tube.

Previously, melted chocolate or nuts were used for glazing. Today, the choice of decor is almost endless and depends only on the confectioner's imagination: these are all kinds of creams - protein, oil or Muslin, and glaze - from standard chocolate to mirror. As well as berries, sweets, pieces of caramelized fruits.

Secrets of English Cream

There are an infinite number of variations for making a bush, but there are common secrets, knowing that you will never spoil your English cream.

1. The cream is based on milk or cream, condensed with egg yolks. But if you connect them quickly and immediately, they will collapse. To do this, pre-beat the yolks with sugar and add the hot liquid gradually and constantly stirring.
2. Custard is an extremely delicate dessert and does not tolerate high temperatures. Therefore, heating should be done in a water bath. At the same time, make sure that boiling water does not touch the bowl of cream - it should be steamed.
3. The proportions of the cream vary from case to case, but the golden rule of Artusi says - for one part of milk - a quarter of the yolk and a quarter of sugar, for 1 liter of milk you need 250 grams of sugar and 250 grams of yolks (about 12 pieces).
4. Flavor cream during the first heating of milk. Vanilla, cinnamon stick, lavender or other flavors should be added to hot milk and left to infuse for 25-20 minutes. Strain the milk and heat again.
5. When flavoring a dessert with alcohol, you need to add it to an already cooled cream.
6. Custard can not be stored for more than a day. So that its surface does not delaminate and is not covered with a thick thick layer, the container in which the handicraft is stored should be covered with cling film so that it contacts the cream over the entire surface.

Calorie Eclair with custard

All types of custard cakes with a handicraft in the world of cakes and cakes are a fairly dietary kind of goodies. The dessert contains a minimal amount of sugar and therefore it is practically safe for your waist. Practically - because one cake is quite difficult to limit, they are so airy and tasty.

For comparison:

• calorie eclair with custard - 270 kcal per 100 grams;
• potato cake - 310 kcal per 100 grams;
• tubes with protein cream - 454 kcal per 100 g;
• a basket with cream - 372 kcal per 100 grams;
• honey cake - 478 kcal per 100 g.