Ingredients

For the choux pastry:

• 50g unsalted butter, diced
• 150ml water
• 60g strong plain flour
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar

For the cream filling:

• 300ml double cream

For the chocolate ganache:

• 225g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
• 225ml double cream

Tools

• Kitchen Machine
• K- beater

Method

To make the choux pastry:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Put butter and water in a medium saucepan over a low heat. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon as the butter melts.
2. Meanwhile, sift the flour onto a piece of folded greaseproof paper. When the butter has melted, turn up the heat and bring the mixture to the boil. Remove from the heat and very quickly shoot the flour into the saucepan. Beat the flour into the liquid to mix all the ingredients together. Stop beating when you have a smooth dough that comes away from the sides of the saucepan. This should take only a few seconds.
3. Transfer the mixture into the bowl of your kitchen machine. Pour a little of the beaten egg into the flour mixture and beat it in well using the K-Beater. Keep adding and beating in the egg, a little at a time, until the dough looks thick, smooth and shiny and still holds its shape well.
4. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag and cut off the end to give about 1cm hole. Prepare baking trays with parchment, and pipe logs approximately 11cm long and well-spaced as they double in size (leave at least 5cm between).
5. Bake at 200°C for 10 minutes. Then increase the heat to 220°C and bake for a further 15-20 minutes. Once out of oven, slit the éclairs with a knife to let out the steam and place on a wire rack to cool.

To make the cream filling:

1. Using the kitchen machine, whisk the cream until thick, slice each éclair in half long-ways and pipe the whipped cream inside them.

To make the ganache:

1. Put the cream and broken chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir gently and remove from the heat once the chocolate has melted. Stir to combine the chocolate and cream and beat until shiny. Leave to set a little at room temperature.
2. Dip the éclairs into the ganache, letting the excess glaze drip back into the bowl.

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