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

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

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 cakes are 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 at a culinary school. Below you will find some popular recipes for eclair custard with photos 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 its 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 custard for eclairs according to the classic recipe is called "English cream", it was not invented in Britain at all. The first known description can be found in the book "The Science of Cooking and the Art of Good Eating" by the famous Italian chef and businessman Pellegrino Artusi, who recommended serving it with gelato a la crema, a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

In France, the cream became popular thanks to the culinary and confectioner Marie-Antoine Karen. It was at his suggestion that custard cakes known since the 16th century began to be filled with English cream.

Chew pastry for the best French pastries

Making homemade eclairs with custard is not difficult at all. Let's start with the cakes themselves. At first glance, it may seem that custard dough is something complicated, accessible only to experienced housewives, but you should try it only once, and you will fall in love with this type of baking forever, 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 s alt.

Cooking:

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

Classic with milk

The classic éclair custard is credited to Italian chef and TV star Luca Monterzino.

Ingredients:

• milk 3, 5% fat - 500 ml;
• 3 egg yolks;
• 50 grams of powdered sugar;
• vanilla essence.

Cooking:

1. Heat the milk in a saucepan, but do not let it boil.
2. While the milk is heating, beat the egg yolks, vanilla and powdered 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 sour cream is thick, stirring it with a whisk.
7. Cool the cream and fill the eclairs with a pastry syringe.

Creamy tenderness from Australia

Another kind of delicious éclair custard came from Australian chef Philip Sibley. He used equal proportions of milk and cream, and more yolks. According to Sibley, you should start beating eggs with sugar only after the milk boils - their long contact spoils the delicate structure of the yolk, which worsens the taste of the cream.

To make Phillip Sibley's classic éclair custard you will need:

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

First place the milk and cream in a small saucepan. They should be well warmed up, but not boiled. When the cream and milk mixture is hot, beat the egg yolks with sugar with a mixer and, without stopping beating, add half a glass of the milk mixture.

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

Cream "Patisser"

Cream "Patissier" is one of the varieties of custard for eclairs with butter.

Ingredients:

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

When preparing the Patisière base, you need to follow the classic recipe for custard for eclairs.

1. Heat milk with vanilla. Leave to infuse for 15-20 minutes. Strain and heat again.
2. In a bowl, mix starch and sugar. Add egg yolks and beat.
3. Add some of the hot milk to the egg mixture, whisking constantly.
4. Put the cream in a water bath and pour in the remaining milk.
5. Cook, stirring constantly until thickened.
6. Chill the cream. Add room temperature butter and beat.

This delicious éclair custard is great for Napoleon cake or all kinds of pastries. But it doesn't hold its shape very well and is therefore not suitable for decorating or open profiteroles.

Stability and shape

When the filling is not hidden inside the dessert, but also plays a decorative role, for example, as in Pari-Brest choux pastries, Muslin cream is prepared on the basis of Patisière.

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

Beat softened butter. Add Patisier cream one tablespoon at a time, beating the mass with a blender or mixer each time. Finally, gently fold in the pralines. Cool, put on cakes.

What is custard and what is it eaten with?

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

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

Creme brulee

How to cook custard according to the classic recipe for eclairs step by step we have already learned. Now let's try to make a baked custard "Creme brulee" on its basis.

Ingredients:

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

Besides groceries you will need:

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

Cooking:

1. To begin with, let's prepare the custard for eclairs according to the recipe step by step. Since the baked custard has a denser structure than the filling for cakes, we use heavy cream instead of milk.
2. The finished cream must be poured into bowls.
3. Place a towel at the bottom of the baking sheet and put the molds inside.
4. Pour boiling water into a baking sheet to 1/2 the height of the bowls.
5. Preheat the oven to 140 degrees and put the baking sheet on the middle level. Bake for 30-40 minutes. The finished creme brulee will resemble jelly in consistency.
6. Cool the finished cream and put it in the refrigerator for 4-5 hours.
7. Remove molds from refrigerator and sprinkle with brown sugar. Flambé each serving with a burner. Ready cream can be decorated with berries.

Cream caramel - airytenderness of French dessert

If you do not have a culinary felt-tip, then instead of delicate creme brulee, you can serve creme caramel 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% - 250ml;
• 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 begin with, let's prepare the custard we already know. Combine milk and cream in a small saucepan and add vanilla essence. Heat the resulting mixture over medium heat.
2. Mix yolks, egg and brown sugar in a bowl until smooth. You should not beat the mixture strongly - the bubbles will spoil 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 are warm enough, pour out the rest of the milk.
5. Cook the resulting cream until it thickens, stirring constantly.
6. Now it's time for caramel - put sugar in a saucepan, pour water and leave over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Do not stir the mixture, otherwise the sugar will crystallize and you will have to start all over again.
7. Cook caramel until light brown.
8. Pour 1-2 tablespoons of caramel into silicone molds, depending on the volume. The caramel should completely cover the bottom.
9. Spread 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 40 minutes.
12. Cool the dessert and refrigerate for 4-5 hours.
13. Ready caramel cream carefully remove from the mold so that the caramel bottom is on top, garnish with fruit and serve.

How to make custard eclairs?

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. This can be done in several ways.

The easiest way is to cut the cake lengthwise and fill with cream with a spoon, put the "cap" back in place and glaze.

But real confectioners don't do that at all. Confectionery custard is collected in a culinary bag. Two small holes are made on top of the cake, through which the eclair is filled with cream. The top is glazed and decorated. You can make holes from the narrow ends of the eclair and fill it like a tube.

Previously, melted chocolate or nut sprinkles were used for glazing. Today, the choice of decor is almost endless and depends only on the imagination of the confectioner: these are all kinds of creams - protein, oil or Muslin, and icing - from standard chocolate to mirror. As well as berries, sweets, piecescaramelized fruit.

Secrets of the English cream

Custard cooking variations are endless, but there are common secrets, knowing which, 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 curl up. To do this, the yolks are pre-beaten with sugar and the hot liquid is added gradually and constantly stirring.
2. Coustard is an extremely delicate dessert and does not tolerate high temperatures well. Therefore, heating should be done in a water bath. At the same time, make sure that the 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 Artusi's golden rule says - for one part of milk - a quarter of the yolk and a quarter of the sugar, for 1 liter of milk you need 250 grams of sugar and 250 grams of yolks (about 12 pieces).
4. You need to flavor the cream during the first heating of milk. Vanilla, cinnamon stick, lavender or other flavorings should be added to hot milk and left to infuse for 25-20 minutes. Strain the milk and heat it up again.
5. When flavoring dessert with alcohol, you need to add it to the 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 custard is stored should be covered with cling film so that it is in contact with the cream over the entire surface.

Calorie Eclair with Custard

All kinds of custardscakes with custard in the world of cakes and cakes - a rather dietary type of delicacy. The composition of the dessert includes a minimum amount of sugar and therefore it is practically safe for your waist. Practically - because it’s quite difficult to limit yourself to one cake, 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;
• basket with cream - 372 kcal per 100 grams;
• honey cake - 478 kcal per 100g