Profiteroles And Eclairs

It is Saturday and the weekend has begun! I like to have some home made desserts for the weekend. Today I decided to make both Profiteroles and Eclairs since they are made from the same dough and filled with the same creme patissiere; the only difference between them is their shape.

Making this recipe requires two kinds of ingredients: one for the dough and the other for the creme patissiere (filling).

Ingredients for the dough:

100 grams of unsalted butter
1 cup of water
a pinch of salt
1 cup of all purpose flour
4 eggs

Preparation of the dough:

In a small pot boil the water with butter and a pinch of salt
Add all the flour at once and mix vigorously until you have a consistent dough

Remove from fire and let it cool for 5 minutes, then add one egg at a time, mixing well in an electric mixer until well blended in the dough (you can use a wooden spoon to mix the eggs if you like, but it will take more effort)

When you finish mixing all the eggs in the dough, leave it to cool
Preheat the oven to 180 C
Grease a tray with a bit of butter, place the dough in a piping bag and using a large nozzle make circle shape to make the profiteroles, and long ones to make the eclairs
Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top of the dough becomes light golden color

Ingredients for the creme patissiere:

1/2 cup powder milk
1 1/2 cup water
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation of the creme:

Boil the milk in a casserole and add the vanilla
In a bowl mix the sugar with flour and egg
Pour the mixture of egg, sugar and the flour slowly to the milk whisking constantly until thickening, then allow to cool. It is better to cover the creme with a cling film to prevent forming hard layer on the top when cooling

Filling the dough with creme:

Make a small hole in the profiterole ( the round shape) using a wooden stick
Place the cream in a piping bag and using a fine nozzle fill the dough.

For the eclairs (the long shaped ones) make a small cut on the side of the dough and with a small spoon spread the cream into it
For the final touch you can either sprinkle the sweets with icing sugar or make chocolate icing.

Chocolate icing:

Boil 3/4 cup of fresh milk with 1 teaspoon icing sugar and 1/2 teaspoon butter
Cut 50 grams of dark chocolate into small pieces and place it in a bowl
Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and mix well until the chocolate dissolves

With a small teaspoon put the icing chocolate on the top of eclair and place on a grill to cool completely.