Espresso eclairs

Ingredients:

• Basic choux pastry:
• ½ cup (125g) butter
• 1⅕ cups (300ml) water
• 1 cup (150g) cake flour, sifted
• 4 eggs, lightly whisked

Crème pâtissière:

• 2 cups (500ml) milk
• 2 tsp (10ml) instant coffee
• 4 tsp (20ml) butter
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup (125g) sugar
• ¼ cup (40g) flour, sifted

Coffee glaze:

• ¾ cup (90g) icing sugar
• 2 Tbsp (30ml) strong coffee

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
3. Place butter and water in a saucepan over a high heat and melt butter.
4. Bring to the boil before removing from heat and adding flour. 
5. Stir, using a wooden spoon, until the dough is smooth and comes away from the sides of the pan. 
6. Cool mixture down to room temperature for 5-10 minutes ​​– don’t let it get cold. 
7. Add whisked eggs a little at a time, beating vigorously, until the dough is glossy and drips lazily from the spoon.
8. Spoon dough into a piping bag fitted with a 2cm round nozzle and pipe 30 8cm-long rolls onto baking trays.
9. Bake for 10 minutes.
10. Reduce temperature to 180°C and bake for another 20 minutes, until golden and crisp.
11. Remove and prick the bottom of each éclair with a toothpick.
12. Turn oven off, leaving the door ajar, and return éclairs to cool and crisp further. (If not filling immediately, cool and store in an airtight container.)
13. For the crème pâtissière, heat milk, coffee and butter together in a pot.
14. Beat eggs and sugar together in a bowl until sugar has dissolved.
15. Add flour and mix until well-combined.
16. Slowly add ⅓ of the heated milk mixture to the egg mixture while stirring.
17. Return mixture to pot and cook for 5-8 minutes, until thickened and flour is cooked.
18. Spoon custard into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Set aside to cool completely.
19. Whisk ingredients for coffee glaze together.
20. Slice éclairs in half using a sharp bread knife.
21. Pipe a line of custard onto the bottom half of the éclairs.
22. Dip top halves of remaining éclairs in coffee glaze and place on top of custard halves, sandwiching closed. 
23. Serve immediately.

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