Eclairs au Fromage

With the start of the “Entertaining season” I wanted to find something light and delicate to serve as snacks at cocktail parties. I came across a recipe for small cheese éclairs in my much beloved Good French Cook Book from Vicomtesse Mapie Toulouse Lautrec. I followed her recipe exactly and used Comte du Jura for the cheese sauce filling. I just need to be able to improve my conversion of inches into centimetres to get the lengths right, as my éclairs turned out as miniscule eclairs so were a bit difficult to fill, but all in all they worked well and tasted delicious. I recommend pairing them with a chilled glass of Pol Roger Champagne.

Ingredients Eclairs

• 100g Butter
• 150g Flour
• 3 eggs + 1 egg yolk
• Salt and pepper to taste

A chilled bottle of Pol Roger Champagne from the French Market shop

 Directions for the eclairs:

1. Preheat oven to 200 C degrees
2. Sift the flour into a bowl and add a pinch of salt and pepper
3. Melt the butter in a heavy based saucepan.
4. Add 300ml water and bring to boil
5. Take off the heat and add the flour, stir in immediately with a large wooden spoon.
6. Return to the heat and contine mixing in until the dough leaves the sides of the pan and appears smooth.
7. Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit.
8. Break one egg at a time into a small bowl and mix lightly with a fork.
9. Gradually add the egg into the dough and beat in with a large wooden spoon until it blends into the dough.
10. Continue with each of the 3 eggs until all the egg liquid is completely mixed into the dough. It’s a bit slippery at first but keep mixing hard and the egg does get absorbed.
11. Once the mixture is smooth, spoon it into a pastry piping bag and squeeze out onto a greased baking tray in strips of 8cms ( about a thumb’s length). Leave space in between each one as they rise as they bake.
12. Take the remaining egg yolk, add a teaspoonful of water and mix in. Use a brush to lightly paint the tops of the eclairs with yolk.
13. Place tray in the oven and bake for at least 15 minutes until well risen and golden. Turn off heat and leave in oven to dry otherwise they go soggy.
14. Once completely dry, remove from the oven.
15. Slit the eclairs along the side. Open them up and spoon in some cheese filling.
16. Fold the top back over and serve.

While the eclairs are cooking make the cheese filling.

Ingredients Cheese filling

• 500ml milk
• 60g butter
• 60g flour
• 100g Comte du Jura from the French Market shop
• Salt and a plenty of pepper

Directions:

1. Sift the flour into a bowl
2. Grate the Comte cheese into a bowl
3. Melt the butter in a heavy based saucepan
4. Take pan off the heat and add all the flour at once, stir in quickly with a wooden spoon.
5. Return to heat and cook until a light golden colour, stirring all the time.
6. Take off the heat and add all the milk.
7. Return to heat stirring all the time to remove any lumps and and increase heat until mixture starts to bubble.
8. Stir for a few minutes longer until thick. Add the grated cheese and stir in until smooth.
9. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

I recommend pairing these delicate eclairs with a glass of chilled Pol Roger champagne

 Bon Appétit!