Cream and Chocolate Éclairs

To make cream and chocolate éclairs, first prepare the choux pastry: pour the butter 1, milk 2 and water 3 into a saucepan. Turn on the heat and melt everything.

Once boiling, add the flour all at once 4, then mix quickly with a wooden spoon 5. When the mixture becomes compact and detaches from the sides of the saucepan 6, turn off the heat and let it cool for a couple of minutes.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl 7 and add an egg at a time 8, mixing well to incorporate it; make sure it has been completely absorbed before pouring the next one. Also add a pinch of salt. Don't worry if at first the mixture seems to come apart, by continuing to mix you will get a homogeneous, smooth and consistent dough 9.

Transfer the dough to a piping bag without a nozzle 10 and cut the tip to a width of about 1.5 cm. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and form strips about 10-12 cm long 11, spacing them apart 12. Bake in a preheated static oven at 170°C for about 45 minutes, taking care never to open the oven during cooking.

In the meantime, take care of the custard: pour the milk into a saucepan 13 and bring it to a boil. Meanwhile, put the egg yolks, cornstarch 14 and flour 15 in a bowl.

Also add the powdered sugar 16 and mix well with a whisk, then pour in the hot milk 17 and mix again 18.

Put the mixture back in the saucepan 19, add the vanilla extract 20 and stir over low heat until you get a thick and homogeneous consistency 21.

Transfer the cream to a bowl 22, cover with plastic wrap 23 and put in the refrigerator to cool. After the cooking time, take the éclairs out of the oven and let them cool too 24.

At this point, take the custard and transfer it to a piping bag with a 1 cm nozzle. Fill the éclairs by piercing the bottom, more or less halfway along 25. Once filled, move on to the glaze: melt the 2 types of chocolate in a bain-marie, or in the microwave, then gently rest the surface of the éclairs in the dark chocolate 26 or in the white chocolate 27, alternating the 2 glazes.

Gradually place the glazed éclairs on a rack to dry 28. Finally, transfer the remaining glazes to 2 piping bags with a very thin nozzle and garnish the éclairs by creating lines with the contrasting chocolate 29. Let dry and serve your beautiful cream and chocolate éclairs 30!