Sunday, August 31, 2008

This time of the month

...in a totally male-friendly way. The end of the month means one thing in baking blogs all over the world.Daring Bakers, thankyou for not even threatening my sanity with this month's chocolate eclairs!

I thought choux pastry was meant to be hard? The only part I struggled with was piping the dough/paste onto the trays, because either my piping skills or equipment (most likely both) are not quite up to it. Never mind, roundish globs became pretty profiteroles!

I freaked out when I saw instructions to boil the pastry cream, and to my delight discovered that cornflour stops the yolk curdling! Genius. I actually was surprised to see that the recipe called for a chocolate custard and that other bakers going for a chocolate non-overload had used a set custard rather than just whipped cream, which I had thought was the more traditional way to fill an eclair. Custard suits me perfectly.

What else is there to tell you... let me know if you want the recipe, it's quite easy.

Mum came in as they were in the oven and said they smelled right. She used to make them all the time and she said Grandma (of the trusted sponge kisses and luince jelly) used to just spoon the paste onto the tray and smooth it out in eclair shape with a knife. I'll do that next time, and there will be a next time, because these were not only easy but fun to make.

And after taking photos to show off how wonderful they looked, I'd forgotten that they would have a taste! and delicious they were.
P.S. Reading other Daring Bakers' commentaries, I thought lavender and chocolate sounded gorgeously good, especially as spring arrives here, so my cream is subtly lavender. Enjoy :)

5 comments:

  1. Looks wonderful! I, too, found the recipe easy. Boy was I surprised! I thought it would be much more difficult. I'm glad, though, because that means I'll be making them again and again!

    Great job!

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  2. Fantastic job! Everything looks very very tasty.
    As for your "disclaimer" on the title, well speaking from that side of the fence (and perhaps only for myself but I don't really think that true)we are tons worse than you all ever are!!! LOL

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  3. Your lavender cream sounds wonderful!

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  4. They look good and I bet they taste fab, too! :)

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  5. I hate blog lurkers, and yet I have found myself lurking, a satisfying but terrible habit!

    The food looks lovely and I am now hungry (after making a second vow never to eat again after the picnic).

    I found some nice huge glass jars to put the poppies in where they are sitting now, looking gorgeous and rustic. When I asked my dad to confirm if they were poppies he suggested that I sniff them and see if I get high. NOT answer I was expecting!

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