Sweet Treats!

Hello peeps!

How's it going? Hope everyone is well.

I've been buried in the kitchen all afternoon whilst Mr P had his head in the TV watching three rugby matches!

A new cook book arrived this week (yes, another one for my collection!).... Mary Berry's Baking Bible. It's a lovely book, plenty of useful guidance if you are a beginner. Very robust recipes. Anyway, I fancied making chocolate eclairs. It's been a very long time since I made eclairs.... and choux pastry.... and I was really pleased with the results.

Mary's recipe for Choux Pastry is really easy to follow and it really does work a treat. Eclairs are also very cheap to make and require few ingredients. The pastry is made from water, butter, flour and eggs. It makes a batter rather than your normal pastry which you pipe onto a baking tray.

I am also in love with my new disposable piping bags which I brought from Lakeland Plastics today. I know that they are disposable, but I did wash the one I used today and reused it for the cream and it worked a treat.



Laying out all the ingredients first

  

This is the dough, after the water and butter have been heated and the flour added - you beat it with a wooden spoon until it comes together into a dough ball....

Then you start to gradually add the eggs and beat, until you end up with a glossy batter which you spoon into the piping bags.  

Piped choux pastry, 5-6" long...

Attention! Lined up

Eclairs all cooked, and cut to let the steam out so they don't go soggy on the inside. They don't take long to cool at all.

Eclairs cut in half and decorated with the chocolate and butter topping.

This is what happens when you loose the fight with your husband and end up with an Eclair rammed in your face! Will I ever learn!?!

All plated up and ready to distribute to the neighbourhood! Don't worry, we didn't eat them all, we gave them to the neighbours!

The eclairs were amazing and they went down a treat. They were really easy to make, and I would recommend giving them a go. Don't be scared, give them a go!

Also, I whipped up a Halloumi and Spinach Quiche for tea.... and there wasn't a soggy bottom in sight!

Out of the oven!

Lovely thin pastry and not a soggy bottom in sight!

I also went to Steamer Trading today and brought a new fluted muffin / cup cake tin for my cup cake treats. I found that my old tins were either too shallow or too big. At last, a tin that is perfect for cupcakes!

Happy baking everyone!

Nic xoxoxox