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These raspberry Earl Grey eclairs are not only simple to make, but they're also incredibly delicious. Light, airy, and crisp choux pastry eclairs are filled with homemade raspberry jam, and Earl Grey tea pastry cream, topped with raspberry glaze and decorated with fresh raspberries, a sprinkling of freeze dried raspberries and edible flowers. They are perfect for for a special occasion.
Eclair Components
- Choux Pastry (Eclair shells)
- Quick raspberry jam (store bought will work too)
- Earl Grey pastry cream
- Raspberry Icing
- Decorations - fresh raspberries, freeze dried raspberries and edible flowers
Choux Pastry
My recipe for choux pastry is an adaptation of Cook's illustrated from the Baking Illustrated cookbook. Works perfectly every time. Choux pastry is also used for making cream puffs, profiteroles, and choux au craquelin.
How to make eclairs:
- Combine butter, milk, water, sugar, and salt in small saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, remove from the heat and stir in the flour.
- Place the saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes. The flour mixture will look shiny, and tiny beads of fat are seen on the bottom of the pan.
- Place the dough into the bowl of a food processor. Let the dough for cool until it reaches 160F, otherwise the dough could end up tasting too eggy.
- With the processor on, steadily stream in the eggs. Once the eggs have been added, scrape down the bowl.
- Process the dough for 30 more seconds, then place in a piping bag fitted with a ½" French star piping tip.
- Pipe 5"x 1" logs, at a 45 degree angle, trying to keep them an even thickness.
- Bake until the eclairs are puffed up and golden brown. They should sound hollow when tapped.
Earl Grey Pastry Cream
The pastry cream can be made up to four days in advance and kept in the refrigerator. You can use it the day it's made, but it needs to chill and firm up before using.
Earl Grey tea is is infused into half and half to give a strong tea flavor in a medium saucepan. Eggs, sugar, and salt are whisked together until light and thickened slightly. Cornstarch is whisked in. The milk mixture is removed from the heat and the egg/sugar mixture is whisked into the half and half/tea mixture in a steady stream. You don't want to cook the eggs.
The mixture is then put back over the heat and cooked until thick and bubbling. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla. Push the mixture through a fine mesh sieve to catch any stray egg bits. Cover the pastry cream with plastic wrap on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled through, about 4 hours.
Quick Raspberry Jam:
This raspberry jam is super simple and quick to make. Raspberries, sugar and lemon juice are cooked down until thick. Then the mixture is pushed through a fine mesh sieve. The jam is ready to use once it is cooled.
How to fill eclairs:
- Fit one piping bag with raspberry jam and the other with pastry cream.
- Use a medium round piping tip (I used a Wilton 12A) to poke 5 holes, evenly spaced, on the bottom of the eclair.
- Pipe raspberry filling into holes 2 and 4, about 1 ½ teaspoons per hole.
- Pipe pastry cream into holes 1, 3 and 5, filling up the eclair. You will know they are full as they will no longer sound hollow when tapped, and the eclair will feel heavier.
Raspberry Glaze and Decoration
This easy raspberry glazes requires only 2 ingredients. Remaining raspberry jam and powdered sugar. They are whisked together to make a glaze that is thick enough for coating, but thin enough as to not break the eclairs when dipping.
I decorated my eclairs with halved raspberries, edible flowers and petals and freeze dried raspberries. You can get them here, or from Target.
If you make my raspberry earl grey eclairs, let me know! Drop a comment below or tag me on Instagram.
Enjoy!
Ash xx
For more tea related recipes, check out these posts:
Earl Grey Cake with Honey Buttercream and Blackberry Caramel
London Fog No Churn Ice Cream with Honey Shortbread
Recipe
Raspberry Earl Grey Eclairs
Ingredients
Earl Grey Pastry Cream
- 1 ½ cups (341g) half and half
- 3 bags Earl Grey tea
- 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 large egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Raspberry Jam
- 2 cups (16oz) raspberries, fresh or frozen
- ¼ cup (48g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Eclairs
- 2 large eggs
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 3 tablespoons whole milk
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 ½ teaspoons granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup (60g) all purpose flour
Raspberry Glaze
- 1 cup (114g) powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons reserved raspberry jam
- Halved raspberries, edible flowers, and freeze dried raspberries, for decoration (optional)
Instructions
Earl Grey Pastry Cream
- In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the half and half and tea bags.
- Bring the mixture to just a simmer. Remove from the heat and steep the tea in the half and half for 10 minutes.
- Remove the tea bags, getting as much liquid as possible out of the tea bags. Discard the tea bags.
- Whisk in 3 tablespoons of sugar and the salt and bring to a simmer.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and egg yolks and whisk until fully mixed and lightened, about 45 seconds.
- Whisk in the cornstarch until thickened, for about a minute.
- When the half and half mixture is simmering, remove the saucepan from the heat. Carefully whisk the egg mixture into the half and half mixture in a slow steady stream, whisking constantly to ensure the eggs don't scramble.
- Place the pan over medium heat, whisking continuously until the pastry cream thickens and slow bubbles pop on the surface.
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla.
- Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl to remove any curdled bits, and to smooth out the cream.
- Cover the surface of the pastry cream with plastic wrap so that a skin doesn't form. Allow the pastry cream to cool to room temperature.
- Chill the pastry cream in the fridge until completely chilled, about 4 hours, preferably overnight before using.
Raspberry Jam
- In a saucepan, heat the raspberries, sugar and lemon juice over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
- Reduce raspberry mixture until it has thickened and reduced, about 10-15 minutes. Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl. Place into the refrigerator to chill.
Eclairs
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray then line with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the eggs and egg white into a measuring cup. You should have ½ cup. Discard any excess egg mixture.
- Place the butter, milk, water, sugar and salt into a small saucepan over medium heat.
- When the mixture comes to a boil, remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the flour. Keep stirring until the mixture clears the side of the pan.
- Place the pan over low heat, stirring and smearing the mixture, until it is slightly shiny and small beads of fat appear on the bottom of the pan, about 2 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a food processor. Let cool until the temperature reaches 160F. Alternatively, process for 15 seconds with the feed tube open to cool it down.
- With the processor running, pour in the egg mixture in a slow and steady stream.
- Scrape down the bowl with a spatula, then process the mixture again for an additional 30 seconds. The pastry should be smooth, thick and sticky.
- Transfer the pastry to a piping bag fitted with a French star attachment (Ateco 869).
- Use a bench scraper to scrape the pastry towards the piping tip.
- Pipe the paste into 12 - 5"x1" strips, about 1" apart on the cookie sheet.
- Dip your finger into a bowl of cold water to even out and clean up the eclair shape.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temp to 375 and bake for an additional 10 minutes, until the eclairs are golden brown. Do not open up the oven until the eclairs are baked.
- Cool completely. The eclairs should sound hollow when tapped.
Fill the Eclairs
- Fit one piping bag with raspberry jam (reserve 4 tablespoons for the glaze) and the other with pastry cream.
- Use a medium round piping tip (I used a Wilton 12A) to poke 5 holes, evenly spaced, on the bottom of the eclair.
- Pipe raspberry filling into holes 2 and 4, about 1 ½ teaspoons per hole.
- Pipe pastry cream into holes 1, 3 and 5, filling up the eclair. You will know they are full as they will no longer sound hollow when tapped, and the eclair will feel heavier.
Raspberry Glaze
- Whisk together the reserved raspberry jam and powdered sugar until well combined.
Glaze and Decorate the eclairs
- Dip the tops of the eclairs into the raspberry glaze. Place onto a cooling rack.
- Decorate the eclairs with halved raspberries, edible flowers and freeze dried raspberries. Serve room temperature or slightly chilled.
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