How to Make Chocolate Eclairs

Hi guys! Yes I am back with chocolate after my savory experiment with the quiche. But obviously chocolate is love. I'm going to post about these chocolate eclairs that I made. making Eclairs is a step by step process and has many elements. None of these is difficult to make and neither very time taking.

The one thing that elevates an eclair is the decoration and plating. The choux pastry is simple enough to make, the filling is whipped cream and the glaze is also quite easy to prepare. Once the choux pastry dough is made, use a wet pastry bag to pipe out the eclairs. Being wet, the dough will not stick to the bag. You can also use a spoon but a piping bag would be neater. On baking, the eclairs will rise and fill with steam. Once baked, you need to take out the eclairs and pierce them otherwise they would sink.

After the eclairs are cooled, use a piping bag to fill the eclairs. I hold the eclairs vertically and fill them up from the side. This is a very neat method but makes it difficult to know if the eclairs is filled. You will feel the weight of the cream in the eclairs but its only by experience that you realize that. For an easier method, and if you do not have a piping bag, you can slice the eclairs from the side and fill them with a spoon. A third method is to make 2-3 holes on the top of the eclairs and fill them up from there. This will give the best results, however, only do this if you are going with a thick glaze.

Once filled, it is not time to decorate. Do not prepare the glaze in advance as it will harden. Once your eclairs are filled, make the glaze. Use a double boiler because its easier to get right than in a microwave. It might take more time, but the results are worth it. The glaze requires light corn syrup that might not be that readily available in every city so you can order online. A little goes a long way.

Once my glaze was prepared, I dipped my eclairs in it and then topped with some choco chips and white chocolate shards. To prepare the shards, just melt the chocolate and brush on on baking paper or acetate sheet. Brush in a thin layer and wait for it to harden. If you are short on time or its very hot or humid, you can put it in the freezer also. Once dry just start pulling it off the sheet and it would break into shards itself. The cooking chocolate that I use is pre-tempered, however, if yours is not, you need to temper the chocolate for the shiny result.

I just randomly decorated a few with just choco chips, a few with just the white chocolate and some with both. If the glaze is hardened already, just use some whipped or melted chocolate to stick your decorations on. 

For the easiest decoration technique, all you need is some castor sugar. You could sprinkle it on top the eclairs directly or even use stencils and make designs from the sugar. Depending on your creativity, you can use whatever you like, in whichever way you like. This is why I like decorating, because you can easily make it your own.

So without any further ado, here is the recipe-

Time taken: 1 hour (including baking time)

Makes 8

Ingredients:

Choux pastry

1/4 cup Unsalted Butter

2/3 cup Water
1/8 tbsp Salt
2/3 cup Flour
2 large Eggs

Cream

1/2 cup Whipping Cream

1 tbsp Vanilla Essence

Castor Sugar, as needed

Chocolate Glaze

3/4 cup Dark Cooking Chocolate

3 tbsp Unsalted Butter

1 tbsp Light Corn Syrup

1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method:

Choux pastry

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. In a saucepan, add butter, water and salt. Bring to a boil and immediately remove from heat. 
3. Add flour and beat till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.
4. Once cool enough to touch, add the eggs slowly and mix using an electric mixer till light and fluffy.
5. Rinse an icing bag with water and fill with the dough.
6. On an ungreased baking tray or butter paper, pipe out lines of desired length and thickness. keep in mind that it would rise on baking.
7. Using water make the ends of the eclairs neat. The water makes sure the dough does not stick to your hand.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes, till they stop making a faint sizzling sound.
9. Remove from oven and pierce on the side to let the steam out. If not pierced, they would sink. 

Cream

1. Take the whipping cream in a chilled bowl, and whip till soft peaks.
2. Now add vanilla extract and sugar, if required. You can also add rum at this step.
3. Now beat again till stiff peaks form and the cream is light and fluffy.
4. Pour the cream in an icing bag and holding them vertically fill the now cool eclairs from the side you pierced earlier.
5.  Try to feel the weight of the eclairs to determine if they are filled properly.

Chocolate glaze

1. In a double boiler, combine chocolate, butter and corn syrup. Stir till melted into a smooth mixture.
2. Then, add vanilla and stir.

Assembly

1. Dip the top of the filled eclairs in the mixture, removing in an arc motion.
2. Be careful since the hot mixture can burn your skin.
3. Set down the glazed ecalirs to harden. (about 2-3 minutes)
4. Garnish as desired. (chocochips, white chocolate, sprinkles, ganache, raspberry coulie, icing sugar are some options) 
5. Serve.

How to Make Quiche From Scratch plus Tips!

Hi guys!  So today I decided to share with you this easy quiche recipe from scratch! Yes, no store bought crust, or store bought quiche and still easy! Don't believe me? Read on! 

My younger sister loves the quiche I make, so after her asking me various times, I decided to finally make one for her! Also that meant I could take a break from all the chocolate related recipes I was doing on my blog like the shake and the brownies from theobrama!

So on Sunday, I woke up and went into the kitchen to create my dough. Now the dough needs to sit in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours but preferably overnight so it was the first thing I made. To make a quiche or pie crust, you basically require fat, flour and water. My choice of fat was butter, flour was all purpose flour and well water was water! (Pro tip: use ice water for best results, the colder the water, the better your dough) 

So I basically took cubes of butter and added it to my flour. I used salted butter but if you are using unsalted butter, do add some salt to the flour. The butter should be cold enough to hold its shape and not be melted but not absolutely frozen. While kneading the dough, we need to make it resemble breadcrumbs and not just bind it together. Once the breadcrumb texture is achieved, add the cold water, one tablespoon at a time and start binding the dough together. Try to add as little water as possible as the dough should be just bound enough with still some dry bits. This is essential as with time the butter will also add moisture and if we don't keep our dough dry it will become too wet and be essentially useless. Once your dough is ready, wrap in cling film and into the fridge.

After 3-4 hours or overnight take the dough out and start rolling it with a pin. Once rolled, fold it into half and roll again.(Pro tip: The more you fold and roll, the more flaky the crust will be)

Now as I said made the dough in the morning but then I got busy shooting for my haul post (do check it out too!) (yes I know this is blatant self promotion) (#noshame) so I got to rolling out the quiche only that night. As its winters these days (and really cold where I live, might I add) and the dough had been in the fridge for the entire day, it was a little difficult to roll at first. So I used my hands to initially warm the dough up a bit and then rolled it out using the rolling pin. While rolling out make sure you roll it enough to 

• Fit the base of your pie plate
•  Be enough to cover the sides as well
• Still be some left hanging over the edges to account for any shrinkage

Once that was done, I put the crust into the oven to blind bake for about 10 minutes or till stiff. Blind baking involves putting a piece of butter paper over your pie crust and adding some grains or rice to act as weights to make sure the base of your crust doesn't rise. Another thing to do is use a fork to make holes in the base allowing air to escape and again preventing the rise. Once it was stiff I took out the butter paper and weight and let it bake for about another 10 minutes. (Pro tip: Take care that when you pick up your pie mould, it is not from the bottom as most of them have removable bases and when you hold from below, the base pops up and your rolled out pie dough is ruined)

While the base baked I grated my cheese ( A mixture of Parmesan and mozzarella) and chopped up my veggies (I used broccoli, onions, green bell peppers, corn and mushrooms). Pro tip: The choice of cheese and vegetables and meat (I added none) is completely onto you.  Make your own combinations, use whatever is leftover, sky is the limit. Once chopped, I used about 2 cups of total vegetables and cooked them slightly in one tablespoon of heated olive oil. I only cooked them for about 4-5 minutes because I like my vegetables fresh and crisp and a little bit on the raw side plus they would be cooked again.

By this time, the crust was done so I just took it out of the oven to cool and made a mixture of beaten eggs, milk, salt, pepper, dried thyme and dried oregano.

Now once the crust was cool enough I added about a cup of cheese to the base topped with the vegetables, then the egg mixture and finally the rest of the cheese. If you have any fresh herbs on hand like oregano, rosemary or thyme add them on top with the cheese. Now the quiche is ready to go into the oven for 35-40 minutes to get baked. (Pro tip: Cook time might vary depending on size, filling and how pre-baked the crust is so keep a keen eye)

Once the sides and the cheese were browned and the base also crisp (check by inserting a fork) I took it out of the oven. Giving it about 10 minutes to cool slightly I used a knife to loosen the sides and then popped the base up and transferred the quiche to a plate. At this point, use can plate up beautifully using some cream, sauces and herbs or just slice up and serve.

A concise form of the recipe follows the pictures but do read the above for some tips and insights.

 

Recipe

Time taken (excluding the resting time taken by dough)

Prep- 40 minutes

Cook- 1 hour

Ingredients-

Crust:

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup salted butter, cold and in cubes
• 1/4 cup ice cold water

Filling:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup broccoli 
• 1/2 cup corn
• 1/2 cup mushrooms
• 1/4 cup onions
• 1/4 cup green bell peppers
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 1/2 cup grated cheese
• Fresh herbs for garnish

Method-

• Knead together the butter cubes and flour till they resemble breadcrumbs
• Slowly add water by spoonfuls and Knead till the dough is formed
• Wrap and in clingfilm and put in fridge for atleast 3-4 hours but preferably overnight 
• Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius
• Once cooled, roll out the dough to fit a 9-inch pie mould
• Put the rolled out dough in the mould and add butter paper and weight (such as rice or grains) to blind bake the crust for 8-10 minutes
• Now remove the weight and paper and bake till firm (about 10 minutes)
• Remove from oven to cool and reduce the oven temperature to 180 degree Celsius
• Chop up all the vegetables and saute in olive oil 
• Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, thyme and oregano
• Put one cup of cheese on the quiche crust
• Top with salted vegetables and followed by the egg mixture 
• Now add the remaining cheese and the herbs to garnish
• Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or till the crust and cheese are golden brown 
• Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the mould
• Slice and enjoy! 

How To Get Theobrama (and other foods) To Your Doorstep- placeoforigin.in

Hey guys!

Today I want to tell you how I get theobrama brownies, right to my city when I don't even live in Mumbai. So PlaceOfOrigin is a Craftsvilla initiative that aims to provide you all those special foods that you crave, at the click if a button! I am huge lover of brownies and Theobrama makes some amazing ones plus I'm a sucker for cute packaging like this:

Can you see theobrama bakery?

Like who can resist this? 😍

The brownies are delicious and look, smell and taste amazing!

So I was craving these a couple of days ago so decided to check out if placeoforiginin has it and sure enough they did! So I  placed my order and received the package today.

It came in a brown cardboard box filled with bubble wrap so it was safe and sound. Theobrama has only two branches, both in Mumbai, one in Bandra and one at Colaba Causeway. So it was pretty amazing to be able to have these sitting in my home. The website is easy to navigate and order from however shipping charges apply per item and no matter how much you order, it is not free. For larger orders, shipping is discounted though. 

Despite this, it is still pretty amazing to me that I can have khakhra from Gujarat, Rasgullas from West Bengal, Brownies from Mumbai, Mithai from Punjab, Biscuits from Dehradun and everything else you crave, right at your home. So what are you waiting for? Go check them out!

P.S. not sponsored

Update: I have been in touch with the placeoforigin teach and they have kind enough to provide me with a discount code for my readers.

Code: thatnextdoorgirl100 ( Rs. 100 off 700 or more) ( valid upto 31st March 2017)

Link: https://goo.gl/AtHgBt

Thank you for reading and lots of love! 😘😘 😘

Nutella Ferrero Hazelnut Shake!

Recently on a trip to gurgaon I had this delicious nutella, ferrero, hazelnut shake that was just divine. With  multiple whole hazelnuts and rochers, there was a crunch that added a definite dimension. The huge quantity meant it was difficult to be finished by a single person, even if a foodie!  Here is a pic for you all to drool over too:

Such deliciousness *drool*

Well, as much as I wish I could go there and have it now, I can't and that may be true for you too so here I am telling you how to make one right at your home! (and its not that hard either!)

One is never enough, is it?

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk (you can use skimmed milk too but whole milk works best for thickness)

2 cups chocolate ice cream

2 tablespoons castor sugar

4 tablespoons nutella

4-6 whole hazelnuts

3-4 ferrero rocher

5 crushed oreos

2 tablespoon whipped cream

2 tablespoon choco chips

random chocolates or wafers as desired

This is love 😍

Method:

Blend together milk, 1 1/2 cup ice cream and 4 crushed oreos. Once fully blended add in nutella saving some for the mug. Once blended taste and add castor sugar if required. Put the nutella on the edges so that you get some nutella in every sip. Now pour the blended mixture into the mug and add in the hazelnuts. Add the whipped cream over the shake.

Wow

Garnish with choco-chips, crushed oreo, ferrero rochers and your choice of wafers and chocolates. And ta-da enjoy this chocolatey heaven, right from your kitchen.

Tip: Try to share, its very heavy!


Now, obviously, the recipe is quite simple and can be made right in your kitchen, but sometimes (or always) you're way too lazy (like me..) so you can just grap that box of rochers or that jar of nutella (yumm) or even the new dairy milk silk in oreo which is just heavenly, by the way and enjoy!

The new silk 😵

Now I have to go and make this (or buy the silk, we'll see), so bye and lots of love! 😘😘😘