Recipe: Passionfruit gianduja eclairs

With a return to grey weather, it’s time to treat yourself to some afternoon tea — and, of course, a little pastry treat to go with it.

Remi Ho, pastry chef and café manager at Origo Club has just the thing: Passionfruit gianduja eclairs.

“I love this dessert because it has so many layers of texture,” says Ho.

“You have the crunchiness from the choux, the praline and the hazelnut. You have the whip ganache which has a great texture thanks to the chocolate. It’s not like bitting into whip cream.”

Who doesn’t like hazelnut-infused milk chocolate? And the passionfruit is really there to just make everything lively so you can keep going back for another bite.

It’s a little bit of work but it’s not hard to make and will certainly wow any guests.

Ingredients

Choux pastry

• 250g milk
• 3g salt
• 4g sugar
• 100g butter
• 150g all purpose flour
• 4 large eggs
• Choux crunch
• 75 room temp butter
• 50g sugar
• 50g brown sugar
• 100g all purpose flour

Passionfruit dark chocolate caramel

• 60g sugar
• 20g butter
• 80g cream
• 100g passionfruit pure
• 90g 70 per cent dark chocolate
• 1g salt

Hazelnut praline  

• 100g hazelnut
• 100g sugar

Gianduja whip ganache

• 10g glucose
• 75g gianduja
• 75g cream
• 250g cream
• 50g cream cheese

Method

Choux pastry prep

1. Make the choux crunch by placing all the ingredients in a mixer fitted with a paddle and mix on medium-low speed until it forms one uniform dough
2. Spread the dough to a thickness of 2-3mm between two sheet of baking paper and freeze

Ganache

1. Make the whip ganache by boiling the smaller measurement of cream with glucose
2. Pour it over the chocolate and cream cheese and blend it to homogenize
3. Finally add the rest of the cold cream and blend it again
4. Store in the fridge for at least five hours

Passionfruit caramel

1. Boil the cream and the passionfruit pure
2. On a sauce pan, make a dry caramel with the sugar and out of the heat, deglaze with the butter
3. Slowly add the cream mixture mixing as you pour, being careful with splashes
4. Bring mixture back to boil for 30 seconds and add the salt
5. Finish by Pouring onto the chocolate in 3 times and ensure a nice emulsification

Hazelnut praline

1. Toast hazelnuts in the oven and throw in another handful for the decoration
2. Make a dry caramel until a light brown colour and mix in the toasted nuts
3. Be sure to keep a handful of hazelnuts for later use
4. Once the caramel has cooled, blend it in a robot coupe until the size that you like

Choux pastry

1. Preheat the oven to 325F
2. Make the choux pastry by boiling the milk with the sugar, salt, and butter
3. Off the heat, mix in the flour and place it back low heat
4. Continue mixing for a couple minute then transfer the dough into a mixer fitted with a paddle and mix on medium for a minute
5. Add in the eggs while mixing and make sure to scrape the sides after each incorporation
6. Finish by piping the choux pastry with a star tip or round tip onto a sheet tray with parchment paper
7. Cut the frozen choux crunch to the size of the log of choux pastry and just lightly place it on top of the choux pastry
8. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes. Let cool

Assembly

1. Whip the gianduja ganache till a medium stiffness then place it in a pipping bag fitted with any tip you like
2. Cut the eclair but just the top 1/3 of it
3. Stuff the top into the hollow centre of the eclair
4. Pipe some of the passion caramel in the centre and sprinkle the praline over it
5. Pipe a nice amount of whip ganache over the eclair
6. Finish by decorating with some toasty halves hazelnut and edible flowers

More Global BC recipes can be found here.