Mocha éclairs

Those classic, reliable and delicious flavours of coffee and chocolate in these mini éclairs.

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I made this batch of mini éclairs for a party and making them small means they are easier to eat (well, less messy) and you can go back for another without guilt!

One of the great things is they can be frozen – either unfilled or even when filled and iced.

I used my standard choux pastry recipe (the recipe is here), piped them to about 5cm long before baking for just over 15 minutes or until very crisp on top. This makes around 40 mini éclairs.

Once baked and cooled, you simply slice the pastries horizontally to give tops and bottoms for the éclairs.

Spoon over or pipe the ganache, followed by the cream onto each bottom.

Ganache spooned over bottoms

Cream piped onto ganache

The icing is fondant icing sugar mixed with enough strong espresso coffee to give a thick, dippable topping.

Dip the tops in the icing and gently place these dipped tops over the filling to hold in place.

Ready to add the tops!

I also grated over a little white chocolate to give a loose cappuccino vibe. And I’m sure we’ve all met a loose cappuccino in our time!

The fillings:

• whipped cream: with a little vanilla extract and icing sugar added
• mocha ganache: this is just 100g finely chopped milk chocolate to which 80g warmed cream and about 20ml very strong espresso is added. This gets stirred gently to melt the chocolate to give a smooth mixture. This is then left to set in the fridge until firmer and at a thick, spreadable consistency. You can add a shot of Baileys or other alcohol if you wish.

Mocha éclairs

Author: Philip

Finalist on Britain’s Best Home Cook (BBC Television 2018). Published recipe writer with a love of growing fruit & veg, cooking, teaching and eating good food. View all posts by Philip