The most delicious eclairs, these captivating choux pastry tubes with their favorite sweet fillings, will be even better if they are coated with icing.
Glaze for eclairs: basic principles of cooking
In general, the glaze for eclairs is not particularly different from the glaze for a different baking, many recipes are equally suitable for refined French pastries, and muffins with muffins.
But she has her own peculiarities.
For example, it should spread to a minimum.
The whole glaze for eclairs contains sugar, preferably in the form of powder - for better dissolution, and unless otherwise stated, it cannot be replaced with granulated sugar.
Protein Glaze
Ingredients
• a glass of sugar;
• 4 egg whites;
• Lemon juice to taste.
Cooking
• Place the saucepan with the proteins in the water bath;
• add sugar, stirring constantly with a whisk, and start beating the mass;
• after five minutes, remove the dishes from the stove and, pouring in some lemon juice, continue to whip the frosting for a few more minutes;
• Cover the eclairs with glaze, which, after solidification, will become shiny and brittle, very reminiscent of gingerbread glaze.
Coffee icing
Ingredients
• a glass of powdered sugar;
• 3-4 tablespoons of strong natural coffee;
• tablespoon butter.
Cooking
• Pour the coffee into the saucepan, put on the stove over low heat;
• gradually add the icing sugar, stirring until dissolved, and immediately after that - bring to a boil and immediately set aside;
• After cooling the sweetened coffee to room temperature, mix it thoroughly with soft butter and, if desired, immediately apply glaze on the eclairs.
Chocolate icing on sour cream
Ingredients
• a glass of sour cream;
• 4 tablespoons of butter;
• 7-9 tablespoons of sugar;
• 6 tablespoons of cocoa powder.
Cooking
• mix sugar and cocoa;
• Put sour cream in a small saucepan, place on a medium hot plate;
• add sugar to sour cream, add cocoa and, stirring, wait for the very edge of boiling mass, but have time to remove from heat; • until it is cold, mix in all the spoons of oil and mix well;
• grease eclairs.
Fruit and berry icing
Ingredients
• a glass of berry or fruit puree;
• a glass of sugar;
• 4 teaspoons of invert syrup;
• three-quarters cup of glaze water;
• one quarter cup of water for gelatin;
• 8 g citrus pectin;
• 8 g of gelatin powder.
Cooking
• start with the preparation of mashed potatoes, which are suitable for bright fruits or berries - raspberries, cranberries, lingonberries, strawberries, currants, blueberries, blackberries, apricots, cherries;
• wash fresh berries or fruits, remove the twigs, stalks / leaves, frozen - thaw;
• several times wipe the main ingredient through a sieve, to obtain a thick juice with mashed potatoes;
• soak gelatin in cold water;
• put a saucepan with juice on the stove and, adding fire (but not boiling), pour in water and syrup;
• mix pectin with sugar and slowly, slowly stirring, add to the juice;
• now, increase the heat of the stove, bring the contents of the saucepan to a boil and reduce the heat to medium level in just a minute;
• Add gelatin there and stir thoroughly, until it is completely dissolved;
• cool the glaze and apply with a brush to the eclairs, which you immediately send to cool in the refrigerator.
Chocolate icing
Ingredients
• a bar of natural milk or bitter chocolate;
• one third cup of cream;
• 2 tablespoons of butter;
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar.
Cooking
• break the chocolate and put it melted in a water bath;
• in a separate saucepan, heat the cream almost to a boil and dissolve the icing sugar in them;
• pour the cream to the melted chocolate, stir and remove from the heat;
• Add butter, warmed to softness, and mix into a homogeneous mass, with which you can decorate eclairs and serve them, preferably chilled.
Citrus Glaze
Ingredients
• a glass of powdered sugar;
• 2-4 tablespoons of freshly squeezed orange, lemon, lime or grapefruit juice.
Cooking
• Using a whisk, slowly stir in the added sugar powder in the fruit juice until you are satisfied with its consistency. This glaze for eclairs is not very bright, but very tasty, slightly wetted with a crust of choux pastry with fruit flavors and aromas. Also, to taste you can add a little finely grated zest.
Cream frosting
Ingredients
• 2 glasses of powdered sugar;
• half a teaspoon of vanilla;
• a pinch of salt;
• a glass of cream fatter;
• 3 tablespoons of butter.
Cooking
• put the saucepan with cream on the stove, on medium heat;
• add sugar, stirring time and again;
• add vanilla and salt;
• Put the pieces of butter and, most importantly, do not overdo it with heating! It should not melt into liquid, but should be mixed with a uniform glaze texture;
• further, beat the mass more, but do not stir, and in about five minutes, leave the thick, puffy fudge off the stove, which will remain so on the cooled eclairs.
Pumpkin Frosting
Ingredients
• a glass of powdered sugar;
• 3 tablespoons of butter;
• 5-8 tablespoons of cream;
• a teaspoon of honey;
• teaspoon of vanilla extract;
• half a teaspoon of cinnamon;
• 3-4 tablespoons of pumpkin puree;
• 4 g of powdered gelatin;
• 20 ml of water for gelatin.
Cooking
• bake the slices of ripe and sweet pumpkin (for sure the flesh will be bright orange), bake in the oven and mash with a blender or rub through a sieve;
• soak gelatin in cold water;
• Pour the cream into a saucepan on a hot plate, pour out the butter, pumpkin puree and mix everything into a homogeneous mass;
• add cinnamon, honey and vanilla extract and mix again;
• while continuing to stir, add the icing sugar gradually;
• on another plate, dissolve to a liquid state, warming up, gelatin;
• strengthen the fire under the pumpkin saucepan and pour in the gelatin, stir everything for the last time and remove from the heat;
• thickly coat the eclairs with a slightly cold icing.
Yolk glaze
Ingredients
• half a cup of sugar;
• half a cup of powdered sugar;
• 2 egg yolks;
• 15-20 ml of water.
Cooking
• rub the yolks with powdered sugar, whisk to a fluffy white mass;
• put the saucepan with water on the stove, add sugar and, without allowing it to stick, cook thick, stretching sweet threads, syrup; • remove the saucepan from the heat, cool the syrup so that it is warm, and gently put the yolks into it, mix thoroughly and without delay, cover the eclairs with a fast-setting glaze.
Rum Frosting
Ingredients
• a glass of powdered sugar;
• 3-4 tablespoons of rum;
• 20 ml of water.
Cooking
• Add hot (just boiled) water to rum and do not hesitate to start pouring powdered sugar, carefully rubbing the ingredients into a uniform, dense icing.
Like choux, this eclair glaze should be used without delay, ahead of its hardening.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
• 400 g of Philadelphia cream cheese (or similar);
• half a pack of butter;
• 2 glasses of powdered sugar;
• a teaspoon of vanilla or vanilla extract.
Cooking
• an hour or two before cooking the glaze, remove the cheese and butter from the refrigerator to warm to room temperature;
• butter and cheese, beat with a mixer for a few minutes at low speed;
• add vanilla;
• enter in small portions, continuing to whip, powdered sugar;
• when the mass acquires pomp and uniformity - put it in the fridge for an hour, and after - start decorating the eclairs.
In this creamy glaze for eclairs, sweetness and cheese creamy sourness are perfectly combined, and you can advise her to choose for custard cakes with berry and / or cottage cheese fillings.
Caramel Frosting
Ingredients
• half a glass of cane sugar;
• a glass of powdered sugar;
• a teaspoon of vanilla;
• 3-4 tablespoons of heavy cream;
• 2-3 tablespoons of butter.
For this glaze, candy, it is preferable to choose cane sugar varieties Muscovado (Barbados), due to the high content of molasses, characterized by a rich taste and aroma.
Cooking
• Put the butter in a saucepan or saucepan and melt over medium heat;
• in fully melted butter, pour in the cream, add cane sugar and, after dissolving it, stir it, boil everything over low heat for a couple of minutes;
• remove the dishes from the stove, add a half cup of powdered sugar and immediately start beating the mixture until it cools down; • Add vanilla and the remaining icing sugar to a slightly warm mass and whisk everything well again, after which you can cover eclairs with icing with candy flavor.
Glaze for eclairs: secrets and tricks
1. Some varieties of glaze (for example, citrus), cooked in a cold way, harden rapidly, so that they are applied quickly. But, for example, this does not apply to the cream cheese glaze.
2. The glazes for eclairs prepared by the hot method are required to be cooled before they are coated with the eclairs, they are, in comparison with the first ones, not so hard, closer to thick cream or fudge.
3. Mirror-shiny, translucent glaze of berries or fruits, often used to cover the surface of cakes and pastries, but also eclairs are very bad, the main thing is not to boil too liquid, otherwise, before it hardens, almost all of the eclair will drain.
Also, so as not to “run away”, you should not be greedy, put it on the cake in a thick layer.
4. It is interesting that if the glaze recipe for eclairs contains pectin, then the product of the variety NH (citrus) is chosen, which is known, unlike the pectin used for marmalade, as a heat-reversible property, when it becomes liquid when heated and solidifies when cooled. And always pectin is injected to other hot products in a mixture of sugar, the crystals of which prevent sticking of pectin into lumps, with the loss of gelling properties.
5. Glazes with dyes, flavors and fragrances are common, but for natural admirers there are worthy alternatives. For example, it is possible to tint glaze for eclairs with the help of juice from beets, spinach or red cabbage, and seasoning turmeric.
