Method

Eclairs

Preheat oven to 220 °C and line a baking tray with baking paper or a silicone baking mat.

Bring the water and butter to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat.

Sift the flour and salt together.

Add the flour to the saucepan all at once and stir quickly with a wooden spoon for about 3 minutes until a ball forms. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring/beating vigorously to incorporate. *Tip: have the eggs already cracked into separate ramekins and simply tip into your mixture. This ensures that you don’t accidentally crack shell into your mixture and allows you to stir in quickly.

Once the mixture has reached a smooth glossy consistency, spoon into a piping bag fitted with a 2 cm round nozzle. Pipe 7 cm-long strips on the prepared trays, leaving space for rising in-between. (You can alternatively pipe small rounds instead of strips)

Sprinkle a little water over the tray, to create steam, this will help the choux pastry to rise.

Place the eclairs in the oven, decrease the heat to 180 °C and bake for about 25 minutes or until golden and puffed.

Decrease heat to 160 °C and bake for a further 10 minutes or until dried out. Don’t open the oven while baking or the pastry will collapse.

Remove from the oven and cut open lengthways and cool on wire racks.

Milk Tart Filling

Mix a little of Tant’ Sannie se Melktert liqueur with the custard powder to form a smooth paste. Add the remaining liqueur and mix to combine.

Microwave in a glass bowl for about 4 minutes, stirring every minute until cooked and thickened. Cool completely, stirring often to prevent a skin from forming.

Spoon the cooled filling into the bases of the eclairs.

Chantilly Cream

Beat the cream until soft peaks form. Add in the icing sugar. Spoon into the tops of the eclairs and sandwich together with the bases.

White Chocolate Ganache Drizzle

Heat the Tant’ Sannie se Melktert liqueur in a microwavable jug until hot. Pour over the blocks of white chocolate and stir to melt. You can re-microwave if your chocolate needs to melt a bit more. Stir until smooth.

Drizzle over the tops of the eclairs. Dust lightly with ground cinnamon and gold dust and serve.