Fortnum's Rose Éclairs
Fortnum & Mason's rose éclairs: crisp choux filled with rosewater pastry cream, dipped in pale pink fondant and finished with a rose petal.
Ingredients
Choux pastry
- 100 g plain flour
- 75 ml whole milk
- 75 ml water
- 75 g unsalted butter, diced
- 3 medium eggs, lightly beaten
Rose pastry cream
- 1 vanilla pod
- 400 ml whole milk
- 100 g caster sugar
- 30 g cornflour
- 8 large egg yolks
- 20 g unsalted butter
- 4 teaspoons rosewater
- 120 ml double cream
Fondant icing
- 300 g icing sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons water
- A little pink food colouring
- A few fresh, unsprayed rose petals, to decorate
Instructions
The choux pastry
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Sift the flour on to a small sheet of baking parchment. Put the milk, water and butter in a saucepan over a medium heat.
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When the butter has melted and the mixture boils, take it off the heat at once and beat in the flour with a wooden spoon.
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Return to the heat and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Leave to cool for 5 to 10 minutes, until warm rather than hot.
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With a hand-held electric mixer, beat in the eggs a little at a time. The paste should be thick and glossy and fall from a spoon when shaken slightly.
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Spoon into a piping bag with a 1cm nozzle and pipe thin strips 9 to 10cm long on to two lined baking trays, at least 5cm apart.
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Bake in an oven heated to 200 °C (gas 6) for 25 minutes, until well risen and golden; they should sound crisp and hollow when tapped underneath. Cool on a wire rack.
The rose pastry cream
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Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds. Bring the pod and seeds to the boil with the milk, then take off the heat.
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Beat the sugar, egg yolks and cornflour together in a large bowl, then pour on the hot milk gradually, whisking well.
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Return to the pan and cook over a low to medium heat, stirring all the time, until it thickens; if it goes lumpy, keep stirring and it will smooth out.
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Cook gently for 2 minutes more. Off the heat, stir in the butter and then the rosewater. Turn into a bowl, press cling film on the surface and leave to cool.
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Whip the double cream to soft peaks. Loosen the pastry cream with a vigorous stir and fold in the cream.
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Taste and add a little more rosewater if needed. Pipe through a 5mm nozzle into a small hole in the end of each éclair until generously filled.
The fondant icing
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Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and stir in the lemon juice, then enough water to make it as thick as treacle.
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Stir in the colouring a drop at a time until pale pink.
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Dip the tops of the éclairs in the icing and leave to set, then decorate with rose petals.
Notes
Added for the Tea Caddy’s guides, from Fortnum & Mason’s The Cook Book.
