Vegan Eclairs
These delicious pastry-cream-filled eclairs covered with chocolate ganache will satisfy your sweet tooth any time!
Ingredients
Pastry Cream (estimated 1 cup)
Choux Pastry
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup unsweetened soy milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
- ½ tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp vegan butter
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup Just Egg
- 2 tbsp unsweetened soy milk (to mix with the Just Egg)
Chocolate Ganache
- 1 bar vegan chocolate (60g)
- 1 ½ tbsp unsweetened soy milk (20g)
Instructions
- Prepare the pastry cream. If using our vegan pastry cream recipe, prepare it first and place it in a piping bag in the refrigerator.
- Prepare and gather the ingredients for the choux pastry. Using the second listed amount of soy milk, mix it together with the Just Egg. Set aside for later.
- Combine the water, soy milk, sugar, and butter in a small saucepan on medium heat. Mix it with a rubber spatula until the butter dissolves and then leave it for a few minutes until it starts to simmer. For a nice sweet aroma, we like adding a couple teaspoons of vanilla to the milk. This makes the dough smell really nice while it bakes.
- Once the liquid ingredients begin to simmer, carefully add in all the flour. Turn the heat to low. Continue to mix until the flour is incorporated and no white flour spots remain. The mix will thicken into a dough and almost form a ball. It should come off the sides of the pan easily. This shouldn’t take more than about 3 minutes.
- Scoop the dough out of the pan and into a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Avoid using a plastic bowl as the dough will be hot. Smash the dough down and flatten it to help release the heat. Leave it to cool for a few minutes. Alternatively, you can mix the dough over some ice or some ice packs to help it cool more quickly. You can also mix the dough for a few minutes in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.
- Once your dough is just barely warm or room temperature, add in the Just Egg mixture a few tablespoons at a time. The amount is up to you. We’re just trying to avoid mixing a ball of dough sitting in egg soup—that would be more difficult to mix! Mix it with the rubber spatula and allow it to fully incorporate in between each addition. The final consistency should just barely run off the spatula and look pipe-able. Add more soy milk a tablespoon at a time if your mixture is still too thick.
- Preheat the oven to 400° F.
- Line a half sheet tray with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Scoop the choux mixture into a piping bag with a 1/2 inch opening or smooth tip.TIP: You can pipe or dab a small amount of the choux mixture onto each corner of the baking tray underneath the parchment paper. This will help keep the paper from sliding around as you pipe.
- Keeping the tip very close to the tray, squeeze continuously and pipe a strip of the mixture approximately 4 inches long. It should also be about 1 inch wide. There should be enough mixture to make at least 8 eclairs. Wet the tip of your finger and gently flatten the little pointy tips that form on the ends from piping.NOTE: Pipe slowly! If you pipe too quickly, you're going to make a thin strip of dough!
- Place the tray in the oven on the middle rack. Bake for about 40 minutes until mostly golden brown. Do not open the oven at all until the last few minutes of baking. The pastry needs consistent heat for the moisture to turn to steam and cause them to rise. You can check on their color in the final few minutes of baking.NOTE: Bake for a few minutes longer if they are not hollowing out enough in the middle. Also every oven is different. The actual temperature of your oven might run a little lower or higher than what you set it to. This will affect how your eclairs bake and how long they will take to finish. We use an oven thermometer to make sure we don't put the eclairs in until it is actually 400°.
- While the eclairs are baking, prepare the ganache. Microwave 1 bar (60 grams) of vegan milk chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 20 seconds at a time until melted. Heat 20 grams (approx. 1.5 tbsp) of soy milk. While stirring the chocolate, slowly pour in the milk until it becomes a smooth mixture. Set aside to cool.NOTE: You can also use the same amount of chocolate chips or any other form of chocolate by weight. The amounts listed here are for how we like to make ganache using this brand of chocolate. Whatever chocolate you use, just make sure that you stir the chocolate enough to dissolve and melt any remaining little chunks. You might need to add a little more milk if your chocolate is still looking grainy.
- Once the eclairs are the desired color, turn off the oven. Leave the tray in for about 10 minutes. Keep the oven door slightly open to allow the eclairs to continue to dry out while slightly cooling.
- Remove the tray from the oven. The eclairs will still be warm. Using a sharp small knife, make three small holes spaced evenly along the bottom of each eclair to allow any remaining steam to escape. Rotate the knife after inserting the tip to create the hole. The eclairs can deflate if left to continue cooling without making the holes.
- Grab the piping bag with pastry cream that is resting in the refrigerator. Insert the tip of the piping bag into one of the holes on the bottom of the eclair. Carefully squeeze the pastry cream into the eclair. You will feel the cream push back a bit when you’ve filled each hole with enough of the pastry cream. Wipe off any excess cream from the hole. Repeat on each of the three holes on all of the eclairs.
- The last step is to cover the tops of the eclairs with a thin layer of chocolate ganache. Use a small rubber spatula or a small spoon to apply and spread some of the ganache to the top of each eclair. The ganache should be room temperature—if it’s too warm it will run down the sides of the eclairs.
- And that’s it! We chose to top half of the eclairs with milk chocolate ganache and the other half with white chocolate ganache. They can be filled with any flavor of vegan pastry cream or filling of your choice.
