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First of all, there are 3 separate 'recipes' here . One for the dough for the actual eclairs, then there is the filling which is optional, you could opt for dairy free yoghurt or dairy free ice cream and finally there is the (optional , hey who are we kidding here ?) dairy free chocolate icing.
So I was pointed in the direction of a dairy free gluten free coffee eclair recipe (here https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...-free-coffee-vanilla-creme-patissiere-eclairs) which I tried out and it failed completely. So after some reading (thank you @morning glory) I followed my gut ,made a whole host of changes, some to the ingredients and some to the cooking process and came up with something that works .
A word of warning, this really only makes 6 1/2 eclairs that are quite short actually!
Ingredients
Choux pastry
50g cornflour
20g pure vegetable fat (such as Trex)
90ml water
2 large egg, beaten
1/4 tsp Xantham gum
Filling
3 egg yolks
15g caster sugar
30g cornflour
½ tsp vanilla extract
300ml soya milk
Icing
1 tbsp boiling water
2 tbsp cocoa powder or 2 chunks of melted vegan dark chocolate
100g icing sugar
Method
Choux pastry / eclair
So I was pointed in the direction of a dairy free gluten free coffee eclair recipe (here https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...-free-coffee-vanilla-creme-patissiere-eclairs) which I tried out and it failed completely. So after some reading (thank you @morning glory) I followed my gut ,made a whole host of changes, some to the ingredients and some to the cooking process and came up with something that works .
A word of warning, this really only makes 6 1/2 eclairs that are quite short actually!
Ingredients
Choux pastry
50g cornflour
20g pure vegetable fat (such as Trex)
90ml water
2 large egg, beaten
1/4 tsp Xantham gum
Filling
3 egg yolks
15g caster sugar
30g cornflour
½ tsp vanilla extract
300ml soya milk
Icing
1 tbsp boiling water
2 tbsp cocoa powder or 2 chunks of melted vegan dark chocolate
100g icing sugar
Method
Choux pastry / eclair
- Preheat the oven to 200C (fan assisted, 220C without). Prep your baking tray by lining it with greaseproof paper but once you have cut it to size, turn it over onto the wrong side and draw up 6 or 7 rectangles that are 12cm long by 2cm wide with a 4cm spacing between rectangles. These are to be your template but the pencil must be on the wrong side else if will transfer to the pastry whilst it is cooking. If you are doubling this recipe, then double the number of rectangles you draw, if you want traditional longer eclairs that may bend when you pick them up, draw longer, timber eclairs, 15cm by 1.5cm will get you around 6 eclairs (these will take less time to cook so watch them carefully) but 15cm by 2cm will only get you 4 eclairs.
- Put the cornflour and xantham gum into a bowl big enough to take all the ingredients and a stick blender without it throwing everything out of the bowl, but small enough so that it can reach all of the ingredients easily. Mix.
- Heat the water (weigh it out (90ml = 90g), is easier) and the fat in a small pan until the water boils and the fat has melted.
- Pour the boiling mixture into the cornflour and mix well. It will form a solid lump ,don't worry. Allow it to cool a touch.
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- You need to have around 120g of beaten eggs minimum. Don't worry if it's more but if it's less you'll need another egg handy. Now pour 3/4's to most of the beaten egg into the cornflour mixture and beat well, very well with the stick blender. You want a nice smooth mixture that when it is scraped off the sides will hold its shape only settling a little, but is as wet as it can be to achieve this. Add more egg and beat again until you get the dough as wet as possible without it sinking into the bowl when pulled up into a ball.
- Carefully put the mixture into a plastic bag (I weighed mine first), then weigh it . It makes life easier if you know roughly how much dough you have. Mine came in at 235g and the bag was 7g. I rounded up and worked with 230g. Each eclair used about 35-40g of dough at 10cm by 2cm. That gave me just over 6 eclairs. Now cut off the corner so it is a little over 1.5cm on the longest edge (the edge you made). Seal the bag, work the dough to the cut corner and pipe the eclairs out onto the templates. A knife came in handy for cutting the dough off at the end of each eclair.
- Put the eclairs into the oven and cook for 10 minutes minimum before you look (glass fronted ovens come in handy here) . Mine took 15 mins to cook at 200°C in a fan assisted oven. Once they are going brown, wedge a wooden spoon or similar into the door and leave it ajar with the oven switched off and the eclairs in the oven still , for an hour minimum.
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- If you're using dairy free ice cream, get the topping ready and be ready to serve immediately. Set the soya milk (or any other dairy free milk) heading in a pan. You need to bring it to the boil.
- Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks with the caster sugar until it forms a cream and it much lighter than previously.
- Whisk in the cornflour and vanilla to the egg mixture ensuring it is smooth and not lumpy.
- Now add in some of the boiling soya milk and whisk thoroughly. Pour in the remaining soya milk and mix thoroughly before pouring it all back into the pan and bringing it to a boil . Stir until it stops thickening and then cook for a few minutes longer. Take off the heat, cover with a lid and allow to cool completely.
- Mix the cocoa powder and the icing sugar carefully before adding the water and stirring to form a thick paste. Add more boiling water if needed . If using solid chocolate, melt the chocolate lumps carefully in a bowl in the microwave, add the water and mix well then add the icing sugar and create a slightly runny paste.
- Cut the eclairs in half lengthways. I left the back uncut but you can do either.
- Add the filling to the bottom half of each eclair (be generous), then place the top half back onto the eclair (or fold it back over)
- Spread the chocolate icing onto the top half of each eclair and serve .
Sorry - I don't understand. The classic basic recipe simply uses plain white flour - which is what I used. In fact I used white bread flour for added structure. Are you meaning that if its dairy free you can't use wheat flour? I'd just substitute vegetable margarine for the butter. I guess I need to try it!