Cook With Us Week #30- Pumpkin Spice Eclairs

Food is about sharing and coming together with friends and family. What I enjoy the most is baking, but I don't often make desserts except for special occasions. This week's theme "Free For All" @cookwithus I thought what a great excuse to make a dessert. Being that it's fall, the leaves are turning orange, and pumpkins are everywhere, I decided to make some Pumpkin Spice Eclairs with Salted Caramel Glaze. This recipe has a few components but you can make everything ahead of time. On the day of serving, it will be easy to assemble the eclairs.

Pate à Choux

• 125g water
• 125g milk
• 10g granulated sugar
• pinch of kosher salt
• splash of vanilla extract
• 125g unsalted butter
• 140g all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs

In a small pot, combine the water, milk, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and butter. Bring to a rolling boil. Remove the pot from the heat, using a wooden spoon, vigorously stir in all the flour at once. Cook over medium heat until the mixture pulls away from the side of the pot and a thin crust forms on the bottom of the pot.

Transfer the dough to a bowl of electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, mix on low for approximately one minute to cool the dough down. Add in eggs one at a time, making sure the eggs are properly incorporated before adding the next one in. Transfer the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Evenly pipe the eclairs about 3 inches long. Liberally dust the tops of the eclair with powdered sugar which will make the tops golden brown while they bake.

Place the choux into a 425 degree F oven and bake for 10 minutes. The high temperature will cause the moisture in the dough to evaporate which makes the dough puff. Lower the heat to 350 degrees F and bake for another 10-15 minutes. The choux should be light and golden brown. I like to turn off the oven and leave the choux in the oven to make sure the shells are dry. Once the shells are cool you can place them in a container and freeze for a later use. Just recrisp the shells in the oven before filling them.

Pumpkin Pastry Cream

• 125g pumpkin puree
• 25g dark brown sugar
• 80g granulate sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 16g cornstarch
• pinch of salt
• 120g milk
• 120g heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp dark rum (optional)
• 15g unsalted butter

Bring the milk, heavy cream, vanilla extract, granulated sugar to a boil. Whisk together the pumpkin puree, cornstarch, brown sugar and egg yolks. Slowly whisk in a little of the hot liquid into the pumpkin, egg mixture until all the hot liquid is mixed in. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a sauce pan.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the pastry cream starts to thicken and boils. Remove from heat and place into a bowl of a stand up mixer attached with a paddle. Add the butter and mix on the lowest setting for 5 minutes. This will help cool down the pastry cream and make the pastry cream smooth. Transfer the custard into a small bowl and place plastic film directly on top of the custard so a skin does not form. Pastry cream can be made 3 days in advance. Store in the refrigerator.

Salted Caramel Glaze

• 150g heavy cream, heated
• 240g granulated sugar
• 50g water
• 30g corn syrup
• 55g butter
• 3/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Bring the sugar, water, corn syrup, to a boil. Cook until the mixture is amber colored. Remove from the heat and let the mixture become darker and slowly add in the cream to the sugar syrup. It will splatter! Whisk until smooth and add in the salt and vanilla extract. Cool the caramel before glazing. While the glaze is cooling, place the pumpkin pastry cream into a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip. Poke two holes on the bottom of the eclairs and stuff each with pastry cream. Dip the tops of the eclairs into the salted caramel.

I like to add a crunchy element to my eclairs. You can simply add some chopped toasted nuts, crushed cornflakes, mini chocolate chips, or anything else you can imagine. Since it has been some time since I have made a dessert, I decided to make some mini meringues, candied pecans and oat crumble to sprinkle on top of my my eclairs.

The sweetness of the pastry cream is balanced from the saltiness of caramel glaze. The crunchy oat crumble and pecans add a textural contrast to the soft eclairs. These eclairs are the perfect fall dessert. Thank you @offoodandart, @pandamama, and @chefsteve for giving me an excuse to do some fall baking.