Transport yourself back to your childhood with our rhubarb and custard éclairs. Put your patisserie skills to the test and treat your guests to these delicious choux pastries, filled with crème pâtissière and poached rhubarb, topped with icing and crushed sweets!
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For the choux pastry
- 150 g unsalted butter, plus extra to grease
- 200 g plain flour
- 4 medium eggs, beaten
For the crème pâtissière
- 350 ml milk
- 5 medium egg yolks
- 75 g caster sugar
- 25 g plan flour
- 2 1/2 tsp. cornflour
- 2 tsp. vanilla bean paste
For the rhubarb
- 75 g caster sugar
- 250 g forced rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 2cm pieces, halved horizontally
For the icing
- 200 g icing sugar, sifted
- Pink gel food colouring, optional
- A few rhubarb and custard boiled sweets, crushed
- Step 1Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan) mark 6. Line 2 large baking trays with baking parchment. To make the choux pastry, melt butter and 450ml water in a medium pan over low heat. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil. As soon as boiling, take pan off heat and quickly beat in flour with a wooden spoon. Keep beating until mixture is shiny and comes away from sides of pan. Empty into a large bowl and cool for 10min.
- Step 2Using a handheld electric whisk, gradually beat enough egg into dough until a spoonful of it will reluctantly fall of the spoon if held above the bowl (too loose and the éclairs won't rise well). Scrape into a piping bag fitted with a 1.25cm plain nozzle. Pipe a 13.5cm line on to a lined tray, doubling back so it’s 2 lines thick. Repeat with remaining mixture to make 16 éclairs, spacing apart. With a damp finger, gently pat down any peaks.
- Step 3Bake for 30-35min until deep golden and crisp. Remove from oven (leave oven on). Wearing an oven glove and using a serrated knife, carefully slice each éclair in half horizontally, leaving one long edge attached. Return to oven (opened out) for 5-7min to dry out. Cool on a wire rack.
- Step 4Meanwhile make the crème pâtissière. Heat milk in a pan until just steaming. Beat yolks, sugar, flour, cornflour and vanilla together in a heatproof bowl. Gradually whisk 1/3 of the milk into the egg mixture, until smooth. Whisk egg mixture back into the remaining milk in the pan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until thick and smooth (it will go very lumpy at first). Remove from heat, scrape into a bowl, lay clingfilm on the surface to stop a skin forming. Cool then chill until needed.
- Step 5For the rhubarb, line a large baking tray with fresh baking parchment. Heat sugar with 200ml water in a medium pan over low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Increase heat to medium and bubble for 1min. Add rhubarb and gently cook for 1-2min, until just beginning to soften. Remove rhubarb to prepared tray with a slotted spoon. Cool completely.
- Step 6To make the icing, mix icing sugar with just enough water to make a thick but spreadable icing. Mix in some pink food colouring, if using.
- Step 7Scrape cooled crème pâtissière into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm star nozzle and pipe into each éclair in a swirl. Arrange rhubarb on top. Spread icing on top and sprinkle over the sweets. Serve immediately.
Get ahead
Prepare to end of step 4 up to a day ahead. Store cooled eclairs in an airtight container at room temperature. Up to 1hr before serving, refresh éclairs on a baking tray in an oven preheated to 200°C (180°C fan) mark 6 for 5min, until crisp. Cool. Mix crème pâtissière before assembling.
Per éclair:
- Calories: 260
- Protein: 5g
- Total Fat: 11g
- Saturates: 6g
- Carbs: 35g
- Total sugars: 23g
- Fibre: 1g
The GH Kitchen Team are Good Housekeeping’s resident recipe developers and all-round food obsessives. GH Kitchen Director Sarah Akhurst is our resident hosting pro and loves nothing more than putting on a foodie feast for friends. Our GH Kitchen Manager Linzi Pucino is our very own Italian food expert (originally hailing from the North East of Scotland!) and can be found working her way through midweek recipes that cover all bases, from haggis to ragu! Our Kitchen Editor Nadine Brown loves digging into the stories behind her favourite foods and enjoys applying her eclectic tastes to more modern, flavour-forward recipes - just don't give her too much chilli! Our Junior Food Content Produce Frankie Prichard combines a love of beautiful presentation and flavour-led, seasonal cooking in her recipe development, along with a passion for bringing people together through food. With a wealth of professional kitchen experience between them, they’re dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work every single time
