Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Eclairs

Crispy choux pastry
Fluffy whipped cream
And a dose of bright raspberry cheesecake
YUM

Recipe

Prep Time: 20 min
Bake Time: 30 min
Yields: 12-18 puff pastries (depending on size)



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What you need

Pâte à Choux (Pastry)

• 1 cup flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 7 tbsp unsalted butter



Craquelin

• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt



Raspberry Cheesecake

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temp
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 6oz raspberries
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• Tbsp raspberry jam
• 1 tsp lemon juice



Whipped Cream

• 4oz cream cheese, very soft, room temp
• 1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup powdered sugar, taste as you go
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract



Chocolate Ganache

• 2oz semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 1/2 tsp corn syrup






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What to do


1. For the craquelin, use a stand mixer with paddle attachment (hand mixer works fine too!) and beat butter on medium speed until fluffy. Add sugar, beat for another minute or so. Add salt and flour and beat until dough starts to come together and forms a ball. Take two pieces of parchment paper (12 x 12), place them on a countertop. Place ball of dough in between each piece of parchment and roll with a rolling pin. You want the craquelin to be very thin- about 1/8-1/4 of an inch- the dough will be about 8-10 inches in diameter. Place the sandwich of dough and parchment paper on a cutting board or something flat and firm and freeze for 30 minutes (if you have a narrow freezer, you can cut the craquelin in half and freeze two pieces instead of one).
2. For the choux pastry, place butter, milk, water, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Mix well with a wooden spoon and let the mixture come to a boil. When the mix begins to boil, dump (I REPEAT) DUMP all your flour in at once. Turn down heat to low and begin mixing vigorously. Your mix will thicken quickly and turn almost into a paste. Keep mixing (*see note below), you will see a skin start to form on the bottom of the pan and thats ok. Keep mixing. When your mix reaches about 170+ degrees, you can remove from the heat and dump the dough into a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Let the mix cool until it reaches 145 degrees. I have linked a baking thermometer here.
3. When mix has reached 145 degrees (use thermometer to check), add eggs one at a time. Mix each egg into the dough completely before adding the next. When all eggs are incorporated, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet, or large baking pan with parchment paper. Brush or dab the paper with some water (*see note below) and then add your choux pastry to a piping bag with a fitted tip OR honestly, a ziplock bag with a hole cut on the tip works just fine. I pipe long eclair like forms (about 4 inches long and an inch wide). When piping, I apply some pressure so that my choux comes out of the pipe pretty thick. Or you can pipe little round puffs. Make sure to pipe each choux about 2 1/2 – 3 inches apart, You dont want them to bake into each other. Because, of this, you may need to bake multiple batches.
4. Remove craquelin from the freezer and cut pieces of the craquelin (about 4 inches long and an inch wide). I use a pastry cutter linked here. Place a piece of craquelin on each choux. Bake at 375 for about about 28-32 minutes. When you see the eclairs puffed up and starting to brown on top, they’re done. Do not immediately pull eclairs from the oven, instead, turn off the heat and prop the door open with a wooden spoon and let the eclairs rest for about 15 minutes (*see note below). Then remove from the oven to cool. Using a serrated knife, slice the eclairs (longways) in half.
5. For the chocolate ganache, place the chocolate, corn syrup and heavy cream in a heat safe bowl and microwave for about 30 seconds. Mix and then set to the side to cool. Next take the tops of each eclair, dip them into the chocolate mix, lift and hold to let the excess chocolate drip, then set on parchment paper (non chocolate side face down) to rest and dry.
6. For the raspberry cheesecake, place raspberries, jam and lemon zest in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat. Once raspberries have bursted and reduced (about 10 min), remove from the heat. We want to get the reduced raspberry juice, and leave the seeds behind. Place a mesh sieve over a bowl and strain the raspberry mix. Set raspberry juice to the side to cool. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix cream cheese and sugar until combined and smooth. Add lemon juice, vanilla, cooled raspberry juice and mix until combined.
7. For the whipped cream, using a hand mixer, mix cream cheese and powdered sugar. Slowly drizzle the whipping cream and turn the mixer up to max (wear an apron! cream will splatter), mix until medium peaks form. Add vanilla extract, mix gently. Place in fridge to chill until cheesecake assembly.
8. Now we assemble zee eclairs! Using a piping bag with tip, pipe the raspberry cheesecake on the base of the eclair. Using another piping bag with tip, pipe some whipped cream on top of the cheesecake. Then top with the chocolate dipped eclair piece! You can sprinkle with freeze dried fruit, rose petals, more raspberries, whatever you like!
9. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve. Let rest at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving. Store in fridge for up to 3 days!









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Helpful tips





Here are some important Pro tips by Maude

• When making the choux pastrty, it feels odd to dump flour in all at once, but trust me, it works. As you mix, be sure to use a wooden spoon and mix longer than you think you need. We need the flour to cook and as you continue to press and flip the dough around, you will always get that skin at the bottom of the saucepan. Thats ok!
• Adding water to your baking sheet will allow for your dough to steam throughout the baking process. You dont need a ton, just a like dab or brush of water on the parchment is enough.
• The process of opening your oven door after baking is an interesting one! Similar to cheesecake, you want to let the pastries slowly come to room temperature. Aggressively changing the temp and taking the pastries immediately out of the oven to the kitchen counter can cause deflation and a lackluster presentation.








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