In enjoy these made large and filled with sweetened whipped cream, maybe even flavoured with passionfruit pulp and covered with chocolate icing. Alternatively, mash up a few strawberries and fold into the cream with a little liqueur.

Ingredients

• ½ cup flour
• 50 grams butter
• ½ cup water
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Cream filling
• 300 ml cream
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar
• pulp of 1-2 passionfruit, optional

Method

1. Place two oven racks either side of the centre. Preheat the oven 220C, fan bake at 200ºC. Grease 2 oven trays or line with baking paper.
2. Sift the flour with a pinch of salt onto a plate and have close to the stove.
3. Cut the butter into small pieces and place into a saucepan with the water. Bring to the boil, ensuring that the butter melts before the mixture boils. If the mixture boils before the butter has melted, there will be too much evaporation, resulting in insufficient liquid when you add the flour.
4. Tip in all the sifted flour at once and draw off the heat. Beat quickly with a wooden spoon. The mixture should come away from the sides of the sauepan and form a ball.
5. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
6. Add half the beaten eggs and beat well with a wooden spoon until the mixture is well incorporated. Add the remaining beaten eggs and continue to beat until the mixture is thick and glossy.
7. Alternatively, put the dough into a food processor and blend in the eggs. Either way will give an excellent result.
8. Using a soup spoon, drop 10-12 large spoonfuls or mixture onto the prepared trays.
9. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Lower the temperature to 140ºC, (120ºC fan bake) for a further 10-15 minutes until the puffs are dry.
10. Take the puffs from the oven and pierce underneath with the end of a spoon to allow the steam to escape, otherwise they will soften and collapse. For large puffs, return to the oven for 10 minutes once pierced to help dry out the centre. Allow to cool.
11. Whip the cream and icing sugar together until thick. Add the passionfruit if using.
12. Either cut each puff in half and fill or place the whipped cream into a piping bag and pierce the nozzle through the base of the puff and pipe in the whipped cream.
13. Top with simple chocolate icing, if wished or melted white or dark chocolate.

Cooks Tips

- For eclairs, fill a piping bag fitted with a star or plain nozzle with the batter-style choux pastry. Pipe index finger lengths onto the prepared trays. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes before lowering the temperature for 10-15 minutes. Fill and decorate.