Mini Apple and Chocolate Eclairs

I've had my eye on a little book called "Secrets of Eclairs" for some time so when I saw the theme for this month's Classic French was eclairs, I decided it was a good excuse to treat myself to the book. The book explains in several steps how to make eclairs and then gives recipes for different fillings and toppings. I really liked the sound of the caramelized apple eclairs and had some stewed apple in the freezer I wanted to use up.

To make 6-8 eclairs, depending on size, you need:

80ml milk

80ml water

70g butter, diced

large pinch of salt

10g sugar

100g plain flour

2 eggs

Put the milk, water and butter in a saucepan then add the salt and sugar and stir until melted. Bring to the boil then remove from the heat. As soon as you take it off the heat, add the flour and stir well.

The mixture will very quickly form a dough. Gradually add the eggs and stir in.

Put a wide round nozzle onto a piping bag and pipe out the dough onto a greased and lined baking sheet. These were actually quite small when they were cooked so next time I would pipe two rows to make one eclair.

The recipe said they would take nearly an hour to cook, but they were done - almost well done - after about 20 minutes, probably because my eclairs were quite small. While they did go brown on the outside they were still lovely and fluffy on the inside.

I split open the eclairs and filled with stewed apple which I had defrosted from the freezer and warmed through.

And finished them with cream - from a spray can! It's definitely the easiest way to get cream into eclairs.

I also made some more traditional eclairs, filled with cream with melted chocolate on the top.

These were lovely and easier to make than I was expecting. I will definitely be making something else from my eclairs recipe book soon!

I'm sending this to Classic French, hosted by Maison Cupcake and created by Jen at Blue Kitchen Bakes.

I'm also sharing this with Tea Time Treats, hosted by Karen of Lavender and Lovage and Kate of What Kate Baked, as their theme this month is fruit.

The theme for Calendar Cakes this month is also fruit, so I'm sending my apple eclairs to Laura of Laura Loves Cakes and Rachel of DollyBakes for their challenge.

Finally I'm sending this to the No Waste Food Challenge, as the challenge this month is to use up leftovers from the freezer, and my stewed apple has been in there a while! The event is hosted this month by Elizabeth's Kitchen and was created by Kate at Turquoise Lemons.