Goodbye Christmas recipes… With Candlemas just a few days away and Valentine’s Day in 2 weeks, it was time to move on to something else. After my first attempt at a cylindrical choux bun, here I am again with a new choux recipe in a slightly different shape again, since this time it’s a tube-shaped calamansi and lime éclair. What I’m presenting here is a modern take on a thoroughly traditional dessert.
As for the flavours, these tube éclairs are filled with a calamansi and lime crémeux, enhanced with a little calamansi gel to add some zing, and the whole thing is covered with a calamansi whipped ganache.
Calamansi is a citrus fruit I really love using. If you fancy trying it or want to try other recipes, feel free to rummage through the blog, there are plenty of other recipes. For your information, calamansi is a Filipino citrus fruit with the acidity of a lemon, the fragrance of a mandarin and the taste of passion fruit. It’s really very interesting! Here I used the lemon crémeux recipe from Aurélien Cohen and the calamansi gel recipe from La poche à douille.
Let’s talk a little about the “guided baking of choux” technique. I already mentioned it a bit in my previous article; you’ll need a bit of equipment: here they’re stainless steel tubes, but personally, I salvaged an old tube from my father-in-law’s workbench (he then cut it into several pieces for me). Of course it isn’t made for food use, I’ll grant you that. So, after washing them, I put baking parchment inside in addition to my Silpain mat. As you’ll have gathered, you’ll also need a Silpain mat (which is different from a Silpat mat); it’s thanks to this mat that you’ll get that grid pattern on your choux. Yes, you’ll need to cut your mat to the size of your tubes so as to get rectangles of Silpain. Example with my tube, which is 3.5 cm in diameter and 14 cm long. The circumference of a circle being 2πR, I therefore get a rectangle of Silpain 3.5π wide, i.e. 11 cm, and 14 cm long. Who said maths was useless?? LOL
If you fancy trying out cylindrical choux and in particular this calamansi and lime éclair recipe, read all the advice given here carefully and don’t hesitate to watch the little tutorial video I posted on Instagram. I’d also told you I was going to prepare a more detailed article devoted solely to this particular way of baking choux pastry, to help you as much as possible. I haven’t had time to get round to it yet, but I haven’t forgotten 😉 In the meantime, I’ll point you to my article choux pastry: the step-by-step in pictures to get it right every time.
Ingredients & method
6 components · Full recipe
Whipped kalamansi ganache (start the day before)
Ingredients
- 35 g (1.2 oz) white chocolate
- 30 g (1.1 oz) kalamansi juice
- 30 g (1.1 oz) whipping cream
- 1.4 g (0 oz) gelatine (one sheet weighs 2 g (0.1 oz))
- 90 g (3.2 oz) whipping cream
Method
1
Hydrate the gelatine in the water.
2
Make a ganache: melt the white chocolate over a bain-marie until it just begins to melt.
3
In a small saucepan, heat the 30 g (1.1 oz) of whipping cream. Off the heat, add the rehydrated gelatine.
4
Pour one third of the cream over the white chocolate and mix to create an emulsion. Then pour a second third, then a third, until the mixture is smooth and homogeneous.
5
Then add the kalamansi juice at room temperature or slightly warm (to avoid splitting the ganache) and the 90 g (3.2 oz) of very cold whipping cream.
Kalamansi and lime cremeux (can be made the day before)
Ingredients
- 60 g (2.1 oz) kalamansi juice
- 60 g (2.1 oz) lime juice
- 100 g (3.5 oz) sugar
- 113 g (4 oz) whole eggs (2 large eggs)
- 1.33 g (0 oz) gelatine (one sheet weighs 2 g (0.1 oz))
- 133 g (4.7 oz) butter
- 4 g (0.1 oz) lime zest
Method
1
Hydrate the gelatine in the water.
2
In a saucepan, combine the lime and kalamansi juice, the zests, the whole eggs and the sugar, then mix together with a whisk.
3
Heat over medium heat to 83°C / 181°F, stirring constantly. The cream will thicken. As with a crème anglaise, take care not to exceed this temperature. If you do not have a thermometer, here is chef Michalak’s tip: whisk the mixture briskly then stop. If the “whirlpool” stops immediately, the cream is at the right temperature.
4
Remove from the heat, add the hydrated gelatine and stir.
5
Transfer the mixture to a jug (or any tall container). When it reaches approximately 40°C / 104°F, add the cold butter and blend with an immersion blender until smooth and homogeneous.
Kalamansi gel
Ingredients
- 85 g (3 oz) kalamansi juice
- 20 g (0.7 oz) sugar
- 2.5 g (0.1 oz) NH pectin
- 1 g (0 oz) gelatine (half a sheet)
Method
1
Hydrate the gelatine in the water.
2
In a small saucepan, heat the kalamansi juice. When it reaches approximately 40°C / 104°F, add the sugar and pectin mixture and stir with a whisk (make sure to mix the sugar and pectin together beforehand to avoid lumps).
3
Bring to the boil and cook for one minute.
Choux pastry
Ingredients
- 50 g (1.8 oz) water
- 50 g (1.8 oz) milk
- 1 g (0 oz) sugar
- 1 g (0 oz) salt
- 40 g (1.4 oz) butter
- 60 g (2.1 oz) plain flour
- 100 g (3.5 oz) eggs
Method
1
In a saucepan, combine the water, milk, salt, sugar and butter. Bring to the boil then, off the heat, add the flour all at once. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
2
Return to the heat for 30 seconds to dry out the paste (it should very slightly catch on the bottom of the pan).
3
Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl. Leave to cool for a few minutes.
4
Beat the eggs then add them gradually to the dough. The dough should be neither too thick nor too liquid — it should form a ribbon (if using a hand mixer, use the dough hooks rather than the whisk attachments; if using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment).
Baking the cylindrical choux
Ingredients
- Aucun
Method
1
Prepare the stainless steel tubes. To do this, cut a Silpain mat to the dimensions of your tubes. Here, I use tubes 3.5 cm (1.4 in) wide and 14 cm (5.5 in) long. The Silpain strip should line the inside of the tube perfectly.
2
Preheat the oven to 190°C / 375°F fan.
3
Place the tubes upright on a perforated aluminium baking tray lined with a Silpain mat. I arrange them in groups of 3 forming a triangle to distribute them evenly on the tray.
4
Pipe the choux pastry into the tubes, filling them one third full (with my tubes, I piped 70 g (2.5 oz) of choux pastry per tube).
5
Place a second Silpain mat over the tubes, add a second perforated tray and then weigh it down heavily (I used my cast iron casserole). Choux pastry develops incredible force when baking.
6
Place everything in the oven and bake for 1 hour 5 minutes.
7
When baking is done, remove the tray from the oven taking care not to burn yourself (I recommend removing the weights first). Carefully remove the choux tubes then peel off the Silpain strips. Leave the choux to cool on a rack. Unless you have beginner’s luck (which I obviously wish you), you may need several attempts to master your cylindrical choux. One piece of advice: take notes. Weigh the choux pastry, bake, unmould and see if you need to adjust next time.
Assembly
Ingredients
- Aucun
Method
1
File down the bottom of the cylindrical choux with a Microplane grater, just slightly so it does not roll on your plate 😉
2
Briefly whisk the kalamansi gel and transfer it to a paper cone or small piping bag.
3
Gently mix the kalamansi and lime cremeux and transfer it to a piping bag with no tip.
4
Whip the kalamansi ganache with a mixer until firm enough to pipe but not over-whipped. Transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a small Saint-Honoré tip. If you do not have one, you can cut your piping bag as follows: Prepare everything you will need for assembly — you should have 3 piping bags: the kalamansi gel, the kalamansi and lime cremeux, and the whipped kalamansi ganache.
5
Make holes in the cylindrical choux using a knife by first making a small cross then turning the knife to create a small hole. For éclairs, I make 3 holes.
6
Fill the choux with kalamansi and lime cremeux (approximately halfway, even if it is difficult to gauge) then add a little kalamansi gel (be careful — it is sharp, so the quantity depends on your personal taste) and finish with a little more kalamansi and lime cremeux.
7
Turn the choux over (the 3 holes are no longer visible) and place it on a serving dish.
8
Pipe the whipped kalamansi ganache on top, add a few dots of kalamansi gel and a little gold leaf for decoration.
Gallery
