Red Velvet Eclairs With Cashew Rose Custard
Oh, Valentines Day. Whatever your relationship status might be, there is one thing we can all get behind...a box of adorable sweet treats that can be easily devoured in an unintentional haze of Reality TV viewing...opps did that just happen?!
What is it about small dessert bites that seem so decadently innocent (bon bons...truffles...heck, donut holes)!? Cute and harmless = we can eat a handful, right? Absolutely. With that in mind, we've decided to take one of our favorite little desserts, The Eclair, and give it a romantic update: Red Velvet and Rose Custard.
Because nothing says Valentines day like flowers...especially edible ones.
There should never be any guilt associated with Valentines Treats - so we created this as a dairy-free dessert using Silk Cashewmilk. which has 50% more calcium than real dairy milk and only 25 calories per serving - so feel free to lick up all the left over chocolate icing and rose custard you want.
Because we love you.
Red Velvet Eclairs With Cashew Rose Custard Makes 12 mini eclairs or puffs Custard Filling: 1 cups Silk Unsweetened Cashew Milk 3 egg yolks 1/3 cup sugar 2 TBS cornstarch 1 tsp Rose extract
Warm cashew milk over medium heat removing once comes to a boil, add in rose flavoring and mix well. In a bowl whisk egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy, then adding in the corn starch and folding in completely until there are no lumps. Whisk in 1/4 of the warm cashew milk mixture until folding through, then add the remainder of the milk and whisk until mixed through.
Return this mixture to you pan and whisk continuously on medium-high heat until mixture thickens and starts to slightly bubble. Let cool slightly and cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour or as long as over night.
Eclair Pastry:
1 cup water
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs, plus 1 extra, if needed
Red Food coloring
Egg Wash: 1 egg, 3 tsp water
Pre-heat oven to 425. In a large sauce pan bring water, salt, sugar and butter to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and quickly stir in all the flour and mix until completely folded through. Return pan to heat for 30 seconds continuing to mix dough.
Add dough to a kitchen mixer with the paddle attachment (or in a bowl use a hand blender) and add one egg at a time, folding each one through completely and scraping any extra off the sides each time. Continue for all 3 eggs and add desired amount of food coloring. If dough is still sticking to paddle, add 4th egg and mix until dough easily drops from mixer.
Carefully add dough mixture into a pastry bag with a large open tip and pipe eclairs or puffs onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Brush egg wash over the tops of each eclair and bake at 425 for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes reduce heat to 375 and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until eclairs are puffed up and slightly golden. Let cool on baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before filling.
To fill, add custard into a pastry bag with a small tip and poke a small hole onto the side of the eclair, filling each slightly without over-stuffing.
Chocolate Glaze:
1/4 cup Silk Unsweetened Cashew Milk
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped (can substitute with chocolate chips or any non-dairy chocolate)
1 tsp pink edible glitter dust (optional)
Edible Flowers for decoration
In a glass bowl, melt chocolate over a pot of boiling water on medium high heat. Whisking in parts of cashew milk every few minutes until complete folded through. Add edible glitter and fold in completely, keep warm on low until you're ready to dip your filled eclairs. Once tops are dipped, add edible flowers to the top and refrigerate eclairs uncovered for one hour to let chocolate set.
We had no idea that Cashew milk could be an easy and lower calorie option for cream! It's creamier than skim milk which was perfect for creating a fluffy custard and the flavor of cashew milk is not the least bit overpowering allowing for unique flavoring additions...like rose!
Unique AND guilt free...Best Valentines Day EVER.
So if you don't mind, we'll be over here finishing this entire sheet of Red Velvet Eclairs while listing to the new Father John Misty on repeat. Don't judge.
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