Tangerine eclairs

Let's give the floor to Liana: “What do you associate the New Year with? With tangerines, or maybe with éclairs? For me, these are the best sweets for the New Year! I can cook them at least three times during the holidays. Mostly with vanilla cream and the powdered sugar on top. They are the most loved ones, from my childhood. This year, there will certainly be more of them, with tangerine confit, vanilla custard and chocolate ganache. It's just love at first sight!”

Ingredients:

• water - 100ml | 3.40 fl oz
• milk - 100ml | 3.40 fl oz
• butter - 80g | 2.80 oz
• flour - 160g | 5.65 oz
• eggs - 300-320g | 10.60 oz
• salt - 3g | 0.10 oz
• sugar - 5g | 0.20 oz

1. Sift the flour. Pour the water and milk into a saucepan, add butter (cut into cubes, it will melt faster), sugar and salt.
2. Put the saucepan on fire, bring to a boil. Remove and add the flour immediately. Stir carefully until fully bonded and bring it back to the heat.
3. Brew the dough until the excess moisture evaporates. Continue cooking for about 1 to 2 minutes (reducing the heat to medium or low), until the dough is brewed and a film shows up at the bottom of the pan; the dough will easily come off the walls and gather in a lump.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the dough to a clean bowl (to cool the dough faster). Cool the dough to 50-55С (122 to 131F), until it becomes warm to the touch.
5. Whisk the eggs, and add a little to the dough, stirring well each time. * As far as the consistency of the dough will depend on the size of the eggs and the quality of the flour, you may need a little more or less eggs than the recipes directs. Therefore, it is better to break the last egg into a separate bowl and to add it not all at once.
6. The finished dough should be shiny, well-kneaded and smooth. The dough slides off the spoon with a wide, heavy tape.
7. Preheat the oven to 160C (320F).. Using a pastry bag with an “Open star” attachment, form the éclairs at a distance from each other. Sprinkle them with the powdered sugar and leave for 15 minutes. Bake for 45 minutes, until the tops get golden brown (it is better to overexpose than to get the éclair undercooked).

* white chocolate ganache

Ingredients:

• 2 egg yolks
• 100 g sugar | 3.55 oz
• 350 ml milk | 11.80 fl oz
• 30 g corn starch | 1.05 oz
• 70 g butter | 2.45 oz
• vanilla paste

1. Mix the yolks with sugar and starch. Pour the hot milk in, and add some vanilla paste, stir and cook until thick and gurgle. Remove the custard from the heat, cover it with foil and cool completely.
2. Add soft butter and whip until smooth. Place the finished custard in a pastry bag and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• tangerine or orange juice 50 ml | 1.70 fl oz
• mandarin puree 200 g | 7.05 oz
• sugar 70 g | 2.45 oz
• gelatin 3 g | 0.10 oz
• water 18 g | 0.65 oz

1. Pour the gelatin with water and leave to swell. Put the tangerines with sugar and juice over a medium heat and cook until sugar gets completely dissolved.
2. Add the swollen gelatin to the hot confit and dissolve completely. Pour into a rectangular shape and refrigerate. The finished jelly should be cut into strips of the size you need.

Ingredients:

• cream 33-35% 300 ml | 10.10 fl oz
• dark chocolate 170 g | 6.00 oz

1. Melt the chocolate in a water bath or microwave in short pulses, cool to the room temperature.
2. Whisk the cold cream until very soft peaks (* this is when they just start to thicken). Add the chocolate and whip until firm peaks (* this is when the ganache will hold its shape and there will be clear whisk marks on the mass). Refrigerate before assembling.

1. Using a serrated knife, carefully cut off the top of the éclairs (you no longer need them). Fill the cakes with the custard, top it with a strip of tangerine confit, and again with a little custard.
2. Using a pastry bag with an “Open star” nozzle, apply the chocolate ganache. It is better to keep the éclairs in the fridge before serving.