our plain buns into mini-masterpieces. Edible flowers or berries would also make nice decorations if you have them to hand. We were so delighted with the results that we promptly took them round to Grandma’s for tea. Brownie points for éclairs, excellent.
It is a recipe with lots of stages, so not to be done under pressure, but the process was really fun; weighing, sifting, piping, decorating, and lots of edible leftovers made it a winner. The trickier, grown-up elements kept me interested too, and the result was so pretty it doubled up as a gift. If you’ve never tried choux pastry before, don’t be afraid! Like most things in life, it’s easier than you think.
Becky, mum to Lydia (5), Sophie (3) and Alexander (6m)
Whip them out and pierce each end with a skewer (to allow the steam to escape), before returning to the oven for a further two minutes to dry out. By this time the girls had drifted off to do dressing up. Fine – they’re at home, not school, and that meant I could do the hot bit and feed the baby undisturbed.
Secondly, the cream. Whip the sweetened vanilla cream to a soft peak stage, before using a piping bag and icing nozzle to squeeze cream into each cooled éclair. This was a fascinating and popular stage with both girls, even after the trauma of dropping the cream pot (luckily after we’d measured out the necessary amount).
The great thing about cooking is that children can access it from all different levels. Lydia is my accomplished cooking wingman and egg-cracker. Her most recent discovery is the brinkmanship of trying to keep up reading the numbers on the digital scales as they speed towards the target. The tension! Sophie knows that we always need eggs, butter and flour, and is learning turn-taking (as in: “My turn!”)
Finally, decoration time. Armed with three colours of water-icing (thickly spreadable), sprinkles and edible glitter, everyone was on board to turn