Writing about this recipe is rather difficult. Lets start with my enthusiasm to make these eclairs. It is not my first time, but the last time I made them was probably three years ago back in Bulgaria. Back then I was almost scared if I am gonna make them right. All the blogs I was reading were promising a real adventure and most likely fail in making eclairs for a very first time. Surprisingly mine went really well and I felt that this is such an easy thing to make. Ever since I conquered  this mountaintop  I know that eclairs are easy to make. Yesterday though I have decided to make it again but this time with a bit more complicated recipe. I am certainly not changing the eclairs recipe. Something that worked so well is meant to be kept this way. Instead I made this delicious lime filling and dark chocolate topping. You might stop and ask what is so complicated in a simple lime cream. Well where shall I start from- from the part I used almost all utensils in my kitchen to prepare the eclairs dough, to keep it rest, to squeeze lime and lemon juice using nothing but my hands, to beat cream in a food processor (stupid, stupid idea), to peel zest, to cool everything, to mix everything, to melt chocolate, to dip the eclairs into this chocolate and finally to serve them. It was a real, huge, epic mess. I was tired and confused from where to start with the dish washing. When I finally tried the eclairs I asked myself did it worth all this kitchen mess- YES! My eclair shells were soft, yet thick enough to keep the filling. The lime cream was sweet and zesty, and the dark chocolate gave me this last sweetness and bitterness that I was craving. 20 great eclairs and two (or so) hours of my evening. Will I make it again- definitely, but will I make them again soon- I will think twice!

Ingredients (enough to make 20 eclairs 10 cm size)

-125 ml water

-125 ml milk

– 1 tbsp sugar

– 110 g butter (I used slightly salted)

– 140 g white flour

– 5 eggs (be careful here as you might need only 4 or even 4 and a half)

– 150 g dark chocolate

For the lime cream

– 1 cup sugar

– 1 egg – yolk and white separated

– 1/2 cup lime and lemon juice

– 200 g butter

– 3 tbsp white flour

– lime zest

– 500 ml whipping cream

Preparation:

1. Mix water, milk, sugar and butter and bring to boil.

2. Add the flour and once and start whisking very intense

3. Set the dough a side and let it cool a bit (15 mins at least)

4. Then start adding the eggs one by one – you need to have thick yet runny dough

5. Preheat the oven to 220 degree Celsius

6. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, pipe fat lengths of dough onto the lined baking trey, leaving 4 cm of space between them. You should have around 20 eclairs of this size

7. Bake them for 20-24 minutes

8. Let them cool before filling them with the cream

Lime cream filling

1. Mix sugar, lime juice, egg yolk, butter and flour and boil until thick. Let it cool

2. Mix the egg white with 1 tbsp sugar

3. Beat whipping cream (please use a standard mixer instead of food processor to save yourself additional washing up)

4. Mix all the above together

Assembling

1. Using a pastry bag fill the eclairs with the lime cream

2. Melt the dark chocolate and top every eclair with a baking brush (the easiest and less messy way)

3. Top with lime zest