Cookie and Milk Eclair

Combine flour and cocoa powder and sift into a bowl.

Combine water, milk, salt, sugar and butter in a small pot.

Bring the water milk mixture to a boil.

Remove from the heat and add all the flour and cocoa mix at once to the wet mixture.

Mix quickly using a flat wooden spoon until all the lour is incorporated and no lumps are visible.

Put the pot back on the stove and cook the mixture on low heat for a minute mixing it all the time.

Take off the heat and put the dough into a mixer bowl.

Using paddle let the dough mix for roughly 1-2 min until it cools down a bit.

Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each.

The dough should be shiny, soft and must gently fall off the spoon when lifted. It should not be running. It should feel stiff enough to pipe.

Cover the bowl and let dough rest for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Put dough in piping bag with a star tip or French tip (6B) on to a tray lined with parchment paper. Pipe into a straight line.

Spray piped eclairs with non-stick cooking spray and mist them lightly with water.

Bake eclairs with the door closed for 30 minutes. Slightly open the oven door to let some steam out, close the door and bake again for another 10 minutes. Let some steam out again and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool completely.

Scrape vanilla bean into the cream.

Bring the cream and vanilla to a boil.

Add the milk powder and mix well using a whisk.

Add white chocolate and mix well. Use a hand blender to emulsify the mixture evenly.

Pour into a container and cover with a lid.

Leave overnight in a refrigerator or at least 12 hours.

Put the filling into a mixing bowl and whip using a wire whisk gently until soft peaks. It will look like rich whipped cream. Don’t over whip.

Fill a piping bag with a star top and leave in refrigerator until ready to use.

Put the eclairs in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Put the chocolate cookie into a ziplock bag and crush gently using a rolling pin. Put on a flat tray.

Melt the coating chips until just warm, not too hot.

Dip one eclair at a time into the melted chocolate upside down leaving the bottom surface of eclairs clean. Shake off excess chocolate and then roll the dipped eclair on to the cookie crumbs pressing gently before the chocolate sets.

After all the eclairs are dipped and rolled, let the chocolate set in refrigerator for 10 – 15 mins.

Using a bread knife, slice the eclairs length wise into half leaving the top layer slightly smaller than the base.

Pipe the whipped chocolate ganache from the piping bag in a swirling motion over the base of the eclair.

Sprinkle some chocolate pearls over and cover with the second half of the eclair on the top. Leave the front side slightly wide open than the backside so the piped cream is visible.

If you have access to pipettes, fill them with milk. Poke a hole on top of the eclair with a toothpick and insert the end of pipettes inside.

Refrigerate until ready to eat.