Subscriber OnlyFood

Hit the sweet spot with these chocolate eclairs and tiramisu brownies

Two traditional sweet treat recipes packed with technique but very rewarding when you finally nail them

Chocolate eclairs and tiramisu brownies: one with a Michelin-star touch, the other a not-so-secret recipe. Photograph: Harry Weir
Chocolate eclairs and tiramisu brownies: one with a Michelin-star touch, the other a not-so-secret recipe. Photograph: Harry Weir

This week I am back baking two very traditional sweet treats that are packed with technique. Baking and pastry work is certainly the most rewarded section of the professional kitchen, often peppered with heartbreak along the way. Having returned from a stint in Australia nearly eight years ago, I remember having one of those serious career conversations with myself. “You need to sort out this pastry thing, you can barely bake a cake or a loaf of bread.” “How can you ever run a kitchen without at least putting together a basic dessert menu?”

These are the regular conversations I have with myself daily across a variety of topics. Usually based on recipes or the never-ending list of tasks my wife, Gráinne, sends me (as I write this I am up against a deadline to get the Christmas decorations down).

Returning to pastry, back in Ireland I ended up returning to an old workplace that now possessed a shiny Michelin star on the door. A year later, after plenty of sweat, tears and sleepless nights, I survived my stint on the pastry section. I can now confidently bake a cake, make a loaf of bread and just about run a kitchen. (The latter is always a work in progress.) It proved to me that no matter what career you are in, knowing you don’t have to ask someone to do something you cannot do yourself is key to good management.

Chocolate éclairs. Photograph: Harry Weir
Chocolate éclairs. Photograph: Harry Weir

That brings me to our first recipe. Chocolate eclairs are a well-known dessert made using choux pastry – a fundamental of the classic French patisserie repertoire. In the aforementioned restaurant, we made choux buns twice a day for every service. They had to be perfectly round in shape and even in size to pass the meticulous standards of our head chef. I later learned the thickness of the craquelin and texture of the raw pastry were key. Anything other than perfection and you would fail the test. My record of failed batches was four, the fifth go delivered an acceptable result just in time for the first desserts to be plated at 2pm (we started at 7am).

READ MORE

The recipe below is detailed, but very rewarding when you nail it. I’ve added notes on the appropriate thickness and textures required to save you sweat and tears. The craquelin is basically a sugar mix held together with flour and butter. It gives you a crisp, sweetened finish on top of the bun, bringing a touch of the Michelin-starred kitchen home.

Tiramisu brownies. Photograph: Harry Weir
Tiramisu brownies. Photograph: Harry Weir

The second recipe comes from my sister-in-law, Siobhán. She is not a pastry chef, but has a serious eye for the detail of baking. Her favourite desserts are brownies and tiramisu so we decided to bring them together and she actually cooked the ones you see here. The brownie mix is dense and rich with 70 per cent chocolate, whiskey and coffee. The mascarpone finish on top brings a little X factor. If she keeps this up, she’ll end up making me redundant. She gave me the recipe on condition I don’t tell anyone, so she’ll no doubt be shocked when she reads this. Sorry Siobhán.

Recipe: Tiramisu brownies
Recipe: Chocolate eclairs