Earl Grey Eclairs

Earl grey custard (first day)

1. Place the tea and milk in a saucepan. Heat the milk over medium heat while stirring, until the milk comes to a simmer.
2. Turn off the heat, and allow the tea to seep for about 15 minutes, or up to 30 minutes.
3. Strain the tea leaves out from the milk, and measure out 2 cups of the infused milk. If there isn’t enough for 2 cups, top up (with extra milk) until you have 2 cups of earl grey tea infused milk.
4. In a separate jug or bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cornstarch.
5. Reheat the infused milk over medium - high heat. When the milk is steaming, remove the pot from the heat.
6. Temper the egg mixture with some of the hot milk mixture, until the egg mixture is warm. Then pour the warm egg mixture into the saucepan with the rest of the hot milk. Make sure to whisk in order to prevent the eggs from cooking in the hot liquid.
7. Cook the custard base over medium heat, while whisking frequently. Make sure to reach the edges and bottom of the pot to prevent the custard from catching and burning.
8. Check to see if the custard has come to a boil in between stirring. When the custard has thickened and it comes to a boil (big bubbles appearing at the surface), lower the heat of the stove and keep whisking the custard for another 1 - 1.5 minutes. This is important to make sure all the cornstarch has activated and the pastry cream has properly thickened.
9. Remove from the heat. Whisk the custard, and add the butter. Whisk until the butter mixes well with the custard.
10. Transfer the custard into a bowl or tray. If you prefer, you can pass the custard through a sieve first.
11. Cover the custard with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic wrap is touching the whole surface of the custard, so that it prevents a skin from forming on top.
12. Allow the custard to cool to room temperature, and transfer it to the fridge to chill. This can take a few hours depending on the size of the container. Preferably chill overnight.

Earl grey diplomat cream (second day)

1. In a small microwave-safe bowl, place the water and evenly sprinkle the gelatin over the surface. Let it sit for about 10 minutes to let the gelatin bloom.
2. While the gelatin is blooming, place the heavy whipping cream in a bowl. Add the confectioner's sugar and vanilla, and mix to combine.
3. Have your hand mixer ready to whisk the cream.
4. When the gelatin has bloomed, microwave the gelatin to melt the mixture (but not boil it!). Microwave in 10 second intervals to prevent the gelatin from boiling.
5. Add about 1 tbsp of the cream, while stirring, to temper the gelatin mixture.
6. Whisk the heavy cream on high speed with your hand mixer.
7. While whisking, pour the gelatin mixture into the cream mixture in one go.
8. To make sure the gelatin doesn’t form clumps - pour the gelatin mixture directly into the cream, without touching the whisk, but not too far from the whisk either. The cream should be moving very quickly where the gelatin makes contact with it, so that the gelatin instantly mixes into the cream.
9. Whisk the cream until you have mid peaks (stiffer than soft peaks, but not too stiff). Then set aside.
10. Remove the plastic wrap from the earl grey custard. Whisk the mixture to make it smooth (and not lumpy).
11. Take the chilled custard from the fridge and mix with a spatula or whisk to make the custard smooth again. Do not mix too vigrously.
12. Fold the whipped cream into the custard. The more you add, the softer the mixture will be. You can add just ½ the cream if you prefer, or add all of it, depending on the desired consistency.
13. The earl grey diplomat cream is now ready.

Choux pastry for eclairs

1. Make the eclairs according to the instructions here. You can also make profiteroles instead of eclair shapes, by piping round mounds according to the instructions here.
2. The dough can be made on the first day, and baked on the second day. See recipe notes for storage instructions.

Glaze

1. Place the confectioner's sugar in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Place the water, corn syrup, salt, and vanilla in a small saucepan.
3. Stir well and heat over medium high heat until the water comes to a boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
4. Add the confectioner's sugar into the water and whisk to get a smooth mixture.
5. Make sure to keep the fondant glaze at about 90 - 100°F (slightly warm) when you’re ready to dip the eclairs. The more it cools down, the thicker it becomes.

Assembly

1. Once the eclairs are baked and cooled, use a small French star tip or round tip to create 2 or 3 holes on the base of each eclair case. This is to help fill the eclair case with your filling. You can also use a bismarck tip instead.
2. Fill a piping bag (that is attached with a small round tip or a bismarck tip) with the diplomat cream.
3. Fill the eclair cases with the filling. Wipe off any excess filling that flows out of the case.
4. When all the eclair cases have been filled, they are ready to be dipped in the glaze.
5. Dip the top of the eclairs in the glaze, and let the excess drip down (or use a finger to wipe off the excess glaze while holding the eclair upside down).
6. Place the glazed eclairs on a wire rack (glazed side up).
7. Optional - sprinkle the tops with blue cornflowers before the glaze sets.
8. The glaze will harden and thicken slightly with time.
9. The early grey eclairs can be served and enjoyed immediately (preferably within a few hours).