Finger Lakes Eclairs

By Alex Castroverde

The Finger Lakes are famed for their wonderful fresh produce, especially apples! To capture the essence of the region, I’ve created, tested, and refined a recipe that is the perfect finger-licking dessert.  

Caramel Glaze:

1 cups light brown sugar

⅓ cup heavy cream

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tsp pure vanilla extract 

Apple Cream

1.5 apples

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp mixed cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves

½ cups brown sugar

2 cups milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 egg whites

⅙ cup sugar

1 tbsp salt

4 tbsp unsalted butter

¼ cup cornstarch 

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2 To make the caramel glaze

  1. Add butter, sugar, and heavy cream into a saucepan. Heat the pan on medium heat, while stirring constantly, until mixture begins to boil. 

  2. Once the caramel has thickened, take off the heat and stir in vanilla extract. 

3 To assemble

  1. Make pate a choux (previous recipe), piping into traditional oblong eclair shape. 

  2. Let the shells cool for 5 minutes. Poke three holes with a piping tip or chopsticks equidistant from each other for the apple cream filling.

  3. Using a piping bag, twisted firmly at the top, gently fill each eclair shell with the apple cream and then set aside. 

  4. Dip each  eclair into the caramel to finish off the dessert 

1 To make the apple cream:

  1. Remove the core from apples and dice into ⅛ inch cubes. 

  2. In a bowl, add apples, lemon juice, the spice mixture, and brown sugar. Stir together until fully incorporated. Let the mixture sit aside. 

  3. Chop the butter into 1 tbsp cubes. 

  4. In a medium saucepan, pour in the milk and vanilla. Bring the mixture to a boil, while stirring constantly to prevent film-forming. 

  5. In another bowl, whisk the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add 4 egg yolks until it turns light yellow and has a visibly creamy consistency. 

  6. Temper the egg mixture with hot milk by adding 1⁄4 of a cup of the milk into the egg mixture. Stir together.

  7. Add the tempered egg mixture to the rest of the milk. Stir constantly to avoid curdling. Bring the mixture to a boil while whisking constantly until the mixture is thick and pudding-like. 

  8. Add the pastry cream to a medium bowl. Add the vanilla and the cubes of butter one at a time until fully incorporated. Transfer the cream to a piping bag and cool it in the fridge. 


DessertCrème de Cornell