Vegan Eclairs

Take your afternoon tea to the next level with a batch of these beauties! Let me present you with my newest creation: vegan eclair with a crunchy twist!

A classic eclair recipe calls for light choux pastry which is then filled with delicate, vanilla cream. As I am yet to veganise the classic choux, in this recipe I swapped it for filo pastry instead and I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out!

The filo pastry adds a little crunch and an interesting texture to this classic dessert.

To make the filling, I simply whipped up some vegan double cream alternative (I used Elmlea) with a little vanilla extract. I then divided the mixture into two separate bowls and used the plain vanilla cream to fill half of the batch. I mixed in a handful of fresh raspberries in the other for a sweet, fruity twist.

Can’t decide which éclair is your favourite? Better have one of each! 😉

Print Recipe

Vegan Eclairs

Course: Dessert

Servings: 8 eclairs

Ingredients

• 4 filo pastry sheets
• 350 ml soya double cream alternative
• 2 tbsp golden caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• cooking oil spray
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 50 g dark chocolate
• 1 tbsp icing sugar

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 190°C | Gas mark 5. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and set aside.
• To make the filo pastry shells you will need to make cylinder moulds out of tin foil. To do this, simply cut out 8 rectangle pieces of tin foil, roughly 15 x 25 cm. Roll up each piece to form a cylinder with a diameter of approximately 2-3 cm wide. Spray the outside of each mould with oil spray.
  
• Place 1 filo sheet on your work surface and lightly cover the sheet with oil spray. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar, then place another sheet on top, spray with a little more oil and sprinkle with sugar again.
• Cut the filo pastry lengthwise into 4 equal strips. Placing a foil cylinder at the bottom of each one, roll the pastry up around the cylinder. Lightly coat with oil spray and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining 2 filo pastry layers, until you have 8 shells.
• Bake the filo pastry shells in the middle of the oven for about 8 minutes or until golden.
• Cool the shells completely on a wire rack before carefully removing foil cylinders.
• In a large mixing bowl and using an electric whisk, whip up the double cream alternative together with a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
• Once whipped, divide the mixture between two bowls. Mash the raspberries using a fork, then gently stir into one of the cream bowls.
• Transfer the cream into two piping bags. Pipe the cream halfway into each pastry shell and then pipe more into the other end to completely fill each eclair. Repeat until all 8 eclairs are filled. You should end up with 4 cream and 4 raspberry cream filled eclairs.
• Melt the chocolate and spoon and spoon over filled pastry shells. Sieve a little icing sugar over each and serve immediately.