Granny Smith Apple and Salted Caramel Eclairs

Notes: 
Sometimes there are recipes you just can't rewrite or develop for basic scientific reasons. Baking is based on chemistry and sometime those ratios exist for a reason. You have to find the simplest and purest version sometimes and add something to change it. That's what I did here; I found a tried and true basic cream puff recipe. It works and I can change the base if I want to anything. By adding lemon zest to the dough and sprinkling them with Poppy seeds and filling it lemon cream when I am done I have created a Lemon Poppy Eclair. I can't how ever change the flour to fat to water and egg ratio in the pate au choux recipe (that's what you call the dough that makes cream puffs and eclairs,etc); then they would not be cream puffs if I did. Also read the directions carefully as the eclair paste is a cooked dough.

If you don't know how to caramelize sugar please look this up; as this can be very dangerous and can cause very serious burns. I recommend looking up Alton Brown's "Good Eats" Series that teaches basic kitchen skills and methods very well. Alton Brown's "Good Eats" video on sugar on Youtube. Click to view

For assembly you will need:
1 recipe of eclairs cases made with this recipe:
Cream Puff Recipe. Click to view
Salted Caramel and Cinnamon Quick Buttercream
Salt Caramel Sauce
Granny smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
Powder Sugar for dusting

• For assembly split the eclairs and fill  the top side with the thinly sliced apples and then with buttercream in a pastry bag with a star tip and then put bottoms back on and sprinkle with powdered sugar and drizzle with caramel sauce. Eat one only. Just kidding!

Salt Caramel Sauce:
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, scalded
1 tsp. kosher salt or other flake salt like black lava or Maldon sea salt

• Caramelized sugar until deep golden amber in a high sided dutch oven and  right as it begins to smoke remove from heat and carefully add the hot heavy cream while carefully stirring with a very long wooden spoon or large whisk. It will bubble up and release lots of steam while you are doing this. When the bubbles have subsided return to burner on low heat and stir carefully while dissolving the caramelized sugar from the bottom of the pan. Cool in pan to room temperature and then stir in salt and bottle or put into a container. Keeps for two weeks on the counter or 1 month in fridge.

Salted Caramel and Cinnamon Quick Buttercream:
3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter, unsalted
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup caramel sauce
1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground

• Cream butter with paddle attachment and then add the rest of the ingredients and change to a whisk attachment and whisk on low speed and slowly increase speed and scrapping constantly until  you get a light creamy buttercream. Use immediately or chill and re-whip when needed.