Caribbean Eclairs: Homemade Vanilla Mascarpone, Passion Fruit Curd and Mango

In the fruit salad I have at work occasionally appears a bit of mango. And it's like a party in a boring salad.
Thinking about it, I bought a mango. I always liked it, but resent the fibers.

Inspired by Paris (I´ll be visiting for the first time in October!!!), Pierre Hermé dessert and homemade mascarpone, I saw the opportunity to show how to prepare it .

The homemade mascarpone was on my pending list for the blog, and I wanted to show how easy it is to prepare, but did not want to incorporate it into the typical tiramisu, of which there are many recipes around. You can do many things, is like a basic cream.

Many years ago I prepared kilos of mascarpone. And kilos and kilos of tiramisu. When preparing I always thought about those Italian grandmas cooking it with with minimal technology, only a pan, a wooden spoon and fire. Old good times.

That gives you an idea that is simple to do. We need two things and neither is a thermometer. Cream and lemon juice (I never did it but you can use vinegar instead). That´s all.

The mascarpone has to be prepared a day ahead, as the éclair. One or more days before you are going to serve it. No more than 4-5 (depending on temperature and humidity in the air), or perhaps can grow hallucinating organic matter (fungi). If at the time to use it, they are soft, send them to a moderate oven until they become crispy again.

The éclair is the pate a choux or puff pastry. Apparently it was perfected by the Kings Chef Marie-Antoine Carême by 1800.

This is a dessert with several components, all can be made in advance, or change them as you wish.

I propose some Caribbean, I want the heat to come to the south (it´s winter in Argentina).
Caribbean flavours, passion fruit, mango and vanilla. If not this is not enough, you can add some grated chocolate hidden in the middle.

The idea is to contrast  the greasy mascarpone with the acidity of the curd. And the sweetness of the vanilla with the mango.
Crunchy, sour, buttery, sweet.

Heat come to us! We give this dessert as a gift!

Caribbean Eclair 
Pâte à choux
Milk or water (or mixture thereof) 125 g
Butter 50 g
Pinch salt
Sugar 1 tsp
Flour 75 g
Eggs 2

- Weigh the flour and set aside
- Mix in a small saucepan the liquid, salt, sugar and butter
- Prepare a large bowl, a pastry bag with a round tip diameter of 1 cm
- Prepare a baking sheet, buttered and floured
- Preheat oven to 200°C
- Bring to boil the pot, until it simmers
- Add all the flour together and stir until a dough forms.
- Return for a minutes to the fire, stirring, until the dough comes off the edges and form a ball
- Pour into the bowl we had prepared. Let cool a few minutes, stirring occasionally
- Break the eggs separately in a bowl and mix the yolk with the whites
- Pour to the dough one egg at a time, as we mixing
- The final texture of the puff pastry dough is smooth, sticky, and that when we lift the spoon forms a V
- To form the eclairs put the dough in the pastry bag and make sticks of 9-10 cm long. Yields about 14 éclairs
- Bake for 10 minutes at 200°C and then lower the oven to 180°C, and bake until golden and crispy
- Remove from oven and reserve

Notes for the puff pastry dough
- Planning ahead for this recipe is super important, don´t overlook this
- In case you don´t have a pastry bag, make round balls of dough with two tablespoons, or an icecream spoon
- Avoid the peaks in the dough (they will burn), flatten with your finger soaked in water
- The cooking time may vary, depending on the size you make them. They have a golden brown on the outside, almost crunchy
- If when you want to use, they re soggy by environment humidity, put them in a medium oven, until dry. Then let cool to serve.

Vanilla Homemade Mascarpone
Whipping cream 360 ml
Lemon juice 1 tbsp
pinch salt
Vanilla pod 1 (extract or essence if not available)
Sugar 40 g
Also: cotton fabric, tightly woven and a strainer

- To prepare ahead, put the folded fabric, protruding several inches from the strainer
- Place the strainer in a bowl or container, this all should fit in the fridge
- Put the cream into a small saucepan and bring to a boil
- Stir slowly while heating
- When the cream begins to release steam, seems that it´s going to boil, add lemon juice and stir.
- Turn off the heat, add salt and let cool
- Pour into the strainer and put into refrigerator for at least 4 hours
- Remove the mascarpone from the fabric, put in a bowl with sugar and vanilla seeds.
- Mix well and keep in the refrigerator until it´s time to assemble the dessert

Notes for the homemade mascarpone
- If you want to be exact with the temperature at which you should add the lemon juice, is 85°C
- I never did, but apparently you can, make the mascarpone with a cold method, avoiding heating the cream
- This cream can be stored in refrigerator up to one week
- Obtained: 250 g of mascarpone

Passion fruit curd
Passion fruit pulp of 2 units (about 125 g)
Sugar 65 g
Eggs 2
Egg yolk 2
Butter 85 g
pinch salt

- In a medium saucepan bring the pulp with sugar, eggs, yolks and salt. Mix
- Add the diced butter and bring to low heat, while constantly stirring until butter melts
- With continue stirring, cook until the mixture thickens, it should remains stiff when you drop a bit. If you have a thermometer is at 70°C, or with a wooden spoon you´ll see that cover the spoon and doesn´t slide easily.
- Can strain the mixture through a sieve if you like fine silky texture, but if you like passion fruit seeds (like me), don´t strain it.
- Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap in contact and put into refrigerator.


Assemble the dessert
- Cut off the lid of the éclairs, and set aside
- Peel and cut the mango into thin slices
- Put the mascarpone in a pastry bag with a round tip
- Spread a teaspoon of passion fruit curd into each eclair
- Put in a beautiful way a few slices of mango
- Make a zigzag patter with the mascarpone and cover with the top of éclair
- Sprinkle powdered sugar and reserve until serving


All recipes yield enough. The spare curd you can be keep in the freezer for up of one month, the same for the (if some liquid separates when defrosting mix again) and eclairs, yielding 14 or so last a few days, can freezed after cooked.