Lighter chocolate éclairs

Instructions

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1 Heat the oven to 190°C/fan 170°C/gas 5 and line a baking tray with non-stick baking parchment.

2 Put the sweetener, salt, spread and 2/3 cup cold water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. As soon as the mixture reaches the boil, take the pan off the heat and gradually beat in the flour. The mixture will look lumpy at first, but persevere. Continue to beat until the mixture forms a ball of dough and comes away from the sides of the saucepan.

3 Add the eggs to the mixture and beat well to incorporate. It will look as if the mixture has split at first, but continue to beat until it becomes glossy.

4 Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large nozzle. Pipe 10 eclairs on to the prepared baking tray (they’ll be around 12cm/5in long each). Dab any ‘tails’ down with a wet finger, then bake the eclairs in the oven for 1 hr. Do not open the oven! Not even for a sneaky peek – they’ll likely collapse and you’ll end up with pancakes!

5 Once the time is up, remove the eclairs from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack. You can freeze them at this point, before filling (see HFG tip).

6 Only decorate and fill them when you are ready to serve as aerosol cream doesn’t keep its shape very long once squirted! Once completely cool, cut the eclairs lengthways through three-quarters of each eclair. Melt the chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave. Squirt 1 tablespoon cream into each split éclair,drizzle the melted chocolate over the top and serve.