• Put the butter and water into a saucepan and bring to the boil
• Take off the stove and add the flour in one go, be brave! Stir quickly to combine into a sticky ball, at this stage it looks like thick, inedible porridge (NOT like a normal choux)
• Leave to cool for 5-10mins, the longer the better or else your eggs will curdle.
• When cool enough, add the beaten eggs one at a time and stir quickly again to combine, the mixture will now look like smooth hummus and a little wetter than a 'normal' choux paste.
• Add to a piping bag preferably with a round icing tip and pipe onto a prepared baking sheet, I draw 12cm lines on my sheets and turn them over on the trays to use as a guide.
• In a normal recipe the éclairs are cooked on two different heats, I only use one heat as I find the eclairs are inclined to be a bit more gooey on the inside if the heat is turned down. This also makes batch cooking less of a hassle.
• Cook on Gas 7/220C/425F for 25mins - do not open the oven before then.
• Remove when beautifully browned and allow to cool for 5mins before cutting open, if the inside is still a bit soggy return the halved éclairs to the oven for 5mins to harden up a bit.

To make the chocolate topping

• Heat 300ml of the double cream in a bowl in the microwave, it needs to be hot enough to melt chocolate.
• Add the chocolate in broken pieces to the bowl of cream, cover with a plate and leave.

To make the filling

• Whisk the remaining 600ml of double cream to desirable thickness (not too thick or else you won't be able to pipe)
• If you wish you can add a tablespoon of icing sugar to sweeten but it's not necessary.

To build your eclair

• The chocolate should have melted now, stir to make a shiny ganache and either dip the top halves of the eclairs in the chocolate or decorate the tops using a spoon - I used a spoon and patience to get the look in the photo.
• Finally pipe the cream into the bottom halves of the eclairs and add the tops
• To add a fancy twist I've drizzled white chocolate across each eclair, but really, the already taste fantastic without the fiddly bits!