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Valay-Brest

Name: Valay-Brest
Prep time: 58 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 28 min
Yield: 24 pieces
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 300 g choux pastry (pâte à choux); 200 g apple confectioner's custard; 50 g walnut kernels; 150 g caster sugar; 3 tablespoons water

A Valay-Brest is a mini eclair, filled with apple-flavoured confectioner's custard and topped with a rectangle of walnut nougatine.

94 K 4.2/5 (20 reviews)421440

Duration

1 hour 30 min.

Difficulty

Average

Last modified on: October 28^th 2026

Step by step recipe Ingredients Duration Nutritional facts Cost Comments Support the site ❤️

For 24 pieces, you will need:

1 300 g choux pastry (pâte à choux)
2 200 g apple confectioner's custard
3 50 g walnut kernels
4 150 g caster sugar
5 3 tablespoons water (optional)
Total weight: 700 grams

Times for this recipe

Preparation

1 hour

Cooking

30 min.

All in all

1 hour 30 min.

Preparation 1 hour

Cooking 30 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around: ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Step 1 - ⌛ 20 min.

Preheat the oven to 360°F (180°C).

Prepare 300 g choux pastry (pâte à choux) and pipe the eclairs about 5-6 cm (2 inches) long using a forcing bag with a ridged nozzle, if possible.

Step 2 - ⌛ 15 min.

Bake the mini eclairs.

Step 3 - ⌛ 5 min.

When cold, cut in half lengthways.

Step 4 - ⌛ 5 min.

Fill each "bottom" with apple-flavoured confectioner's custard.

Step 5 - ⌛ 5 min.

Replace the "lid".

Fill all the eclairs like this and put to wait in the fridge.

Step 6 - ⌛ 5 min.

Prepare the walnut nougatine: preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Spread 50 g walnut kernels on a baking sheet and toast for 5 minutes in the oven.

Step 7 - ⌛ 5 min.

When cooled, use a blender to grind the toasted walnuts to a powder.

Step 8 - ⌛ 10 min.

Use 150 g caster sugar and 3 tablespoons water to make a light caramel.

Step 9 - ⌛ 1 min.

Tip the ground walnuts into the caramel...

Step 10 - ⌛ 1 min.

...and mix thoroughly.

Now you need to work as quickly as possible, because the nougatine will set rapidly as it cools.

Step 11 - ⌛ 1 min.

Pour the nougatine out onto a sheet of cooking parchment.

Step 12 - ⌛ 3 min.

Lay a second sheet on top and roll the nougatine out as thinly as possible with a rolling pin.

Step 13 - ⌛ 2 min.

Use a large knife to cut the nougatine, or at least score it, into strips about 1 cm (0.4 inch) wide.

Step 14 - ⌛ 5 min.

When cooled, cut the strips apart.

Step 15 - ⌛ 5 min.

Stick these onto the tops of the eclairs with a little confectioner's custard.

Refrigerate until needed, but do not serve too cold.

Remarks

It is not essential for the nougatine to be a rectangle exactly the size and shape of the eclair. On the contrary, the "deconstructed" look with pieces laid side by side can be attractive.

Some recipes insist that the caramel for the nougatine should be made "dry", i.e. without added water, but I don't think this is essential.

Keeping: An hour or two, not much longer.

Source: Homemade.

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Nutritional information

	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats	Calories	Energy
Per 100 g	5 g RDI=7 %	35 g RDI=13 %	14 g RDI=19 %	281 kcal RDI=14 %	1,175 kJ RDI=14 %
Per piece	1 g RDI=2 %	10 g RDI=4 %	4 g RDI=5 %	82 kcal RDI=4 %	343 kJ RDI=4 %
Whole recipe	32 g RDI=48 %	247 g RDI=93 %	96 g RDI=132 %	1,964 kcal RDI=98 %	8,223 kJ RDI=98 %