France Croquembouche (Caramelized Cream Puff Tower)
An impressive-looking tower of cream puffs held together with shiny threads of caramel, the croquembouche is French culinary artistry at its best. One-inch balls of puff pastry filled with a light, sweet cream or custard, stacked into a large cone, and enveloped in crunchy caramel ribbons make for a show-stopping dinner finale. Because cream-filled puffs can turn soggy after a few hours, leave pastry unstuffed until ready to serve the croquembouche. Recipe Servings: Serves 4
Prep Time
1 minute
+ 3 hours resting
+ 3 hours resting
Cook Time
50 minutes
Total Time
3 hours 51 minutes
Vegetarian
Vegan
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Kosher
Halal
Ingredients
?Choux pastry:- 9 Tbsp (135 g) unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups (350 ml) water
- 1 Tbsp (13 g) sugar
- 1/2 tsp (2.5 g) salt
- 1 1/2 cups (180 g) cake flour (self-rising)
- 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 6 medium eggs
- 1 egg, beaten for glaze
- 1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
- 2 egg yolks
- 3 Tbsp (38 g) sugar
- 2 Tbsp (15 g) flour
- 2 Tbsp (15 g) cornstarch
- 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 2 cups (400 g) sugar
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) water
Directions
- Choux Pastry:
- Bring butter, water, sugar, and salt to a gentle boil.
- On medium-low heat, add flour and beat to a shiny gloss until it doesn’t stick to sides of pan, about 2–3 minutes.
- Make a well, break in eggs one at a time, beating mixture well after each addition. Note: Don’t use last egg if mixture is too soft.
- Fold in vanilla.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Butter 2 large baking sheets.
- Make 1-inch (2.5-cm) balls, place on sheets, and brush on just a little beaten egg (do not use too much egg as it prevents choux balls from rising).
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a golden brown.
- Lower heat to 350°F (180°C) and bake for 10 more minutes. Turn off heat and open oven door to dry out puffs to a crisp consistency.
- Filling:
- Gently warm milk on medium low to point of steaming.
- Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, flour, and cornstarch.
- When milk starts steaming, whisk in yolk mixture.
- Continue whisking to a smooth thick custard, until mixture reaches 170°F (77°C).
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Chill custard cream 2–3 hours before filling puff pastry to assemble croquembuche.
- Caramel and Assembly:
- Dissolve sugar in water on low heat, stirring to prevent sticking. Cook to a light gold.
- Remove from heat and place in a bowl of water to prevent caramel from hardening.
- Fill puff pastries with custard (or whipped cream if preferred).
- To assemble, dip puffs into caramel and arrange building on a larger conical base up to smaller layers making sure to stick balls tightly together with caramel.
- Drizzle caramel with wavy swirls from top down around cone.
Notes
If filling puffs with whipped cream instead of custard, use frozen whipped cream for easier assembly.Copyright © 1993—2024 World Trade Press. All rights reserved.