Croquembouche

Croquembouche(krow kham boosh), a beautiful vanilla custard filled cream puffs also known as choux pastry in France stuck together with caramel in a cone shaped tower with spun sugar wrapped around it. This dessert is served during French weddings and other festive occasions. 

This is Christmas followed by New Year, so why not show it off on festive table? It's not as difficult as it may seem. It's been on my bucket list for a long time. Finally I made it a couple of weeks back for the first time and it turned out awesome. Instead of traditional egg custard filling I used whipped caramel cream. I skipped spun sugar on purpose. I simply dusted the tower with powdered sugar. As a self-taught baker it was quite a success. You can make pastry and filling a couple days ahead of time then assemble 5-6 hours before serving. 

Ingredients~
*For about 70 or more choux pastry-
2 cups flour
1 1/2 sticks (12 tbsp) salted butter
2 cups water
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
8 eggs
1 egg, beaten for egg wash

*For caramel-
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water

*For caramel whipped cream-
2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup thick caramel
1 tsp cornstarch

 Method~
Make the caramel cream filling first. Chill a medium bowl and wire whisk or electric beater attachment for at last half an hour then whip the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until ready for filling.

Preheat oven 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Bring water, butter and sugar to full rolling boil in a heavy bottomed large saucepan over medium high heat. Turn off the heat. Keep stirring and add flour at once stirring constantly until dough comes together and pulls away from the saucepan. Turn the heat on again(low heat) if dough looks wet. Keep stirring and add one egg at a time until dough looks glossy and thick. 

Pipe dough with a large plain tip fitted in pastry bag onto parchment lined large baking sheet into one inch circle leaving one inch apart. A tip will form during piping. Gently press down the tip with your wet finger. Brush choux tops with egg wash. Bake for 15 minutes then reduce to 350 degrees and continue baking for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely on the baking sheet. 

Prepare caramel while choux pastries are cooling off. In a medium heavy bottomed sauce pan, combine water and brown sugar. Bring it to a boil stirring constantly until sugar dissolves over high heat. keep boiling sugar without stirring until thickened and it reaches nice caramel color. Let it cool for a while and refrigerate 1/4 cup caramel for the cream filling. 

Mix 1/4 cup cold caramel and cornstarch in a small bowl. Fold refrigerated whipped cream in to caramel. Refrigerate again for 30 minutes. Poke each bottom of choux pastry with a plain tip and fill with caramel cream.

Take a nice platter. Dip top of 10 choux pastries and place on the platter in a circle. For second row, dip 9 choux pastries and place on top the bottom pastries in a smaller circle. Continue with a circle of 7,6,5,4,3,2,1 to create a cone shaped tower. Dust with powdered sugar. Decorate with Christmas themed edible stuff. Refrigerate before serving. Make small tower with extra choux pastry or serve as is. This is very easy to follow. Enjoy with your family and friends. Happy Baking!!

Happy Holidays!!