Croquembouche- France #52

Croquembouche- France #52

This French dessert means "crunch in the mouth". It consist of choux pastry puffs piled into a cone shaped tower and filled with a vanilla cream. Then it is bound together with caramel. the croquembouche must be assembled within 3 hours of being served. Therefore, I will need to have a party!

Pastry Puffs::

2 c. water
16 T. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. sugar
2 c. flour
8-10 eggs

Filling:

4 c. whole milk
1 vanilla bean, spilt lengthwise
12 egg yolks
1-1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. cornstarch
2 T. unsalted butter

Caramel:

2-1/2 c. sugar
2/3 c. water

Pastry Puffs:

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, salt, and sugar to a rolling boil over medium high heat. When it boils immediately take off the heat. 
3. Stirring with a wooden spoon, add the flour at once and stir hard until all the flour is incorporated, 30-60 seconds.
4. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring, 30 seconds to evaporate some of the moisture.
5. Scrape the mixture into a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Mix at medium speed.
6. With the mixer running, and working 1 egg at a time, add 6 of the eggs, stopping after each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Mix until the dough is smooth and glossy and the eggs are completely incorporated.  the dough should be thick, but should fall slowly and steadily form the beaters when you lift them out of the bowl.  If the dough is still clinging to the beaters, add 1 or 2 more eggs, and mix until incorporated.
7. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, pipe the dough in big kisses onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
8. Whisk 2 eggs with 3 teaspoons of water.  Brush the surface of the dough with the egg wash to knock down the points (do not use all the egg wash.)
9. Bake 15 mins. then reduce the heat to 375F. Bake until puffed up and light golden brown, about 20 mins. more.  Try not to open the oven door too often during the baking.  Let cool on the baking sheet.  The recipe can be made up to this point and frozen in plastic bags.  
10. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and vanilla bean to a boil over medium heat.  Immediately turn off the heat and set aside to infuse for 10-15 mins

Filling:

1. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add the cornstarch and whisk vigorously until no lumps remain.
3. Whisk in 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture until incorporated.
4. Whisk in the remaining hot milk mixture, reserving the empty saucepan.
5. Pour the mixture through a strainer back into the saucepan.
6. Cook over medium high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and slowly boiling.
7. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and any flavorings if you want to make a different like chocolate or coffee.
8. Let cool slightly. Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming.
9. Chill at least 2 hours or until ready to serve. The custard can be made up to 24 hours in advance.
10. Poke a hole with plain pastry tip in the bottom of each cream puff and pipe it full of the custard.

Caramel:

1.  Dissolve the sugar in a saucepan with the water, making an "X" through the sugar with your finger to allow the water to slowly soak into the sugar.
2. Boil to make a light golden caramel then dip the bottom of the pan in an ice bath to stop the cooking.
3. Dip the sides of the puffs in the caramel and stick them together (approximately 20 puffs) in a circle, tops facing out.   Make a second row on top of the first but a bit smaller to draw the circle in and create a tower of cream puffs. Check it from all sides occasionally to make sure it's straight.
4. When it's finished, drizzle it with caramel all over.  You can also stick on decorative elements with the caramel in the crevices, like candied violets, gold balls, gum paste flowers, sugar covered almonds, etc.

Results: I made this recipe 3 times. It was a disaster each time, however, the 3rd time was a bit closer. I couldn't get the puff on the cream puffs. I finally used a Fanny Farmer's recipe.

1/2 c. water, 4 T. butter, 1/2 c. flour and 1 egg. Follows steps 1-4 above. I did not use a mixer. I beat it by hand. They came out much better.
The filling, from this recipe, came out like sweet, loose, scrambled eggs the first time. However, that was totally my fault. In between cooling the filling I had to feed a baby.  Therefore, the mixture got too cool. I think that was the problem. I tried it again, timing it better. It still didn't work.
The 3rd time I used Fanny Farmer's recipe for Creme Patissiere, aka Basic Cream Filling because I had made the filling twice with lousy results.
1 c. milk, 1/2 c. sugar 3 T. flour, 1/8 tsp. salt, 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten, 2 tsp. vanilla. Heat the milk in a heavy-bottomed pan until very hot but not boiling.  Mix the sugar, flour and salt together in a bowl, stir in the hot milk, and beat until blended. Pour back into the pan and continue to stir vigorously over low heat for 4-5 mins, until very thick and smooth.  Add the egg yolks and cook for a few more minutes. Cool, stirring from time to time, then add the vanilla.
I started back to the original recipe at step #10.
Having said all that, please know I reduced the first recipe by 1/2, which could have been the problem. Fanny Farmer's recipe I did fully.

Bottom Line: Make sure you know a good dentist and you use a pot that you don't mind throwing away. The caramel does a major job on both. This was a fail. I am definitely not a pastry chef, or even close. I started making this at 10:00 ended at 3:00. I made it 3 times and I still didn't get the results I wanted. I won't be doing it a 4th. Instead, I'll go to France.

Please share this blog with French friends, those who have idle hands and would like to create this for everyone because you can't store it for the next day.