| Total: | 4 hr 20 min |
| Prep: | 5 min |
| Cook: | 4 hr 15 min |
| Yield: | 1 croquembouche |
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 8 to 10 eggs
- Filling, recipe follows
- Caramel, recipe follows
- 4 cups whole, 2 percent fat, or 1 percent fat milk
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 12 egg yolks
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, salt, and sugar to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, immediately take the pan off the heat. Stirring with a wooden spoon, add all the flour at once and stir hard until all the flour is incorporated, 30 to 60 seconds. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring, 30 seconds to evaporate some of the moisture.
- Scrape the mixture into a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer). Mix at medium speed. 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 from 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.
- Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, pipe the dough in big kisses onto a parchment lined baking sheet. 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.) Bake 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375-degrees and bake until puffed up and light golden brown, about 20 minutes 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. Filling: 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 to 15 minutes. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cornstarch and whisk vigorously until no lumps remain. Whisk in 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture until incorporated. Whisk in the remaining hot milk mixture, reserving the empty saucepan.
- Pour the mixture through a strainer back into the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and slowly boiling. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and any flavorings if you want to make a different flavor like chocolate or coffee. Let cool slightly. Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill at least 2 hours or until ready to serve. The custard can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Poke a hole with a plain pastry tip in the bottom of each cream puff and pipe it full of the custard.
- Caramel: 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. Boil to make a light golden caramel then dip the bottom of the pan in an ice bath to stop the cooking. Dip the sides of the puffs in the caramel and stick them together (approximately 20 cream 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. 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.
Reviews
It was a generally good recipe, but be super careful with the caramel… I got a second degree burn on my finger… You don’t want to be doing the caramel with 2 people so stick to doing that part yourself.
Amazing crowd pleaser and surprisingly easy. Absolutely love it!
Perfect dessert for the springtime. Luv it.
As my child dabbles more into the world of baking, I recommended he try and make Croquembouche. It can really show how good u are in the kitchen.
It turned out successful and my sons grin made it all worth it. This is a keeper.
just curious how long in advance this can be made and how do you store it? Thank you!
Warning! Be sure to cook the caramel with the lid on for a few minutes to help stream off any sugar crystals. If you don’t remove all grains, it will recrystallize way too easily and ruin the caramel. Tasty showstopper though, just allow plenty of time, cooking the pastry cream filling the day before. Pipe the cream puff filling approximately the size of a fifty cent piece, making some a little smaller for the upper layers.
Perfect recipe as-is — I wouldn’t change a thing. The only thing I did different was fill some of the puffs with whipped cream. Just be very careful with the caramel. I got a painful burn when a drop of caramel fell on one of my fingers. Ouch! =(
This recipe really is easy! Took no time at all and I have nerver made anything like it before. My profiteroles were cooked in 15 was the only difference to the recipe. Definately do it again.
Made this for the first time and it came out great! It was a fitting end to our Feast of The Seven Fishes dinner that lasted 7 hours. Just a couple of adjustments were needed to get it right. First, cut down the cornstarch for the pastry cream to 1/4 cup. It became way too thick and I needed to thin it down with more milk. Second, a bit of cornsyrup(1/4cup) in the caramel will help with any crystalization problems. I cooked it up to 310F, cooled it a bit, and started to assemble. The sugar would get a little too cool after a while, so I just warmed it on a burner and it was usable again. Oh, and for an extra treat we hid a candy in one of the puffs, and who ever got that puff won a prize.
flavor great and nobody belive i was the one who made it i did it for thankgiving and i will do one more next week with flowers for my best friend $0 birthday i will send the picture
liz
This was one of the easiest recipes I have ever done. To say it was a hit at our monthly pot luck is a huge understatement. Everyone wanted the recipe. It was the most beautifully presented item ever.There were oooh’s and ahhhs from everyone. Everyone commented on how good and light it tasted. Thank you so much.