Classic French Croquembouche Recipe

  • Comments Off on Classic French Croquembouche Recipe

Recipe Category: Dessert

pagect=recipes,popular-recipes,dessert,:recipes,popular-recipes,most-popular,popular+dessert

Classic French Croquembouche Recipe

Ingredients

Servings :24 to 16 servings

For the Vanilla Pastry Cream:

  • 3 large egg yolks, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 cups whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Choux:

  • 8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 8 large eggs, room temperature

For the Caramel:

  • 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cup water

For Assembling.

  • Sugared almonds, or metallic dragees, or flowers

Method

  1. In a ceramic bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and flour until completely smooth
  2. Reserve
  3. Warm the milk over low heat until it begins to steam
  4. Once the milk is steaming, add half of it to the egg mixture in the bowl, whisking continuously to mix and prevent the eggs from curdling
  5. Mix well
  6. Add the milk and the egg mixture back into the hot milk in the saucepan, stirring constantly
  7. Heat until the custard is thick and reaches 170 F on a digital thermometer, or 1 to 2 minutes
  8. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract
  9. Stir well and place in a ceramic bowl
  10. Chill the cream for at least 2 hours before using it

Make the Choux

  1. Combine the butter and water in a large saucepan over medium heat until the butter is melted
  2. Bring the mixture to a boil
  3. Lower the heat and add all of the flour, mixing vigorously with a wooden spoon to form a dough
  4. Add the salt and keep mixing over the heat to dry out your dough, 4 to 5 minutes
  5. By continuing to cook the dough, you’re guaranteeing that the final dough will crisp up and puff up when baked, forming a hollow center in the middle
  6. Remove from the heat and transfer the dough to a big clean bowl
  7. Using an electric whisk, break the dough apart to lower its temperature
  8. Whisk between 2 to 4 minutes
  9. Beat the eggs into the dough one at a time until you have a smooth and shiny batter
  10. Spoon the prepared choux dough into a piping bag
  11. Preheat the oven to 400 F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper
  12. Pipe 24 small rounds on each baking sheet, about 2 inches in diameter
  13. Bake until the profiteroles puff up and turn golden brown, between 30 to 35 minutes
  14. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before filling

Fill the Choux

  1. Spoon the chilled pastry cream into a bag fitted with a plain tip
  2. Insert the tip into the underside of each puff and pipe about 1 teaspoon of pastry cream into the hollow center
  3. Repeat the process until you’ve filled all of the pastries
  4. Place the filled profiteroles in the freezer for at least 3 hours

Make the Caramel

  1. Have ready a large bowl of iced water for cooling the caramel
  2. Pour the sugar into a medium saucepan and then add the water
  3. Draw a spoon through the sugar to wet it and turn the heat up to medium-high
  4. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and wipe down the sides of the pan with a damp pastry brush to avoid the crystals burning
  5. Let the sugar mixture boil until it turns pale golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes
  6. Pay close attention to the process to prevent burning, as it will rapidly darken toward the end of cooking
  7. Remove the caramel from the heat and carefully plunge the saucepan into the bowl of ice water for 5 seconds to stop the cooking process
  8. Allow the caramel to cool for 5 to 10 minutes until it has the consistency of maple syrup
  9. Have the filled pastries ready while the caramel is cooling off

Assemble the Croquembouche

  1. Line a baking sheet or serving platter with parchment paper
  2. Dip 12 profiteroles in the caramel, one at a time
  3. Arrange profiteroles in a circle on the parchment-lined serving platter, using the caramel to glue them together
  4. Continue building the croquembouche by dipping and gluing profiteroles on top of the base
  5. Follow with a second tier of 10 profiteroles, then one of 9, 7, 4, 3, and 2, respectively, on each tier
  6. Finally, place the last profiterole on top to achieve the cone shape
  7. Spin the remaining caramel to form a web of sugar around the tower
  8. Press on the sugared almonds, metallic dragees, or flowers for decoration

Full List of Dessert Recipes
Full List of French Recipes

Comments are closed.