Croquembouche

For the cream:

Gather all ingredients together. This is really important so you can work quickly with the pastry cream. In

a saucepan, warm the milk and heavy cream over medium-low heat until it just begins to bubble around

the edges. Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk the egg yolks, whole egg, and sugar, until light and smooth. Whisk

in the cornstarch, flour, and pinch of salt; until very smooth. When the milk mixture has begun to just

bubble at the edges, pour a ladle of the hot milk into the egg mixture and whisk vigorously to blend and

prevent the eggs from scrambling. Add another ladle of milk mixture and continue whisking vigorously.

This is tempering the eggs. Now pour the entire egg mixture into the saucepan with the remaining milk

mixture and continue whisking continuously, to combine well. Stir constantly and you will begin to feel

some resistance as the custard thickens. When it has thickened, remove from the heat and add in the

vanilla and butter, continuing to stir to combine. If desired, you can press this through a wire mess strainer

to get a really smooth consistency. Cover with plastic wrap, so the wrap touches the custard completely.

This will prevent it from developing a film. Place in the fridge and chill for at least 2 hours before filling the

profiteroles.

Preheat oven to 400* and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a sauce pan, bring the water, sugar, butter, and salt to a boil. Dump the flour in it and stir vigorously

with wooden spoon, until the flour is well incorporated. Turn the heat down and continue stirring, for 2-

3 minutes. The flour mixture may begin coating the bottom of the sauce pan, and that is okay. Remove

it from the heat, and put the mixture into a stand mixer.

Turn the mixer on low, add one egg, and increase the speed to medium to beat the egg into the dough.

Continue with each additional egg, one at a time, making sure they incorporate well into the dough. The

dough should be glossy and stretch and fall from the beater in thick ribbons, when you are done.

Transfer the dough to a piping bag, fitted with a ½ inch plain tip. I put a little bit of dough under each

corner of the parchment paper, so it sticks to the pan, while I’m piping the puffs. Then pipe 1 ½ inch

mounds onto the baking sheets, leaving about an inch between them.

Dip your finger in water and press down the tip of the pastry that sticks up, so it doesn’t burn when the

puffs are baking. Brush each puff with egg wash.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until nicely browned and baked through. Remove and cool completely.

Caramel:

Heat over high heat, until the sugar dissolves. Leave unstirred until it just starts to go golden. Remove

from the heat.

Assemble the Cream Puffs:

Using a small wooden dowel, poke a hole in the underside of each profiterole. Set aside. Spoon the

chilled pastry cream into a bag fitted with a plain tip. Insert the tip into the hole of in the profiterole and

pipe pastry cream into the center. Fill the puff, but don’t overfill it. You want the cream to stay inside the

puff. Repeat with all the profiteroles.

Assemble the Croquembouche:

Working quickly, (the caramel cools fast) use tongs to dip the filled profiterole in the caramel arrange on

a serving platter in a circular pattern. Continue to stack caramel-dipped cream puffs in a tower/cone

shape. Once you reach the top, it should look like a large cone. Dip a fork into the caramel and drizzle it

around the tower to get the angel hair effect.