Almond Croquembouche

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Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 30

Assembly time 30

Total Time 1 30

Servings profilteroles

Calories 61

Author Annalise Sandberg

Ingredients

For the pate a choux:

¾ cup water
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
Egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten)

For the almond pastry cream:

1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons whole milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon almond extract

For the caramel glaze:

1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions

To make the pate a choux, preheat oven to 425°F and line a sheen pan with parchment paper.
In a saucepan over medium heat, bring to a boil the butter, water and salt, stirring occasionally. Add the flour and stir to combine. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until it starts coming away from the sides of the pan and leaves a film on the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and let cool slightly for a minute or so.
Add the eggs one at a time, stirring to combine. The dough will be loose and shiny at first after each addition, but keep stirring and it will come together and appear to dry out. Transfer the dough to a pastry bag and pipe in one inch circles onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Wet your fingers and gently press down on any tips that have formed, you want the tops to be relatively smooth. Brush with egg wash.
Bake for about 10 minutes until well-puffed and just starting to turn golden in color. Turn the oven down to 350°F and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.
To make the almond pastry cream, bring ¾ cup of milk and the sugar to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Meanwhile, whisk together the ¼ cup of milk and cornstarch together. Whisk the egg and egg yolks together in a medium bowl and add the cornstarch mixture.
When the milk and sugar comes to a boil, slowly add it to the egg mixture in a small steady stream, whisking continuously. When fully combined, return the mixture to the saucepan and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from heat and sttir in the butter and almond extract until smooth. Pour into a shallow dish, cover with plastic wrap and chill completely.
Transfer the pastry cream to a piping bag and fill the puffs. Using a small tip in your pastry bag, lightly pierce the bottom of each puff and fill. It doesn't take much, and be sure not to overfill and burst the puff.
When ready to assemble the croquembouche, make the caramel glaze and have the filled puffs and the dish you will mount them on ready. It's also helpful to practice making a pyramid without the glaze, just to see how you want everything to be assembled.
Place the sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Stir until the mixture resembles wet sand. Place the saucepan over medium heat and wait for it to become amber in color. Do not stir the sugar, but swirl it around if needed to encourage even cooking. If it appears to be cooking to quickly, turn the heat down. When the caramel is ready, remove from heat and immediately start building your croquembouche.
Working quickly dip the bottoms of each puff into the caramel glaze and assemble them on your dish, stacking them on top of each other. The caramel hardens fairly quickly, but sometimes it helps to hold the puff in place for a few moments until it's hard enough to stand up on its own. When finished, wrap some sugar strands around the croquembouche and decorate as desired.

Notes

From the May 2010 Daring Bakers' Challenge

Nutrition