Going to the chapel…with a Croquembouche!

Nope not me, already been there done that! Ok, it wasn’t in a chapel but under a tree at my parent’s farm, but the result remains the same.

You see, I have a friend.  Don’t be so shocked :)  I have a ton of friends and one of them is getting married this summer.  I can’t go so I wanted to make something for them and since all my cookie decorating stuff is sitting in the back of our car that’s being driven back from Canada, I had to come up with something else. 

I have no idea how it popped into my head but I wanted to make a Croquembouche.  It’s a traditional French pastry that is served at weddings. Perfect!

It’s basically little puff pastry balls filled with cream and then covered in caramel.  Doesn’t is sound fabulous????

Ok, it looks like it might be tricky, but actually it’s pretty easy!

Make some choux pastry.  What’s that you say?  It’s another French word that means cabbage.  Don’t ask, just go with it.

• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs

1. Pre-heat oven to 400F
2. In a medium sauce pan, bring milk, water, butter and salt and bring to a boil. 
3. Remove from heat and mix in the flour.  Bring back to heat and cook until the pastry pulls away from the pan sides.
4. Remove from heat again and add one egg at a time until combined.
5. Put dough into a pastry bag fitted with a size 10 tip and pipe one inch circles onto parchment and bake from 15-20 minutes until puffed and browned.
6. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Next up, make some whipped cream.  No cheating here, cool whip is NOT whipped cream.  So take the 3 minutes to put some heavy cream (1 cup)  into the bowl of a stand mixer.  Attach your whisk and turn it on medium and whip away.  Add 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tbsp sugar and whip until holds a stiff peak.  Don’t over beat because we don’t want butter!  Now take your whip cream and put it into a pastry bag with a size 10 tip and add cream to each of the puff pastries.  Put them in the fridge and take a break.

Ok, back to it!  Let’s make some caramel.  In a non-stick sauce pan (that’s what works best for me) add 1 cup sugar, 2 tbsp water and 1 tsp lemon juice.  Mix and then on medium heat let the sugar melt and come to a boil.  Once the sugar becomes a lovely light brown colour remove from the heat and add 2 tbsp heavy cream.  Careful, it splatters!  Bring back to the heat and stir until it has a beautiful caramel colour.

Now take your filled pastries and dip them into the caramel, careful it’s really really hot, and start stacking them in a pyramid type fashion.  Once all the pastry is used, take a fork and dip it into the caramel and drizzle the caramel back and forth over the pyramid.

Admire your work, take some pictures and enjoy!

Thanks for looking!