Shortcut Croquembouche
3
- Prep Time1 h
- Total Time1 h 15 min
- Makes8-10 Servings
Producer, Sun Ngo. Photo, Christie Vuong. Food stylist, Eshun Mott. Prop stylist, Rayna Marlee Schwartz.
This festive centrepiece uses premade cream puffs, so you don’t have to spend all day in the kitchen. Wearing latex gloves is a good idea to protect yourself from the hot caramel while dipping the puffs. Croquembouche is best enjoyed soon after assembly, but can be refrigerated up to 4 hours before serving.
Ingredients
¾ cup toasted sliced almonds or finely chopped pistachios
2 ½ cups granulated sugar
¼ cup white corn syrup
¼ tsp salt
1 625-g pkg profiteroles, thawed in refrigerator (about 50)
Candied orange peel, cranberries and/or sprinkles to garnish
Instructions
Line two baking sheets with parchment. Place almonds in a shallow bowl. Fill a very large heat-safe bowl with ice water. Set aside.
Gently stir sugar with corn syrup, salt and ½ cup water in a large, heavy pot until combined. Set over medium-high. Cook, without stirring, using a wet pastry brush to dissolve any stuck-on sugar crystals from the sides of the pot, and gently swirling if needed, until honey in colour, 12 to 14 min. Remove from heat and immediately plunge bottom of pot into ice water to stop caramelization, 20 sec. Remove pot from water, then place onto a heat-safe trivet.
For half of the profiteroles, working with one profiterole at a time, very carefully dip tops into caramel, then set on prepared baking sheets. For the remaining half, immediately press tops into nuts after dipping. When caramel becomes too thick, re-warm on medium until thinned out. (Do not overcook.)
Trace a 6-in. circle with a pencil, using a cake pan as a guide, on a sheet of parchment. Cut out circle, then set on a serving plate, pencil-side down.
Arrange 10 profiteroles around the outer edge of the parchment circle, alternating the types of coating, to map out the bottom layer. Working with one profiterole at a time, dip half of the bottom of each into caramel, then set back into place on parchment, with the freshly dipped edge facing down and the coated side facing out. Keep the profiteroles as upright as possible to secure the structure of the tower. Once the bottom layer is finished, repeat the process, stacking to fill the gaps from the layer before, gradually reducing the number of profiteroles in each layer to form a tower.
Arrange candied orange peel among any gaps in croquembouche. Once remaining caramel has cooled to a honey-like consistency, use a fork to drizzle strands of caramel around the tower. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 4 hrs.
Kitchen tip
We doubled the recipe for the towering croquembouche in the photo.
