My boyfriend absolutely loves profiteroles so for his birthday I planned to make a rather elaborate croquembouche. This involved a lot of 'first times' for me. I've never made pastry cream or choux pastry before.
First up was the pastry cream, which is basically just a thick custard. I've always been turned off making custard as I thought it would be quite difficult but my first attempt turned out perfectly causing me to do a little victory dance around my little kitchen! The choux pastry on the other hand caused me all sorts of issues and my first attempt was a huge fail. The mixture was much too wet which meant all of my profiteroles merged together in the oven to form what looked like a giant yorkshire pudding. My second attempt was a lot more successful. I'm still not sure exactly where I went wrong, perhaps I measured something incorrectly the first time, but this time I ended up with 20 or so cute little pastry puff balls.
Profiteroles filled and croquembouche built, I felt extremely proud and still do. I've never attempted to make anything like this so I'm very pleased with how it turned out, not to mention it tasted very yummy!
Here's the recipe if you fancy giving this a go yourself.
INGREDIENTS
For the pastry cream:
650ml milk
165g egg yolk
165g caster sugar
65g corn flour
65g butter
1 vanilla pod
For the choux pastry:
200ml water
4tsp caster sugar
85g unsalted butter
a pinch of salt
3 medium eggs
For the caramel:
660g caster sugar
200g water
Start by making the pastry cream. Cut the vanilla pod in half and run the back of the knife along the inside scraping out the seeds. Put the seeds and pod into a pan, add milk and heat gently until it starts to boil. Remove from the heat, take out the vanilla pod and pour milk through a sieve into a jug.
In a bowl whisk together the egg yolks, cornflour and caster sugar until the mixture turns thick and pale in colour. Pour the mixture back into the pan and bring to the boil over a medium heat whilst stirring.
Once the custard has started to boil remove from the heat and pour out onto a tray, this will help it to cool quicker. To stop a skin forming place plastic wrap across the top of the pastry cream so that it just rests on top.
When cooled (to about 55C if you have a thermometer, pour into a bowl and stir in the butter. Refrigerate until completely cooled.
Once the custard has started to boil remove from the heat and pour out onto a tray, this will help it to cool quicker. To stop a skin forming place plastic wrap across the top of the pastry cream so that it just rests on top.
When cooled (to about 55C if you have a thermometer, pour into a bowl and stir in the butter. Refrigerate until completely cooled.
Pre-heat the oven to 200C and place an empty roasting tin in the bottom of the oven. Lightly grease a couple of baking trays.
In a saucepan gently heat the water and butter. Have the sifted flour, sugar and salt in a bowl ready to mix in. Once the water starts to boil remove the pan from the heat and quickly pour in the flour mixture and beat vigorously until the mixture starts to come away from the side of the pan forming a ball. Let it cool down for 10 minutes or so.
Add the egg a little at a time until it becomes soft, smooth and glossy.
Use either a piping bag or two teaspoons to form small balls of the mixture onto the greased baking trays. With a wet finger, smooth over the top of each ball.
Put the trays into the oven and into the roasting tin put about half a cup of water to create steam whilst the profiteroles cook. Bake for around 25 minutes until the profiteroles are golden brown on top. Be careful not to take them out too soon or they will turn soggy once the have cooled down.
Once cooled fill a piping bag with a small nozzle with the pastry cream (or you could just use whipped cream if you prefer). Gently poke the nozzle into the bottom of each profiterole and fill. Place in the fridge to chill.
To make the caramel, place the sugar and water into a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. The sugar will dissolve and turn golden brown, you don't need to stir it just leave to do it's thing!
Lay out a piece of baking paper along the work top. Once the sugar has turned golden remove from the heat. Carefully begin dipping the top of each profiterole into the caramel before placing onto the baking paper to cool.
Once all the profiteroles have been dipped you can begin construction! Have your serving dish ready. To make the base, first place a ring of profiteroles on the serving plate. Dip the bottom of each profiterole in caramel before placing on the plate, this will make it sturdy once you begin building upwards. Repeat filling in the centre of the ring.
Next start building up the top layers. Dip the edge of a profiterole in caramel and place it on the edge of the base you just created. The caramel should be on the bottom edge, it's like the cement that will hold it all together! Continue until you have created a ring around the edge. Repeat, building up a hollow cone shape until you reach the top and place one final profiterole at the top.
Then you can decorate however you like. I used melted chocolate, popping candy and used some of the leftover caramel to make a spun sugar ball to place on top (which melted quite a bit in my warm flat before I took photos).
It may sound really complicated but it's not that bad, honestly. It did take me an entire day and made my kitchen look like a war zone but I felt very pleased with myself at the end. I will definitely be making profiteroles again and if I do make another croquembouche I will add in some step by step photos to this post. In the meantime if you want any tips on this feel free to leave me a comment or email me.
In a saucepan gently heat the water and butter. Have the sifted flour, sugar and salt in a bowl ready to mix in. Once the water starts to boil remove the pan from the heat and quickly pour in the flour mixture and beat vigorously until the mixture starts to come away from the side of the pan forming a ball. Let it cool down for 10 minutes or so.
Add the egg a little at a time until it becomes soft, smooth and glossy.
Use either a piping bag or two teaspoons to form small balls of the mixture onto the greased baking trays. With a wet finger, smooth over the top of each ball.
Put the trays into the oven and into the roasting tin put about half a cup of water to create steam whilst the profiteroles cook. Bake for around 25 minutes until the profiteroles are golden brown on top. Be careful not to take them out too soon or they will turn soggy once the have cooled down.
Once cooled fill a piping bag with a small nozzle with the pastry cream (or you could just use whipped cream if you prefer). Gently poke the nozzle into the bottom of each profiterole and fill. Place in the fridge to chill.
To make the caramel, place the sugar and water into a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. The sugar will dissolve and turn golden brown, you don't need to stir it just leave to do it's thing!
Lay out a piece of baking paper along the work top. Once the sugar has turned golden remove from the heat. Carefully begin dipping the top of each profiterole into the caramel before placing onto the baking paper to cool.
Once all the profiteroles have been dipped you can begin construction! Have your serving dish ready. To make the base, first place a ring of profiteroles on the serving plate. Dip the bottom of each profiterole in caramel before placing on the plate, this will make it sturdy once you begin building upwards. Repeat filling in the centre of the ring.
Next start building up the top layers. Dip the edge of a profiterole in caramel and place it on the edge of the base you just created. The caramel should be on the bottom edge, it's like the cement that will hold it all together! Continue until you have created a ring around the edge. Repeat, building up a hollow cone shape until you reach the top and place one final profiterole at the top.
Then you can decorate however you like. I used melted chocolate, popping candy and used some of the leftover caramel to make a spun sugar ball to place on top (which melted quite a bit in my warm flat before I took photos).
It may sound really complicated but it's not that bad, honestly. It did take me an entire day and made my kitchen look like a war zone but I felt very pleased with myself at the end. I will definitely be making profiteroles again and if I do make another croquembouche I will add in some step by step photos to this post. In the meantime if you want any tips on this feel free to leave me a comment or email me.
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