Croquembouche Recipe (Cream Puff Tower)

heavy cream

🥗Healthier: Greek yogurt

💰Cheaper: milk + cornstarch

Greek yogurt reduces calories while maintaining creaminess

chocolate

🥗Healthier: carob chips

💰Cheaper: cocoa powder

Cocoa powder is less expensive and still provides chocolate flavor.

Prepare the pastry cream by boiling milk with vanilla and half of the sugar.

Mix egg yolks with the other half of the sugar and corn starch.

Pour the boiling milk over the egg yolk mixture and mix well.

Return the mixture to the pot and cook over medium heat until boiling, about 1 minute.

Cool the pastry cream by spreading it in a thin layer in a container and covering with plastic wrap.

Prepare the pâte à choux by combining milk, water, a little sugar, salt, and European butter in a pot.

Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.

Sift flour and add it to the boiling mixture, stirring to combine until a dough forms.

Return the pot to medium heat to dry out the dough until it has a golden coloration on the bottom.

Transfer the dough to a mixing bowl and cool it down before adding eggs.

Add eggs one at a time to the cooled dough, mixing until smooth.

Set up a piping bag with a 1 cm tip and fill it halfway with the dough.

Pipe small mounds of dough about 1 inch in diameter on a Silpat or parchment paper, spacing them half an inch apart.

Use water to smooth down any pointy parts of the dough mounds.

Bake in the oven at 350°F for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Let the baked cream puffs cool completely for about 30 minutes.

Poke a hole in each cream puff using a smaller piping tip.

Prepare the filling by mixing the cooled pastry cream until smooth and filling a piping bag.

Fill each cream puff until the filling slightly oozes out of the hole.

Prepare caramel by combining water and glucose, then adding sugar and cooking until it reaches a medium color.

Use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature, aiming for around 340°F.

Dip each cream puff into the caramel and then into pretzel sugar, using the caramel to glue the cream puffs together.

Cooking Techniques

Equipment Needed

Spice Level:

Allergens