This dessert requires a little skill but is sooo worth it. I made this last Monday when all of my great uncles and aunties came to my house for dinner for the first time ever so my Mum wanted to impress them. Naturally, she came to me. I decided to make a croquembouche which is perfectly achievable if you follow the recipe carefully.
55g butter
150ml water
75g plain flour, sieved
2 eggs (beaten with a pinch of salt and sugar)
300ml double cream
150g granulated sugar
For the pastry:
Preheat the oven to 200C 180Fan.
Weigh out all the ingredients.
Heat the butter until fully melted and boiling.
Add the flour and beat with a wooden spoon until there are no lumps of flour left and the mix comes away from the sides of the pan.
Leave until fully cooled.
Add the beaten egg bit by bit to the bowl with an electric whisk until it has a stringy consistency.
Pipe into small balls onto grease-proof paper (on a baking tray) and dab with water to make sure that there are no dobbles sticking up.
Bake for 12 minutes the reduce the oven temperature by 20C for around another 12 minutes.
DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR UNTIL YOU THINK THE PASTRY IS COOKED!
Remove the pastry from the oven and stab the balls to remove the steam then put the balls back into the oven (turned off) and leave for around 10 minutes until dried out.
Whip the cream until stiff peaks have formed.
Pipe the cream into the balls and place on a cooling wrack.
To make the caramel put the sugar into a pan and heat over a low temperature not stirring but tilting and swirling the pan occasionally until the sugar is thick, golden in colour and shiny.
If you burn the caramel don't worry just add boiling water to the pan, discard and try again.
To construct the croquembouche dip the balls into the caramel and start to construct a pyramid (this is easier than it sounds as the caramel sets very hard).
If the caramel is too hard just reheat it again until liquidy.
Drizzle any leftover caramel ontop of the pyramid and serve.
Enjoy!
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