INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

Note: a cake decorating turntable is helpful for assembling a
croquembouche  Make cream puffs:  Preheat oven to 425F. and butter and
flour 2 baking sheets.  Spoon pate a chou into a large pastry bag
fitted with a 1/2-inch  plain tip and pipe about 55 mounds onto baking
sheets, each about 1  1/2 inches in diameter, leaving 1 1/2 inches
between mounds. With a  finger dipped in water gently smooth pointed
tip of each mound to  round puffs. Bake puffs in upper third of oven 10
minutes, switching  position of sheets in oven halfway through baking
if necessary.  Reduce temperature to 400F. and bake puffs 20 minutes
more, or until  puffed and golden. Let puffs stand in turned-off oven
30 minutes.  Transfer puffs to racks to cool. With a skewer poke a
1/4-inch hole  in bottom of each puff. Puffs may be made 2 days ahead
and kept in an  airtight container. Recrisp puffs in 400F. oven 5
minutes and cool  before filling.  Make filling:  In bowl of a standing
electric mixer beat pastry cream until just  smooth and soft enough to
fold in heavy cream (do not overbeat). In a  chilled bowl with cleaned
beaters beat heavy cream until it holds  soft peaks and fold in praline
powder. Fold whipped cream mixture  into pastry cream. Chill filling,
covered, about 1 hour, or until  cold.  Fill cream puffs:  Transfer
filling to a large pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain  top and
barely fill each puff (do not overfill), putting filled puffs  in a
shallow baking pan.  Make caramel:  In a heavy saucepan stir together
sugar and water and bring to a boil  over moderately low heat, stirring
and washing down sides of pan with  a brush dipped in cold water to
dissolve any sugar crystals until  sugar is dissolved. Boil syrup over
moderately high heat, without  stirring, until it begins to turn pale
caramel. Still without  stirring, gently swirl syrup in pan (so that it
colors evenly) until  it begins to turn golden caramel and remove from
heat. Caramel will  continue to color slightly off heat and will
thicken as it cools. As  caramel begins to reach thickness of corn
syrup, return pan to a  burner at lowest possible heat, using a
flame-tamer if necessary, and  keep warm (do not simmer).  Assemble
croquembouche:  Line a tray with wax paper. Working quickly with 1
cream puff at a  time, impale bottom of each puff on tip of a small
serrated knife and  carefully dip top in caramel, leaving bottom 1/3
inch uncoated (to  facilitate handling) and letting excess drip off.
(Be extremely  careful when working with hot caramel.) Set puff, coated
side up, on  prepared tray. When all puffs are coated, center 3,
touching to form  a triangle, on a cake-decorating turntable. Form a
ring of 9 puffs  around triangle and, working with 1 of the 9 puffs at
a time,  carefully dip 1 edge into caramel, letting excess drip off,
and affix  puffs to one another in a tight ring around first 3 puffs.
Dip bottom  of a puff in caramel and center it over middle of first 3
puffs.  Working with 1 puff at a time, carefully dip 1 edge of each
puff into  caramel, letting excess drip off, and build a second,
slightly  smaller ring on top of the first using 8 puffs (if necessary
adding  an additional puff in center to stabilize ring), making sure
each  puff is glued wi th caramel to the one before it.  Build on top
of first 2 rows 4 more rings of 5 puffs each in same  manner, always
building from inside out with an additional puff in  center as support.
For top of croquembouche build 1 layer of 3 puffs and top with 1  puff.
Let caramel harden 5 minutes and loosen croquembouche from  turntable
with a spatula. Transfer croquembouche with hands to a  platter.  Slip
5-inch-wide bands of wax paper under edges of croquembouche to  protect
from caramel drips. Remove caramel from heat and cool to  thickness of
molasses, 2 to 3 minutes. Dip tip of a small spoon in  caramel and
drizzle caramel decoratively over croquembouche.  (Alternately, all
puffs may be dipped in initial caramel and put in a  shallow serving
bowl without being molded into a cone shape.) Let  caramel  continued
in part 2

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Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients)
----------------------------------------------
Calories: 1959
Calories From Fat: 387
Total Fat: 44g
Cholesterol: 163mg
Sodium: 52.8mg
Potassium: 98.4mg
Carbohydrates: 403.2g
Fiber: 0g
Sugar: 399.3g
Protein: 2.4g