INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

FOR CREAM PUFFS
FOR FILLING
FOR CARAMEL
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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