Croquembouche

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In medium saucepan combine water, butter, salt, and sugar. Bring it to a full boil.
Remove from the heat, and add vanilla. Add flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon to form a ball. Place dough in a bowl of a stand mixer and set aside.
In a small bowl lightly beat 3 eggs, separate 4th egg and place the white in a small dish and beat lightly.
With the mixer on low gradually add egg mixture with flour mixture, once all in, increase speed to medium. Stop mixer , test dough- make sure it is supple enough to hold its shape but not pasty- if it is too stiff, add the egg white.
On baking sheet covered with parchment paper, place 1 tsp balls. Using a spritzer, lightly spray with water.
Place the sheet one up from bottom rack in oven, lower the temperature to 425 degrees and bake for 15 minutes. DO NOT PEEK!!
After 15 minutes, open the oven and pierce each cream puff with a tooth pick to let steam escape. This helps dry out the inside and bake for another 7 minutes.
Once they are done place on wire rack to cool. They freeze easily for up to 1 month.

Bring 3 cups of milk, sugar, and salt to simmer in heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir to dissolve sugar. Once dissolved, remove from heat.
In a large heat-proof bowl whisk egg yolk and remaining 1 cup of milk until blended.
Sift flour over egg yolks and mix until smooth.
Next, beat in the warm milk mixture a little at a time. When all milk has been, added transfer to saucepan and place back on stove.
Cook stirring consistently over medium heat until it begins to boil, then reduce to low for 30 seconds, remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract
Place cooled filling in refrigerator covered with plastic wrap touching the pudding so it doesn’t form a skin.
When you are ready to serve, slice open cream puff and add cream in the center

Combine water, sugar and corn syrup in a heavy bottomed saucepan without stirring. Bring to a boil and boil continuously, using a candy thermometer, until the mixture reaches the hard crack stage— 300 degrees.
Remove from the stove and carefully dip the creampuffs into the sugar syrup and use it as the glue to hold together the creampuffs as you build the Christmas tree cone.
Once the tree is complete with a spoon drip the remaining syrup up and down the sides of the tree to give it an extra golden sheen!

Yield: 1 Croquembouche Tree

Categories: Heirloom Recipes

Tags: heirloom meals' christmas special, heirloom meals, christmas, dessert, heirloom recipe