• Prep Time: 20 mins
  • Cooking Time: 30 mins
  • Serves: 50

Almond Croquembouche

  • Recipe Submitted by on

 Ingredients List

  • For the pate a choux:
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs
  • egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten)
  • For the almond pastry cream:
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 6 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • For the caramel glaze:
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

 Directions

To make the pate a choux, preheat oven to 425 degrees F and line a sheen pan with parchment paper.

In a saucepan over medium heat, bring to a boil the butter, water and salt, stirring occasionally. Add the flour and stir to combine. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until it starts coming away from the sides of the pan and leaves a film on the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and let cool slightly for a minute or so.

Add the eggs one at a time, stirring to combine. The dough will be loose and shiny at first after each addition, but keep stirring and it will come together and appear to dry out. Transfer the dough to a pastry bag and pipe in one inch circles onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Wet your fingers and gently press down on any tips that have formed, you want the tops to be relatively smooth. Brush with egg wash.

Bake for about 10 minutes until well-puffed and just starting to turn golden in color. Turn the oven down to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the almond pastry cream, bring 3/4 cup of milk and the sugar to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Meanwhile, whisk together the 1/4 cup of milk and cornstarch together. Whisk the egg and egg yolks together in a medium bowl and add the cornstarch mixture.

When the milk and sugar comes to a boil, slowly add it to the egg mixture in a small steady stream, whisking continuously. When fully combined, return the mixture to the saucepan and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from heat and sttir in the butter and almond extract until smooth. Pour into a shallow dish, cover with plastic wrap and chill completely.

Transfer the pastry cream to a piping bag and fill the puffs. Using a small tip in your pastry bag, lightly pierce the bottom of each puff and fill. It doesn’t take much, and be sure not to overfill and burst the puff.

When ready to assemble the croquembouche, make the caramel glaze and have the filled puffs and the dish you will mount them on ready. It’s also helpful to practice making a pyramid without the glaze, just to see how you want everything to be assembled.

Place the sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Stir until the mixture resembles wet sand. Place the saucepan over medium heat and wait for it to become amber in color. Do not stir the sugar, but swirl it around if needed to encourage even cooking. If it appears to be cooking to quickly, turn the heat down. When the caramel is ready, remove from heat and immediately start building your croquembouche.

Working quickly dip the bottoms of each puff into the caramel glaze and assemble them on your dish, stacking them on top of each other. The caramel hardens fairly quickly, but sometimes it helps to hold the puff in place for a few moments until it’s hard enough to stand up on its own. When finished, wrap some sugar strands around the croquembouche and decorate as desired.

 Share this Recipe

Recipes by Course

Recipes by Main Ingredient

Recipes by Cuisine

Recipes by Preparation

Recipes by Occasion

Recipes by Dietary

Sign Up and Create a Cookbook Today!

Please Sign in to your Account or Sign up if you are new user.

Who loves our Healthy Recipes?