Burnt Caramel Croquembouche #LitHappens #FoodieReads

For years croquembouche was our standard New Year's Eve dessert because it took time to make it and was a good distraction for trying to stay away till midnight when the kids were small.

On the Page

I was inspired to make another one after reading the February Lit Happens selection: Piglet by Lottie Hazell. I would say that it was a polarizing pick, but it wasn't really. I don't think any of us liked the book! And because of that I am not going to say too much about it except that story surrounds the eponymous character in the run up to her wedding. That is a childhood nickname that, we all agreed, should have been banned from use as soon as she was no longer a child. The book deals with the ripples that betrayal can cause in a relationship though the betrayal is never named; most of us assumed it was infidelity. The storyline addresses eating disorders in an indirect way. But I found it tough to read because I didn't like or respect any of the characters!

Because of her job, there is a quite a bit of food on the pages.

"Piglet arranged dishes of food. She placed the chicken in the centre, testing the cardboard below with her hands before she set the bird down. On either side of the chicken, she placed a bowl of salad, a neighbouring tureen of potatoes alongside. Next to these, at each end of the table, she positioned platters of sliced sourdough and small bowls of whipped butter. Wooden tongs, arranged symmetrically, bookended her dinner. It looked how she had imagined it would."

"She divided a large bowl of couscous, studded with shards of pistachio and pomegranate seeds, between two roughly shaped earthenware platters. She transferred the lamb stew from the Le Creuset to an oven-warmed tagine pot and scattered over toasted, flaked almonds. The hummus, baba ghanoush, and labneh had been spooned into terra-cotta ramekins, and she finished each dish with a flourish of grassy, yellow-green extra virgin olive oil and a flurry of fresh herbs. A green salad, trailing tendrils of coriander, parsley, and mint, stood set for service. The scorched flatbreads were stuffed into hammered copper serving bowls. Kit moved around her, ferrying full dishes to the table, removing candles and jars of greenery to make room for her feast."

And I will spare you the passage about how her croquembouche descended into a disaster that seemed to represent all of the artifice that was her life with Kit. But this was the first mention of her using it as her wedding cake.

“She’s making her own wedding cake, some French thing—remember I told you?” Piglet smiled as she watched Seb lean forward to cut another slice of ice cream, his muscular arms straining beneath a Ralph Lauren shirt. “A croquembouche,” Piglet confirmed.

On the Plate

First, a bit about croquembouche in case you're unfamiliar. The name comes from the French croque en bouche and translates to "crunches in the mouth." It's composed of petits choux (choux pastry balls) piled into a cone and bound with threads of caramel. Traditionally, it's decorated with sugared almonds, chocolate, flowers, or ribbons.

Second, I have made this many, many times. In fact, I have shared it again and again, so when we visited friends in Denmark, they asked if we could make one for them. Yes! It's the photograph at the top of this section.

Here are some of our other creations...

The one of the far left is the only one in which we used a cardboard cone for shaping it. We have never resorted to using a glue gun as Piglet did. Caramel is our glue.

Ingredients

Pâte à Choux

• 12 Tablespooons unsalted butter

• 1-1/2 cups water

• 2 cups flour

• 9 eggs

Filling

• 2 cups organic heavy whipping cream

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Burnt Caramel

• 2 cups organic granulated sugar

Procedure

Pâte à Choux

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bring butter and water to a boil in a large saucepan. Remove pan from heat and add flour all at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture forms a thick dough and pulls away from sides of pan, approximately 3 minutes. Return pan to heat and cook, stirring constantly, until dough is lightly dried, about 2 minutes more.

Transfer dough to a bowl, and let cool for 5 minutes; using a wooden spoon, beat in 8 eggs, one at a time, making sure each egg is completely incorporated before adding the next. Dough will come together and be thick, shiny, and smooth.

Dip two spoons in water, shake off excess, and scoop a walnut-size piece of dough with one spoon. With other spoon, scrape dough onto parchment-lined baking sheet, setting pieces 1″ apart on a baking sheet.

Lightly beat remaining egg with pinch of salt and brush each piece of dough with it.

Bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit until puffed and light brown, approximately 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and continue to bake until well browned, approximately 15 minutes. Let cool. While the puffs cool, make your filling.

Filling

Place ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Beat cream until stiff peaks form.

Place filling into a pastry bag or other decorating tool. Insert a chopstick into the bottom of the puff to open it up a bit, then fill.

Caramel

Place sugar in medium sauce pan. Cook until smooth and amber, approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

Assembly

Dip the filled puffs in the caramel and place them on a lined baking sheet to harden. You are really just sealing off the filling point with this dipping.

Dip the puffs in the caramel, again, and stack them to form a conical shape.

Once the tower is the height you want, dip a fork in the caramel and swirl it around the tower to form the caramel threads.

That's a wrap for my offering for the February Lit Happens event. Next month we are reading The Bookclub for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick. And definitely check back here for more page-inspired edible creations. I am adding this to the February #FoodieReads link-up.