Bake 2.18: Cardamom, Blood Orange and Caramel Croquembouche

I maybe though that this wouldn't work. How in the world could it possibly stand up! With a few tips from Claire Saffitz' new book Dessert Person (use craquelin so the puffs are more evenly round, and her step by step tips for caramel) it did work. Slightly wonky since I angled the cone shape too much the first few rounds and then tried to recover but goodness, it was a success! A delicious success! 
This fancy dessert is definitely a labor, it took a few hours with all the pieces, but you can stop between the pieces too or make the puffs and cream the day before assembly - that is what I did. I used a standard pate a choux, topped with a  brown sugar craquelin, filled them with a cardamom and blood orange diplomat cream, and dipped them in a lightly salted caramel. I could eat the cream with a spoon. I ate the cream with a spoon. We all at the cream with a spoon. 

Ingredients

Pastry Cream

3 cups whole milk

1 teaspoon cardamom seeds, ground

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup corn starch

1 tablespoon flour

4 egg yolks

4 tablespoons salted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon blood orange zest

2 tablespoons blood orange juice

1/2 cup whipping cream

Craquelin
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

Pinch of salt

Pate a Choux

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup butter

1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup flour

5 eggs

Caramel

2 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt

As the pastry cream can be made ahead of time it is a good place to start, alternatively you could make the craquelin and choux and then make the pastry cream while those cool. 

Put 2 1/2 cups milk, the cardamom seeds, and granulated sugar in a saucepan and heat until a high simmer. In a separate bowl mix the remaining milk, corn starch, flour, and egg yolks until well combined. Once the milk is simmering, ladle a scoop into the corn starch mixture, and whisk, you want to temper the eggs so they don't scramble. Pour the mixture back into the sauce pan and whisk while the mixture thickens. You can tell that it is thick enough when the bubbles have made it to the middle and are getting larger, you want to see a few large bubbles rather than the bunches of small ones. Remove from the heat, whisk in the butter, vanilla, zest and juice. Pour that pastry cream into a bowl or pan that fits in your fridge (learned that from experience?) and cover with plastic wrap pressing it to the surface to avoid the unpleasant skin. 

While that cools, whip the cream to medium peaks. Once the pastry cream is cool, whisk to loosen the cream and then whisk in the heavy cream. Done! Put it in a pastry bag until ready to fill. 

Craquelin next. Cream the butter (room temp works best of course) and sugar until smooth. Stir in the flour and salt gently until combined. Turn out onto a clean work surface and knead a few times until smooth. Divide in half and roll out between two sheets of parchment paper until 1/8" thick. Put those in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. 

Once frozen, cut as many circles as possible, I used a 1 inch round cutter. You want to aim for 75 circles to have enough for all your puffs. If you want to make larger puffs then use a larger cutter and make sure you make your puffs larger too. If I was not making a tower I would do 1 1/2-2 inch puffs. Put the cut circles back on the tray in the freezer until ready to back. 

Dough time! Prep two cookie sheets by using the same round cutter to trace as many circles as you can onto parchment, about 1 inch apart, aim for 35-40 per sheet. I use a permanent marker since that shows nicely, then turn the parchment over so the ink is on the opposite side and set aside. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 

Add the milk, water, and sugar to a saucepan. Bring to a boil and toss in the flour. Beat the flour in with a wooden spoon. It will form a film on the pan and then reabsorb into the mixture. The goal is to cook the flour so the mixture will seem to be drier than when it first came together. Pour the dough into the stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Turn the mixer on low to allow the dough to cool down. You want to be able to touch the outside of the mixing bowl before you start adding the eggs. 

Add the eggs one at a time, the dough will separate and look funky and then come back together, once it comes back together, add the next egg. I used 5 eggs but test the mixture after the 3rd egg and only add as many as you need. To test the dough, pull the paddle up out of the mixture, you want it to ribbon off the beater forming a V shape. Once the dough is ready, scoop into a piping bag. 

Snip the piping bag to have a 1/2 inch opening (you can be fancy and use a piping tip too), pipe mounds using your template. Place a disc of craquelin on the top of each mound. Place the two trays in the oven, immediately dropping the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes, and then swift like a ninja, rotate the trays, bake for another 10 minutes until lovely and golden brown. Since we are stacking these, turn off the oven and allow to sit in there with the door cracked for 10 more minutes. Then pull the trays out and poke each puff with a skewer or knife point to allow a steam hole. You can do a secret side hole just at the edge where the craquelin meets or on the bottom. Allow to cool. 

Once cool, use the hole to fill the puffs with the cream. I did a combination of counting to 6 (completely made up) and feeling that they get heavier when filled. There is no skimping on filling around here. Prepare a base, using a small plate, or cover a removable cake tin bottom with foil - that's what I did.

Set the puffs aside. It is time to make caramel! I loved the look of Claire's croquembouche as she did the craquelin and then dipped them in a thin layer of caramel so I just had to do the same. 

In a heavy bottom sauce pan stir the sugar and water until the sugar dissolves. Continue stirring until it comes to a boil. Then no more stirring. Brush down the inside of the pot with water using a pastry brush to avoid crystals forming along the sides. Ready a heat proof bowl, pyrex measuring cup or similar to pour the caramel in once completed. Continue cooking the sugar, swirling occasionally, until it turns a deep amber color. Sprinkle in the salt and want pour into the ready bowl/container. Allow to cool slightly, then dip carefully the top of each puff into the caramel, swirling to allow any extra to drip back and then set aside to cool. Be quick, but also, be careful. Wear gloves if needed. If the caramel becomes too firm, heat carefully over a double boiler. 

Once all the puffs have been dipped, begin stacking! If your caramel becomes to firm, heat carefully, or make a new batch, you will only need to do a 1/2 amount the second time. 

I did 10 in the bottom round, working up from there, I chose as similarly sized as I could for each level. Dip in the caramel, hold for a moment and then move on. I found that a jar in the middle to support the first few rows was helpful, though I also angled them in too far. Keep going, reducing the size by 1 each go round. You want to situate the puffs so they are offset. using a little caramel on the sides to ensure they stick on the bottom and sides. Keep on going until you reach the top. Cap it off in style with a few puffs. Now using a fork, pull threads out of the caramel and wrap them around the tower. Ta Da!

SO GOOD!

We also learned there are two people in the world:

people who take the next bit when they stick together,

and people who leave a tiny bit behind... 

serious question, what kind are you?