Croquembouche

Croquembouche looks difficult and complicated, but is pretty easy and I generally have all the ingredients on hand. I used this recipe in Saveur. I couldn't get the pastry cream to turn out right when I added the butter at the end like it called for, so I put it back on the stove until the butter was fully incorporated. It never got as thick as I wanted, but the family didn't mention it.

Before Baking

After Baking

I had never made cream puffs before and aside from tiring out my arm, they seemed relatively foolproof (next time I'll try using the mixer). I piped them onto baking trays lined with parchment paper and baked them in 4 batches.

Cream Puffs (about 70)
12 Tbs Unsalted Butter
¼ tsp. kosher salt
2 cups flour
9 eggs

Pastry Cream
1½ cups Milk
½ cup Granulated Sugar
3 Tbs Cornstarch
4 Egg Yolks
1½ tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
2 cups Unsalted Butter

Caramel
4 cups Granulated Sugar
1 cup Water