Recipes with Julie Van Rosendaal: Let's Make Something Ridiculous! How about a croquembouche?

We may not have any big celebrations happening these days, but that doesn't mean we can't get over the top with our culinary creations.

This week we tackled croquembouche, a classic French tower of cream puffs held together with caramel, which is often served as both centrepiece and dessert at weddings and other special events.

It also happens to make an excellent Tuesday morning breakfast.

Of course there are still birthdays, anniversaries and other occasions to celebrate, so if you're looking for a new baking project this quiet winter, here's a new one to take on.

Croquembouche translates to "crunch in the mouth." Each cream-filled puff is coated with a thin layer of molten caramel, creating a thin exterior shell, before being piled into their tower using that same caramel as glue to hold them all together.

Caramel can be intimidating, and tricky to work with. If you're engaging kids in the process, you could always use a chocolate ganache as both glue and sauce. 

• Bookmark cbc.ca/juliesrecipes to keep up with all of Julie Van Rosendaal's dishes

The puffs themselves are made with a classic choux pastry, or pâte à choux — "choux" is French for cabbage.

They do resemble little cabbages. The smooth, satiny batter is made in two stages. Butter and water are brought to a simmer on the stovetop, flour is stirred in, and the thick ball of dough is allowed to cool for a bit before beating in enough egg to create a batter that's thicker than cake batter but thinner than cookie dough.

It can be piped or spooned onto your baking sheet to bake up into airy puffs in the oven that then hold their shape once cool.

Profiteroles (another name for filled cream puffs) are traditionally filled with pastry cream — a kind of rich pudding you can whisk up on the stovetop, and it can be lightened by folding in some whipped cream.

You could also use straight-up whipped cream, though pastry cream is more stable.

Fill your puffs with a piping bag, or even a zip-lock baggie with one corner snipped off; poke a hole in the bottom or side with the tip of a knife, and squeeze it in. 

When building your croquembouche, some rely on a foam cone and attach each cream puff with toothpicks. But if you stack the profiteroles in circles, making each layer a bit smaller, they will do just fine supporting each other, with a quick dip in caramel "glue" for support.

Once they're piled high, a croquembouche is often decorated with thin strands of spun sugar — I'm certain this came about to cover the inevitable thin strands that form as you work with the hot caramel, dipping and piling the profiteroles.

The molten sugar will naturally form thin, brittle strands. Once your tower is done, you could use one or two forks (two are often held back to back) to dip and let the hair-thin strands fall in a flossy web around the croquembouche.

You could also decorate it with nonpareils or edible flowers, or anything else you can think of.

If you do make a croquembouche, we'd love to see them — share yours on social media!

Cream Puffs or Croquembouche

Pâte à choux:

• 1 cup water
• ½ cup butter, cut into pieces
• pinch salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

In a medium saucepan, bring the water, butter and salt to a simmer, cooking until the butter melts. Turn the heat all the way down and add the flour all at once.

Stir until the dough comes together into a smooth ball, cleaning the sides of the pan. Turn off the heat and stir the ball of dough around for a bit — it will dry a little and leave a residue on the bottom of the pan. 

Transfer to a bowl and let sit for a few minutes to cool slightly. If you like, spread the dough out a bit to allow it to cool more quickly.

Crack the eggs into a bowl or measuring cup and beat them lightly with a fork. 

Pour in about a quarter of the egg and beat with an electric mixer or by hand until combined; it will look lumpy at first, but then will come together.

Add the rest the same way, about an egg's worth at a time, beating in each addition, until the mixture is smooth and glossy.

It should have a consistency thicker than cake batter — almost like soft-serve ice cream. You should be able to pipe it.

If you like, spoon the batter into a piping bag fitted with a round or star tip.

On a parchment-lined baking sheet, pipe it out into mounds about half the size you'd like them to be once cooked, spacing them at least an inch apart. (In the photo, the puffs are small, each piped about the size of a toonie.)

With dampened fingers, gently tap any pointed tips to keep them from burning. Alternatively, drop the batter in rounded spoonfuls onto your sheet. 

Bake for 20 minutes for small profiteroles or 30 minutes for larger profiteroles, until puffed and golden.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool. If you like, poke the side of each profiterole with a bamboo skewer or the tip of a small knife to allow excess steam to escape. This will keep them crisp. 

Makes 2-3 dozen puffs. 

Pastry cream:

• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup corn starch
• pinch salt
• 2 cups milk (preferably 2%, or add some half & half to lighter milk)
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2 tbsp. butter

To make the pastry cream, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium saucepan, then whisk in the milk and egg yolks.

Place the pan over medium-high heat and cook, adding the butter and whisking as it thickens, until it starts to bubble and thickens to the consistency of pudding.

Let it cook for about a minute once it starts to bubble (whisk to keep it from burning), then remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

If you like, pour the mixture through a sieve into a bowl to get rid of any lumps. Stir the cream in the sieve to help push it through.

Cover with plastic wrap, putting the plastic directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming, and refrigerate until well chilled.

When you're ready to fill the cream puffs, poke a small hole in the bottom or side of each puff with the tip of a paring knife.

Put the pastry cream into a piping bag (or zip-lock bag, and cut off a corner) and pipe into each puff. You'll feel them getting heavier as they fill. 

Caramel (to make a croquembouche):

• 1½ cups sugar 

Once your profiteroles are ready to go, you can make your caramel: put the sugar into in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and add about ¼ cup water to help it dissolve and melt more evenly.

Set over medium-high heat and stir for a minute to help dissolve the sugar, then as it starts to boil, stop stirring and swirl the pan regularly until it turns deep golden, the colour of maple syrup.

Remove from the heat and carefully dip the tops of your profiteroles, placing them on a wire rack after dipping. (This part is totally optional—it will create that crunchy layer, but you could just pile uncoated profiteroles.) 

You can then start assembling your croquembouche: arrange a circle of similar-sized puffs to make your base, carefully dipping each into the caramel on one side to allow it to stick to the puff beside it.

Arrange them tops out, so their flat base is on the inside — they're essentially on their sides. Once you have a circle of profiteroles, arrange another on top of it, making it a bit smaller, using perhaps one fewer cream puff.

Continue until it gets small enough to finish with a single profiterole upright on top. If the caramel cools and gets too thick, rewarm it on the stovetop over medium heat. 

Once your tower is assembled, use the fork to drizzle thin strands of caramel around it, creating wisps of spun sugar.

Serve immediately, or within an hour or two, and don't refrigerate it, or moisture could melt the caramel. 

Makes one croquembouche (or about two dozen medium cream puffs).

Serves about 12.

• Check out Julie Van Rosendaal's full interview on the Calgary Eyeopener below:

• If you make a croquembouche, we'd love to see it! And if you have a recipe request, let us know! Tweet  @CBC Eyeopener or email [email protected].