Classic French Croquembouche

Choux Dough

1. To make the choux dough, preheat the oven to 400 °F.
2. Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a bowl. Then bring to a gentle boil in a large saucepan. Make sure to mix the ingredients well so that the sugar dissolves properly.
3. Turn off the heat at the bottom of the pan and then add the flour. Stir the flour into the wet mixture.
4. Stir the mixture well and cook over medium-high heat until the dough mixture comes together well and a thin crust forms on the bottom of the pan. The dough should peel gently from the edges after about three minutes at this point. This process cooks the flour and dries out the dough a little so that it bakes better later on.
5. Then transfer the dough to the mixing bowl of an electric stand mixer. Beat the dough on medium speed for about 1 minute to release steam and cool the dough.
6. When the mixture stops steaming, add the eggs one at a time. While the mixer is running, add the eggs quickly. Before adding the next egg, make sure the previous one is fully mixed.
7. After adding the penultimate egg, stop the mixer to check the dough. Dip your finger lightly into the dough. Make sure it slowly rises again.
8. Then transfer the choux dough to a large round tip piping bag.
9. Press into 1-inch bumps on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Hold the bag vertically and move it slowly in a circle.
10. Bake the puffs for about fifteen minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 375 °F. Then continue cooking for about 25-30 minutes. Once the dough balls are golden brown, take them out of the oven.

Pastry Cream

1. To make the pastry cream, do the egg wash. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of water.
2. Then, whisk together the egg mixture, cornstarch, salt, and vanilla in a medium bowl.
3. Put the milk and sugar in a saucepan and heat over medium heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges.
4. Whisking constantly, add the milk mixture to the egg mixture. This will soften the eggs. Do this extremely slowly and gently. Cook until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken. Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the butter. After whipping, let the pastry cream cool completely.
5. After cooling, fill the pastry cream into a 13-inch piping bag.
6. Once the puffs have cooled, poke a small hole in the bottom of each puff with a paring knife. Next, insert the very end of the piping bag and fill each puff with the pastry cream.

Caramel Sauce

1. Finally, make the caramel sauce. Put the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Cook the mixture over medium-high heat, turning it from time to time, but without stirring, until the caramel turns a light golden color.
2. Remove from the heat.

Assemble

1. Dip each choux pastry into the caramel with a fork and roll it around the croquembouche, leaving a thin strand of caramel behind.
2. Using this caramel as glue, glue the cream puffs to a vertical cone shape and create a tapered centerpiece.
3. Serve them immediately, after covering all towers of cream puffs with caramel sauce.