Christmas is coming soon, and the pastry sections of supermarkets have specially arranged festive stalls. On the red and green checkered tablecloths, there are gingerbread men, gingerbread houses, garland bread and other snacks. The color is really nice.
Are you planning to invite friends to your home for a dinner party this Christmas? Then those of you who have no idea about the snacks that night may wish to consider the Croquembouche Puff Tower option. The puff tower, which looks so fancy that it seems to be only served at wedding banquets, is actually much easier to operate than imagined. Without further ado, let’s get started now.
To make a puff Christmas tree, you will need:
Puff part(The puff shell recipe comes from Martha Stewart, I made a total of 42 Mini puffs)
Clear water 1 Cup
Unsalted butter 113g
Salt 1/2 tsp
Caster sugar 1tsp
All-purpose flour 1 Cup (low-gluten will be more fluffy but easy to soften)
5 eggs (4 for making dough, 1 for brushing the surface)
Stuffing
Whip Cream 1 Cup
Vanilla extract 1/2 tsp
Caster sugar 2tbsp
Caramel part
Caster sugar 150ml
Clear water 50ml
Start production:
1. Pour water, butter, salt and sugar into a medium pot and heat over medium heat until boiling. Immediately after boiling, pour in the sifted flour all at once, stir continuously with a wooden spoon for 2-3 minutes, until a thin film appears on the bottom of the pot and the dough is combined, then pour it into a large heat-resistant bowl.
2. After the dough has cooled for about 3 minutes, add 4 eggs, one at a time, and stir until completely absorbed by the dough before adding any more. After the last egg is added, stir until you lift the wooden spoon and the dough will pull out an inverted triangle.
3. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Spread a layer of baking paper on a flat baking sheet, put the mixture from step 3 into a piping bag, and then squeeze into circles of about 3.5-3.8cm on the baking paper, with a little distance between each one.
4. Dip your fingers in water and gently lift the top of the puff dough.Press it down, otherwise it will burn easily, then mix 1 egg and 1 tbsp of water, and lightly brush it on the surface of the puffs. Bake in the oven for about 23-25 ??minutes (you need to fine-tune it depending on the temperament of your oven), until the puffs puff up and become golden (do not open the oven halfway, otherwise they will collapse easily).
5. Beat the whipping cream taken out of the refrigerator with sugar and vanilla extract until the egg beats like a curve. (As for the filling, if time is tight, you can use commercially available Pastry cream instead. I personally prefer to add a few tablespoons of Custard cream to the whipped cream to increase the flavor.) Put the prepared filling into a piping bag. Pair it with the smallest piping tip.
6. After the puffs come out of the oven, cool them on the grill. After they are completely cool, use a knife or chopsticks to poke a small hole in the bottom of the puffs, and then squeeze in the filling.
7. Pour the water and sugar in the caramel part into a small pot, heat over low heat without stirring, shake it up from time to time to allow the sugar to melt better. When the sugar water becomes thick and golden in color, remove from the heat. Dip the bottom of the puffs into the hot caramel while they are still hot, and then arrange them layer by layer on the dinner plate. The sticky caramel can play a good fixing role.
8. If you want to make it more beautiful, you can sprinkle it with powdered sugar, or dip a fork into the hot caramel, and then pull out the sugar strands around the puff Christmas tree to wrap it (if the caramel is solidified, add a spoonful of heat water, then reheat it and you can continue to use it).
