Croquembouche avec le remplissage de cordonnier de pêche
Why I Love This Recipe
Ingredients You'll Need
Ingredients for Pâté A Choux:
1 cup water
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour (preferably bread flour; all-purpose will work)
4 eggs
Ingredients for Activia Peach Cobbler Filling:
1 cup Activia Peach Cobbler yogurt
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from 1 envelope)
Small pinch cinnamon
Ingredients for Spun Sugar:
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon corn syrup
Directions
Directions for Pâté A Choux:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If you have a baking or pizza stone, place that on the lowest rack.
2. Warm eggs in a bowl of hot tap water.
3. In medium saucepan, combine water, butter, salt and sugar, and bring to a full boil. Remove from heat, add vanilla, then add flour all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon to quickly form a ball.
4. Return the pan to medium heat and continue stirring, pressing the dough against the side of the pan and gathering it up into a ball. This dries out the dough so that it can better absorb the eggs. Stir constantly, not letting the dough scorch, for 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Place dough in bowl of stand mixer and set aside.
6. In small bowl, lightly beat three of the warmed eggs. Separate the fourth egg, placing the white in a small dish and beating lightly. Save or discard the yolk.
7. With the mixer on low, gradually add the beaten eggs in three increments, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more. Increase mixer speed to medium until eggs are thoroughly incorporated. Stop mixer and test the dough by placing a spoonful on a plate; it should be supple enough to hold its shape, but not “pasty.” If it’s still stiff, beat in the egg white. If it looks very soft, proceed to shaping the puffs.
8. On a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or coated with cooking spray, place teaspoonfuls of dough at least 2 inches apart. You should end up with about 18 dollops for medium puffs.
9. Using a plant spritzer (a clean one!), lightly spray each puff once with water. This will keep them moist longer so they’ll puff as much as possible before firming up.
10. Place baking sheet directly on pizza stone or on bottom rack. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees. Bake 25 minutes. Do not open the oven door, or the puffs may collapse. After 25 minutes, remove pan from oven and pierce each puff with a small knife to allow any steam to escape and to help the puffs bake dry. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
Makes 16 puffs, more if smaller.
Directions for Filling:
1. Whisk together yogurt, sugar, and vanilla in a small bowl until sugar is dissolved.
2. Put water in a very small saucepan and tilt pan so that water is on one side, then sprinkle gelatin evenly over water. Let stand 1 minute to soften. Heat mixture over low heat, stirring, until gelatin is dissolved, about 30 seconds.
3. Whisk hot gelatin into yogurt until combined well. Pour yogurt mixture into refrigerator to chill abotu 1/2 an hour.
4. When set up enough to pipe, make small hole in Pâté A Choux and fill with Peach Cobbler filling. Chill in refrigerator for at least 1-1/2 hours.
Directions for Spun Sugar:
1. Cover the work space with parchment or waxed paper and the floor with newspaper.
2. Place the sugar, 1/2 cup water, and corn syrup in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, over low heat. Stir occasionally until sugar is dissolved. Raise heat to high and bring mixture to a boil. Continue cooking until the temperature registers 310°F / 155°C (hard-crack stage) on a candy thermometer.
3. Remove from heat, and briefly plunge the saucepan into ice water to stop the cooking. Let stand to thicken slightly, about 1 minute.
4. Take a filled Pâté A Choux, carefully dip bottom into hot sugar syrup. Place on platter, building a tower with Pâté A Choux. The sugar syrup will harden and hold them in place.
5. With remaining hot sugar syrup, dip a fork or balloon whisk (preferably one that has had the wires cut off at the bottom to leave many straight equal-length wires) into the sugar syrup and wave back and forth to draw out long, fine, threadlike strands over and around the tower of Pâté A Choux. The syrup will begin hardening almost immediately.
