Maple Croquembouche

Choux Paste

• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 8 eggs, at room temperature

Maple Pastry Cream

• 2/3 cup maple syrup (preferably dark syrup for its robust flavour)
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 5 egg yolks, at room temperature
• 2 cups hot milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

Maple Caramel

• 1 1/2 cup maple syrup

Choux Paste

1. Preheat the oven to 190 °C (375 °F).
2. In a saucepan, combine the water, butter and salt and bring to a boil. Add the flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a smooth ball that pulls away from the sides of the pan.
3. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for several minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each, to obtain a smooth, uniform dough.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
5. Fit a pastry bag with a 1-cm (3/8-in) tip and pipe the choux paste onto the baking sheet in balls about 2.5 to 4 cm (1 to 1 1/2 in) in diameter.
6. Bake the pastry puffs for about 30 minutes or until golden.
7. Make a small incision in the puffs with a knife to allow steam to escape. Return them to the now-off oven for 10-15 minutes to gently crisp them. Set aside.
8. Repeat this step until all of the choux paste has been used up.

Maple Pastry Cream

1. Off the heat, in a heavy-bottomed saucepan combine the maple syrup and the flour. Add the egg yolks and whisk to obtain a smooth, uniform batter.
2. Add the milk and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and whisk constantly, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 2. Remove from heat, add the vanilla and the butter, and mix well.
3. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the hot pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool and then chill for 3 hours.
4. Make a small hole in the underside of the puffs and, using a pastry bag, fill them with cold pastry cream. Set aside the cream puffs.

Maple Caramel

1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the maple syrup to a boil without stirring until a candy thermometer registers 140 °C (275 °F). Put a wooden spoon in the saucepan to prevent the caramel from bubbling up and overflowing.
2. Cool the pan of hot caramel in a bowl of cold water for 1 minute.

Assembly

1. Using a styrofoam cone covered with brown paper secured with toothpicks as a base, quickly dip the bottom of a cream puff in the caramel (be careful, it will be very hot) and “glue” the puff to the base.
2. Repeat with the rest of the puffs, building from bottom to top.
3. Allow the caramel to set. Reinforce the cream puffs with toothpicks.
4. Decorate with No-Cook Maple Candies, using maple butter to attach them.
5. 30 cm (12 in) cone sold in art supply stores.