Truffle Boursin Croquembouche

Sweet, savoury, creamy - this recipe has everything you could want from a Christmas showstopper!

2 hours cook

Serves 6

Croq.jpeg

Ingredients

    for the choux pastry
  • 8 largeeggs
  • 150mlwhole milk
  • 170gunsalted butter
  • 4 tspsugar
  • 1 tspsalt
  • 160gplain flour
  • for the filling
  • 1 packBoursin truffle
  • 100mlsingle cream
  • for the caramel
  • 500ggranulated sugar
  • 100mlwater
  • 1 tspfresh black pepper
  • 1 tspflaky salt

Creamy truffle Boursin is encased in light choux pastry, stacked into a tree shape and covered in salted black pepper caramel for the ultimate savoury showstopper.

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 175°c. Bring 75ml of water, the milk, butter, salt and sugar to a boil slowly, turning up the heat as the mixture comes to the boil - stirring to avoid burning on the bottom. Once at a full boil, keeping the heat high, add all the flour at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon.
  • Keep stirring for 2-3 mins on high heat, to cook off the flour. Once a film forms on the bottom of the pan, reduce the heat to medium-low, and keep cooking and stirring to cook off some of the liquids and dry out the dough a little - another 5 mins.
  • Once cooked off, turn the heat off and leave the dough to cool slightly for a couple minutes in the pan. Into the pan with your dough, add an egg at a time, mixing vigorously with the wooden spoon until all is combined. 
  • After 3 eggs, the pastry should be thick but silky. If the pastry is still dry after adding 3 eggs, add a little bit of the scrambled egg until you’re happy with the consistency. Add your pastry into a piping bag ready to use. 
  • Pipe your pastry from directly above your baking tray, leaving some space between each one.
  • Place in the oven for 25 mins, checking at minute 20. They should be a nice deep brown, but not burnt.
  • Once cooked to your desired colour, remove from the oven and place the baking tray on a wire rack. After a minute of cooling, using a small knife, pierce through the bottoms of the profiterole and leave to fully cool down.
  • Combine the Boursin truffle with a splash of single cream or milk, then pipe into the bottom of each profiterole.
  • For the caramel, add the sugar and water over medium heat, and cook until it turns a deep golden amber colour, then stir through both salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
  • Dip each profiterole in the caramel, and start building the mountain - you can stack them on top of each other, or use a cardboard cone as a base. Use a whisk to lace some more caramel over the whole thing, and that’s it!
  • What do you think of the recipe?

    Hugh Woodward

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