Happy New Year!

I can't believe that we have just one day left in 2010! Seems like just yesterday we were ushering in a new decade and now we're on to 2011. And next year I'll be saying the same thing. Where does the time go?

This year for Christmas Eve dinner at my Aunt's home I wanted to bring a special dessert. I came across a page I had clipped from Martha Stewart Living magazine last year. She featured her take on a traditional French dessert, the croquembouche. It's not a gut-busting dessert (unless you decide to eat the whole thing!) but luckily, I wasn't the only one bringing dessert for the eight of us. I especially liked Martha's version because it is decorated with star cut-out cookies!

The words croque en bouche translate to mean "crunch in the mouth." It is made of about 50 puffs filled with a caramel cream and dipped in a thin caramel sugar that hardens when cooled. The result is crunchy, sweet, and soft all in a single bite. The puffs are assembled into a cone-shaped form and then decorated with the cookie stars or more traditionally, spun sugar.

I made the croquembouche over three days starting first with the sugar cookies. I used a basic sugar cookie recipe and cut out various stars in several sizes. I happened to have a tiny star cutter that came as part of a set used to make Linzer Torte cookies. It was perfect to create the tiny stars. I decorated the cookies with white royal icing and dusted them with white sanding sugar for some sparkle.

I've made cream puffs before so making the puffs wasn't too much of a hassle. I dusted off my pastry bag with a 1/4 inch tip and whipped out about 75 puffs fairly quickly. Then I made the caramel by melting sugar in a saucepan, adding 1 cup of heavy cream, and returning the mixture to a boil. Finally, I added creme fraiche, vanilla, and salt and let it cool overnight in the refrigerator.

The final steps involved making a light caramel sauce and carefully dipping the filled puffs into the scalding sauce without burning my fingers. After the tops are dipped and have cooled, I repeated the process this time dipping the bottoms and assembling the final cone-shaped masterpiece. In the final step, I added the decorated stars by affixing them with a dab of royal icing. Don't worry, it's not as difficult as it sounds!

For me, the best part of the whole process came when I was transporting the croquembouche down to the car. The elevator door opened on my floor and I strolled in holding the festive dessert in the palm of my hand. The couple on the elevator immediately stopped their conversation to marvel at the croquembouche and asked me if I had made it. When I answered that I had, the gentlemen replied with an accent, "the whole thing?"

"All of it," I said.

It took me a moment to realize that the couple on the elevator were French!
I didn't need to tell them what it was since they obviously knew. We chatted the rest of the way down and though the lobby. I think I may have possibly just made their entire day. I know they made mine.

Instead of typing the entire recipe out, I've included a link to Martha's website where you can print out the recipe. I also found a video online of Martha making a croquembouche with special show guest, Rachel Maddow. It was a bit strange to hear Martha and Rachel talk politics while dipping puffs into caramel!



Happy New Year! I look forward to bringing you more fabulous cookie recipes in 2011 as the blog turns one year old!