A croquembouche is a French dessert, a kind of pièce montée often served at weddings. It is a high cone of profiteroles (choux filled with pastry cream) bound with caramel, and usually decorated with threads of caramel, chocolate, flowers, or ribbons.

When I went through our brief pastry program back in cooking school, I recall we made choux paste, the beaten dough that turns into light golden puffs of profiteroles, eclairs, and the like. We made it in a mixer. Roberto wanted us to get a “feel” for the dough making it this week in class – we beat the dough by hand – not an easy task and one that goes on for what seems like an interminable length of time. Still, the resulting puffs were delightful, and we each made a croquembouche, “to crunch in the mouth” – no claims here for presentation on my first ever – I’m just chalking this up to a learning how to do the basic process sort of experience.