Croquembouche in Advance?
Also known as piece montee.
Soo, for my family's annual New Year's Party I was planning on make the elaborate Croquembouche (on the recipe here: http://thedaringkitchen.com/recipe/pi...). However, I would prefer not to spend the last day of 2011 in the kitchen with this steroids addicted cream puff. How long do you think I would be able to bake and freeze the puffs themselves ahead of time? Same goes for the cream. Also, would I be better off freezing them unbaked? Any other suggestions/tips would be greatly appreciated.
Happy New Year!
By catcherinthewheat
on Dec 28, 2011 10:03 AM
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Raw choux paste freezes beautifully. Pipe onto parchment in desired size, freeze, then peel off parchment and consolidate into a freezer bag. You can keep sweet or savory (gougeres) choux bits in the freezer for at least a month or two. If you do pre-bake them, you'll want to re-crisp them before using anyway, so pre-baking might not be that much of a time saver. If kept at room temp, they only last a day or two and get soft quickly. Also, I never egg wash my choux. Egg wash is for browning and shine, and if the puff is going to be covered with caramel or a glaze/icing anyway, why bother?
You can make the pastry cream 3 or 4 days in advance, maybe even a week.
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I was a cook in a nursing home for a number of years and we used to bake them off ahead of time and freeze them (by the hundreds) no ill effects, filled them frozen sometimes also.
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