Piece Montee or Croquembouche

 My hubby and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary this week. While I was at my son's t-ball game, he surprised me by cooking an amazing meal while we were at the field. It was one of the best meals ever! Spinach salad, bacon-wrapped filet, baby asparagus tips, and baby bella mushrooms sauted with butter, garlic, salt, and pepper. Not to forget the bottle of wine and cannolis we had for dessert! I had every intention of making him an extravagant dessert but by the time I got off work, ran errands, and went to t-ball, it just didn't happen. So I promised him I had something up my sleeve and made this the following day.

 Many of you are probably wondering what Croqeumbouche even means! "A croqembouche is a French cake, a kind of piece montee often served at weddings, baptisms, and first communions. It is typically a high cone of profiteroles (pate choux filled with pastry cream) and usually decorated with threads of caramel. The name come from the French words croque en bouche meaning 'crunch (or munch) in (the) mouth'. It brought back many memories of culinary school and made me remember just how much fun it is playing with caramelized sugar. The caramelized sugar acted as glue so that I could make my masterpiece as tall as I wanted. Then I swirled some caramelized sugar around the entire piece as well as made some sugar spirals. Sugar can be a lot of fun to play with but you must use extreme caution as you could burn yourself very easily.

 So here it is...my first Croquembouche.
 Happy Anniversary Honey!!!