Last week, we celebrated my daughter’s 10th birthday!

We made a Croquembouche (“Piece montee”): a pyramid of cream puffs with creme patissiere filling.

Let’s start with the creme patissiere!

Ingredients

• 1 quart of milk
• 8 oz of sugar
• vanilla beans or extract
• 4 eggs
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 1/2 oz corn starch
• 1 oz butter.

Start by heating the milk, 4 oz of sugar and a couple of vanilla beans (score then in two and get the seeds with a knife, put the seeds and the beans in the milk).
While it’s heating, mix in a large bowl the eggs and egg yolks, 4 ox of sugar and the corn starch.
You can add a little bit of Grand Marnier liqueur though it’s not compulsory.
When the milk is nearly boiling, remove the vanilla pods, add the milk little by little to mixing bowl while mixing with a wooden spoon, then transfer it all back to the pan and heat while mixing until you can see the bottom of the pan while moving the spoon. Add four oz of butter and mix; pour to a container and cover with cling film; refrigerate.

The creme patissiere is ready for piping to the cream puffs!