Use Pastry Cream (Creme Patissiere) for filling. Preheat oven to 425
degrees.To make the puffs, melt the butter in the water with salt
and sugar over low heat. Remove from heat and beat in flou with a
wooden spoon until completely mixed.Return to heat and stir
vigorously for 2 to 3 minutes.Mixture will form a mass, and a film
will form on bottom of pan. Remove from heat and, one by one, add
eggs, beating vigorously after each addition. Using a pastry tube
with 1/2-inch opening, form puffs on a buttered baking sheet. Glaze
each puff with the beaten egg and water, using a pastry brush Smooth
the top of each puff. Put in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from
oven and pierce each puff with a sharp knife. (This allows the steam
to escape so that the interior of the puff is not soggy.) Return to
the oven for 10 minutes more. Cool puffs on a rack. While cooling,
prepare pastry cream. To make the cream, beat the egg yolks,
gradually adding the sugar, until mixture is thick and pale yellow.
Beat in the flour. Add the hot milk in dribbles, reserving 1/2 cup
for thinning. Return to pot in which milk was scalded, and stir
mixture over high heat until it comes to a boil.It will become
lumpy first and then will smooth out with vigorous stirring.Be
careful not to scorch the bottom of the pot. The cream should be
thick, bu add milk if too thick to pipe. Add the butter, 1 Tbsp at a
time. Flavor with vanilla, cognac and salt. Cool completely. Inject
the pastry cream into the puffs with a 1/4-inch pastry tip. To make
nougat, melt the sugar with the lemon juice in a heavy pot. Do not
stir. Boil together until a thick amber syrup is formed. Stir in the
almonds and spread the mixture on an oiled marble slab while warm.
Cut wit a sharp knife into a round for the base, and into small
triangles for decoration. Keep nougat warm in a 250 degree oven. (It
cannot be cut or shaped if it hardens.) To make the caramel, bring
the ingredients to a boil over high heat. Do no stir. Cover pan
(allowing steam to dissolve any crystals that might form). Uncover
pan and boil several more minutes, until syrup is amber.Reduce heat
to keep syrup from hardening. Dip the filled cream puffs, one by one,
into the caramel syrup and arrange on the nougat base, forming a cone
resembling a pyramid.The caramel holds the cream puffs together.
Note: Assemble the croquembouche the day of the party, as it cannot
be refrigerated. However, the cream puffs, pastry cream, and nougat
can be prepared in advance.
