Buzz
Holiday gatherings often revolve around maximizing impact with minimal effort. While it’s hard to beat the dramatic sight of a towering croquembouche, making one isn’t typically a quick task—unless you turn to the microwave for help.
Microwaves are beloved around here, provided the results are truly remarkable—not just acceptable or passable. The microwave croquembouche delivers on every front. Its components come together twice as fast as the traditional method and always turn out flawlessly. Best of all, except for the caramel, each element can be prepared in advance.
If you’re not into the grand display of pastries in a tower, feel free to select the components you like. Use the choux for gougères or éclairs, mix hot caramel with cream and (salted!) butter for a delicious homemade caramel sauce, or simply indulge in the pastry cream on its own. The quantities listed below make a generous ‘bouche for two, but feel free to double or triple the ingredients for a larger crowd.
The Pastry Cream
I really hoped my usual method of quickly blending everything and microwaving until it thickened would work, but it wasn’t in the cards. Pastry cream is a custard, but unlike citrus curds or sweet potato pies, starch is the key thickening agent; the eggs mainly provide richness. Starches don’t dissolve evenly in liquids on their own, so they need to be mixed with something fatty before any liquid is added. This ensures the starch particles are coated with fat as they expand, preventing clumping. (Think of a roux or beurre manié thickening a sauce versus raw flour being used to thicken—it’s the same concept.)
This means that tempering is essential when making microwave pastry cream. It's an extra step, but it actually saves time compared to making a full slurry, and the results are consistently perfect.
I follow Martha Stewart’s pastry cream recipe, and you should too. Here’s what you’ll need:
2 cups whole milk, heavy cream, or half and half
1/2 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup cornstarch
A generous pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons salted butter, browned and cooled to room temperature (optional)
Combine the milk and half of the sugar in a large, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high in one-minute bursts until it’s nearly boiling; this took about four to five minutes in my microwave. Meanwhile, use a fork to whisk together the egg yolks, cornstarch, and the remaining sugar in a medium-sized, easy-pour container. (I used a soup container.)
To temper the egg mixture, slowly pour in about half a cup of hot milk while constantly stirring with a fork. Once combined, return the eggs to the hot milk, and stir thoroughly with a spatula. Then, place it back in the microwave, heating on high in 30-second bursts, stirring in between, until it boils and thickens into a pudding-like consistency. This process should take no longer than two minutes.
Add the salt, vanilla extract, and butter, and strain the cream through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Lay plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream and let it chill completely. It can be stored in the fridge for up to three days.
Pâte à Choux
This was my introduction to microwave pastry. While stovetop choux isn't particularly challenging, it's easy to get distracted and end up burning the bottom if you step away for a moment. The microwave makes it almost impossible to mess up.
I rely on a recipe from the Flavor Bender blog; I simply swap out the saucepan for a microwave. The recipe works well because it uses more flour than most, which creates a sturdier puff. To make a batch large enough for a croquembouche, you’ll need:
450 milliliters (just under 2 cups) of water
230 grams (2 sticks) salted butter, cut into cubes
260 grams (1 3/4 cups) sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar
450 grams (8 or 9 large) eggs
To begin, preheat your oven to 375ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and position a pastry bag with a medium-sized standard tip (or a gallon-sized plastic zip-top bag) inside a tall, narrow glass. Fold the edges of the open bag over the glass rim for stability.
Pour the water into a large, microwave-safe measuring bowl and add the butter. (I prefer using 4-quart Anchor Hocking bowls for this task.) Microwave on high until the butter melts and the mixture starts to boil, which will take around four to five minutes. Meanwhile, mix the flour, salt, and sugar in a separate bowl.
Add the flour, salt, and sugar into the boiling liquid all at once, stirring vigorously with a silicone spatula until the mixture forms a ball. Return it to the microwave, heating in one-minute bursts and stirring thoroughly each time, until you see oil droplets forming on the surface and a spoon stands upright in the dough without tipping over. This step is crucial: if enough water isn't evaporated here, the choux won't hold its shape. Be sure to give it at least three minutes in the microwave, though mine took closer to six. Once cooked, let the dough cool for a few minutes before adding the eggs.
As the dough cools, crack the eggs into a pourable container and gently beat with a fork until smooth. Gradually add the eggs to the warm dough, a few tablespoons at a time, vigorously stirring with a spatula after each addition to ensure the egg is fully incorporated. Continue until the dough becomes thick, glossy, and slowly falls from the spatula in V-shaped ribbons.
Once you've reached this stage, stop adding eggs and discard any remaining ones.
Scoop the dough into your pastry bag and pipe it onto the prepared baking sheets in circles about one inch in diameter. Use a wet finger to smooth down any pointy bits. Place the tray in the hot oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes; for optimal results, every puff should be golden brown all over. Once baked, immediately transfer the puffs to a cooling rack, flip them over, and poke a few holes in the base using a toothpick, fork, or paring knife to release excess steam. Repeat the process with any remaining dough.
Once cooled, the puffs can be stored in an airtight container for up to two days.
The Caramel
Before this weekend, I'd never made caramel in the microwave, though I knew it was A Thing that People Do. I thought I’d just throw some sugar into a glass measuring cup, microwave it to death, and emerge with perfect, effortless caramel. Since I never make mistakes, that’s exactly how it went.
Just kidding! I crystallized four pounds of sugar and cried once before I finally caved and watched a video on Martha Stewart’s website about fixing ruined caramel. In the video, a helpful man named Thomas casually shares a game-changing tip: you can prevent caramel from crystallizing by putting a lid on it. All the evaporating water from the sugar mixture will drip back down, ensuring everything melts evenly. No caramel recipe I’ve come across has ever mentioned this, and I will forever be angry at everyone who kept this secret from me. Save a life—put a lid on your caramel.
Here’s what you’ll need:
2 cups granulated sugar
2-3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
Add the sugar and lemon juice (if you're using it) to a 4-cup, microwave-safe glass container. (Melted sugar gets dangerously hot, so don't use anything you wouldn't put in the oven.) Stir in just enough water to achieve the texture of wet sand. Cover with a microwave-safe plate and heat on high for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the mixture is clear and bubbling. Remove the plate, then continue heating in 30-second intervals until the sugar is a few shades lighter than you want it, as it will keep cooking while it cools. If the sugar starts to crystallize, add another tablespoon of water, cover it back up, and heat until it fully re-dissolves.
Carefully—seriously, this will burn you badly—place the caramel vessel on a heatproof trivet and allow it to cool for at least ten minutes. Grab your chilled pastry cream and choux puffs and get ready to assemble your festive, sugary tower.
The Assembly
Boil a kettle of water and set the caramel vessel into a large, heatproof bowl. Pour the boiling water into the bowl until it reaches the top of the caramel. This will prevent the caramel from seizing up while you're in the middle of assembly.
Line a serving tray with parchment paper, or simply reuse the parchment-lined pan you baked the puffs on. Use a pencil to trace an eight-inch circle at the center of the parchment, then flip the paper over— the circle should still be visible. As a Pisces, I went with a freehand approach when assembling, and I deeply regret it. Trace the damn circle, trust me.
Before you start slapping things together willy-nilly, scoop the pastry cream into a pastry bag with a small tip (or a gallon-sized plastic zipper bag). Use a paring knife or chopstick to make a small hole in each choux puff. With the circle as your guide, begin stacking dry, empty puffs on top of each other to form a cone. (This is another thing I didn’t do, and seriously, I wish I had.)
Once you're happy with the arrangement, start piping the pastry cream into the choux puffs. Drizzle caramel on the bottom and sides of each puff, then firmly press it onto whatever is beneath and beside it. If you can get someone to help you with this, assembly-line style, the process will be much quicker.
Once your tower is assembled, step back and admire your masterpiece. For a special finishing flourish, use a fork to quickly drizzle thin caramel strands all around the croquembouche. It should harden into delicate threads of spun sugar, but even if it doesn't fully set, more caramel is always a win.
Is this practical? Good heavens, of course not; it's a tower of cream puffs held together with caramel. But if there’s ever a time to create an impractically extravagant dessert, now is definitely it. Make a croquembouche for your Christmas or New Year’s party, and proudly announce you made it in the microwave. Your guests will probably think you're a genius, but if they happen to think you're completely nuts, another cream puff will silence them for good.
