• Puffs
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 6 eggs
  • Carmelized sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 16 glace cherries , halved
  • 1 To make Puffs:preheat oven 400f.
  • 2 Bring water, butter,sugar & salt to a roiling boil in a large saucepan.
  • 3 Add flour all at once, stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan clean. Remove from heat.
  • 4 Beat in eggs, one at at a time with a wooden spoon until paste is shiny& smooth Drop pastry by well rounded teasp, 1 1/2″ apart on 2 ungreased cookie sheets Bake 35 minutes or until puffed and golden.
  • 5 Cool on a wire rack.
  • 6 Prepare carmelized sugar:.
  • 7 Heat sugar & lemon juice in a heavy medium sized skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until the sugar is melted and light golden brown.
  • 8 Do not let it burn Remove from heat.
  • 9 Putting it together:.
  • 10 Place 14 puffs in a 9″ circle on a platter.
  • 11 Fill in the center of the circle with about 5 more puffs.
  • 12 Working quickly and carefully dip the bottom of remaining puffs in the carmalized sugar (don't let it touch your skin), one at a time and place each on top of the base puffs in a slightly smaller circle Fill in the center with puffs.
  • 13 Continue making each circle smaller to form a tree shape.
  • 14 Drizzle the remaining sugar over the tree and decorate with the cherry halves You may refrigerate for 1-2 days.