As I’m leaving France tomorrow for a month, I thought it only appropriate to do a French-themed post today, and what is more French than pastry?
These are pastries I ordered at a café in Nice with my friends: a millefeuille, a chocolate éclair, and some sort of apple shortbread type thing. Oh, and hot chocolate, which in France seems to often be just that: that cup was essentially full of melted chocolate, and my friend who had ordered it had to ask for a cup of hot milk to mix with it.
Something I’ve noticed about the French and their desserts is the emphasis on elegance. Whereas in the States we will frequently bake a batch of cookies, a sheet cake or a fruit crumble for dessert, in France, desserts are usually purchased at a bakery. It’s hard to even find ingredients like baking soda or baking powder, or even cupcake liners and cookie cutters. The apple dessert pictured above is probably the least typical of all of these desserts: the decoration on top of the millefeuille is always perfect, the line of chocolate frosting on top of the éclair perfectly straight. The desserts look the same no matter where you buy them.
There will always be something very comforting about a slightly less-than-perfect chocolate chip cookie straight out of the oven, but I’m learning to appreciate the comfort in having a perfectly decorated chocolate ganache cake purchased and plated instead.