Éclairs
Éclairs, also known as Pate a Choux, are cream puffs made with puff pastry. They are then covered with dark chocolate and filled with delicious yellow custard. When making éclairs, it is best to make your pastry yourself. Actually, this is true with most French desserts and pastries because they require precision and perfection. The dough of the éclair is baked first before it is filled with custard, cream and chocolate. It is truly a sinful dessert.
Petite Fours
Petite fours are small delicious pastries that are served as desserts or side dishes. Meaning, ‘small oven’ in literal French translation, these confections are bite sized and add elegance to any occasion. They are usually made from sponge cakes and iced over to produce delightful looking desserts. Although they are traditionally made from sponge cakes, it is also possible to have petite fours from any type of cake and even made from cookies. When planning a tea party, or a meeting, adding petite fours to the mix immediately lends a sophisticated classiness to your affair.
Croissants
Probably one of the really popular confections when talking about French desserts and pastries is the croissant. This is a pastry that can be served as a dessert or a side dish but is more popularly served as breakfast. The croissant is shaped like a crescent and is sometimes called the crescent roll. It is also made from puff pastry and rolled over several times till it gets its unique shape.
Although it is known as a French dessert and pastry, some say that the croissant can originally be traced back to Budapest from the 17th Century. Either way, the French have successfully colonized this pastry and made it theirs and it has become a favorite not just in most French patisseries but also with people from different parts of the world.
Tarte Tartin
This is a special French dessert. The tarte tartin is actually an apple pie but the apples are caramelized and the whole dish is baked upside down.
It has a unique story and is said to have born at the Hotel Tartin which was run by two French sisters. It was born by accident, an apple pie gone wrong. Just how it happened is a subject of debate, but when it was served by the Hotel, the guests loved it so much that it became a signature dish.
French desserts and pastries are not really difficult to make, their complexity lies in the necessary precision and attention to detail. Once this aspect is mastered, they are a delight to make.
