France is truly deservedly famous for its exquisite cuisine, in which all kinds of desserts occupy a special place of honor. These delicacies simply melt in your mouth, and no celebration would be complete without them. Many sweets, such as the familiar eclairs, creme brulee, and soufflé, are known all over the world. What else can French cuisine please those with a sweet tooth?

Meringue, meringue – Meringue

The name translates from French as “kiss,” and indeed, this light and airy dessert of baked egg whites whipped with added sugar is so tender that it resembles the light touch of a loved one’s lips.

Meringue can be served as an independent dish, or used as decoration for other confectionery products. The method of preparation also differs, for example, the Italian dessert is prepared with boiling sweet sugar syrup, while the Swiss version is supposed to be whipped over a water bath. As a general rule, the finished meringue should be dry and crispy. Usually the sweetness is white if no additional additives or colorings were used during preparation.

Blanc-manger

This dessert looks like a sweet jelly made from regular cow's or almond milk and is served cold. The dessert usually also includes rice flour or starch, as well as spices and sugar. Sometimes additives are used - candied fruits, nuts. The exact history of the origins of blancmange is unknown, but it is assumed that the appearance of the dessert dates back to the early Middle Ages, around the end of the 12th century.


If we translate the name from French, it literally means white food. Indeed, desserts made with milk are usually white.

Mousse

Traditional French mousse is considered an important dish of national cuisine and was always served at every royal meal. To create a dessert, you need a base that will create aroma and taste - this could be, for example, berry juice, fruit puree, chocolate.


Then add ingredients that promote the appearance of foam - proteins, gelatin, agar. To enhance the sweetness, honey, sugar or molasses can be added to the composition. Finally, the mousse is decorated with sprinkles, berries, and whipped cream.

Grillage

From French, grillage translates as “roasting”; this is how this dessert is prepared; it is fried nuts with added sugar.


The ancestor of grilled meats is eastern halva. The dessert itself comes in two types, the first - soft, in addition to the base, may include the addition of fruit and pieces of crushed nuts, and caramel or hard roasted - these are individual nuts that are filled with melted sugar and later it hardens. What’s interesting is that although France is considered the birthplace of this dessert, the largest amount of grilled meats and grilled products are produced in Russia.

Calisson

This traditional dessert is made from almond mass with various additives. The top is covered with white glaze and has a diamond shape. According to the legend about the origin of the calissons, one day the king decided to marry a modest and pious girl, but she was so serious that even the wedding celebration did not make her smile.

She was offered to try an almond dessert, after which she finally smiled and asked her husband what these wonderful sweets were called. From an excess of feelings, the king exclaimed - these are kisses! In French it sounded like “ce sont des calins”, and the name of the dessert came from this phrase.

Canele - Canele

The soft tender dough of this dessert is flavored with vanilla and rum, and the sweetness is covered with a crispy caramel crust. The shape of the dessert resembles a small cylinder, approximately 5 cm in height. The authors of the recipe are considered to be nuns from the Monastery of the Annunciation.

In addition, the dessert has a rich past, it even caused a historical conflict between pastry chefs and canoliers - artisans who were engaged only in the production of canelé.

Clafoutis

The dessert resembles a combination of casserole and pie at the same time. Various fruits are first placed in a baking dish, then the sweet egg-based batter is evenly poured over them and baked in the oven. The classic version of the dessert is cherry, and the cherries were taken with pits.

It was believed that this way the juice in the berry was better preserved, and the dessert acquired a slightly bitter aroma of almonds. However, nowadays they use canned pitted cherries, as well as peaches, apples, and pears, which are cut into small cherry-sized pieces.

Creme brulee

This dessert is prepared from yolks, cream and sugar, mixed with milk, and then baked, resulting in an appetizing and crispy caramel crust on the surface. It should be served chilled. It is noteworthy that there is still controversy about the true origin of creme brulee.


The French attribute the authorship of the recipe to the chef François Messialot, but the British are sure that it was they who first prepared creme brulee at Trinity College. It is not yet clear which of the two nations is right, but both of them equally love this dessert, and it is very popular in the world.

Croquembouche

It looks like a cone consisting of profiteroles with filling, held together by sweet sauce or caramel. The top of the croquembouche is usually decorated in every possible way - with almonds, fruits, caramel. It is considered a festive dish, served at Christmas, weddings or baptisms.


The traditional French dessert is so popular that references to it can be found in many TV series, both foreign and Russian, and even in Japanese animated cartoons. The name of the dessert translates to “crisp in the mouth,” and indeed, the caramel crust is sweet and crunchy.

Madeleine

These are biscuit cookies made in the shape of seashells. In addition to the usual ingredients, a little rum is added to the dough. The cookies turn out sweet and crumbly. According to legend, one day the cook in the royal kitchen fell ill, but the guests demanded dessert. One of the maids prepared simple shell cookies, which suddenly created a real sensation, and their recipe spread throughout all the kitchens of Paris.


The cookies were named after that maid - Madeleine. These sweets became even more famous due to the fact that they were mentioned by M. Proust in his world-famous novel, in one of the important plot scenes. One of the philosophers who studied Proust's work also paid attention to the role of these cookies in the plot.

Macaron

They said about this dessert that you can’t eat it, because once you start, it’s impossible to stop. Indeed, these cookies made from proteins, sugar and almonds with a layer of cream have an unforgettable taste. The pasta has a crispy crust on top, and a tender and soft part inside.


The dessert is very popular all over the world; modern chefs have already invented about 500 variations of pasta with a wide variety of, sometimes exotic, tastes and, it seems, they are not going to stop there.

Parfait

The name of the delicate dessert parfait translates as “immaculate.” This delicacy made from whipped cream with sugar and vanilla truly has an exquisite taste and rightfully takes its place among the best desserts of French cuisine.


To give it a certain aroma, berries or fruits, chocolate, coffee, and cocoa are added to the composition. Interestingly, in addition to sweet versions of parfait, there are also recipes with vegetables or liver, but in any case, the dish remains fluffy and tender, reminiscent of mousse in consistency.

Profiteroles – Profiterole

Small pastries made from choux pastry usually have a cream filling and can be served either as a separate dessert or as part of a confectionery product, such as croquembouche. There are also unsweetened versions of profiteroles, which are usually served with soups. The name itself can be translated as “small valuable acquisition.”


And, indeed, despite their small size - no more than 4 cm in diameter, profiteroles are highly valued all over the world solely due to their excellent taste.

Petits fours

In fact, this is not just one dessert, but an assortment of tiny cakes. They are usually prepared from the same dough, but they use different fillers and additives, and they also differ in their shape. Petit fours appeared in the Middle Ages, when ovens were huge, took a long time to heat up, which required a lot of firewood, and cooled down slowly.


To use this rationally, they came up with tiny cakes that were quickly baked in a cooling oven and did not require re-ignition.

Christmas log – Bûche de Noël

This Christmas cake is usually baked in the shape of a log and is a type of roll, which makes the cut of the cake roughly resemble the cut of a tree trunk and its ring. The dough for such a cake is sponge cake, and the finished delicacy is decorated with white powdered sugar, which in this case symbolizes snow, and small mushroom figures - they can be made from marzipan.


The shape of this cake originates from pagan traditions, when on the winter holiday of Yule, which fell around Christmas time, it was necessary to burn a log in the fireplace. This symbolized the increase in the length of the day, and the arrival of the light season.

Savarin

Savarin looks like a large ring-shaped cake soaked in syrup. The cake can also be covered with jam, soaked in wine or rum, decorated with icing and filled with fruit, as well as other variations in preparation.

Compared to others, this dessert was invented recently - in the 19th century, by the Julien brothers and was considered at that time the best type of confectionery dough. They named their creation in honor of the famous culinary critic, writer and gourmet - J. Brillat-Savorin.

Soufflé

An airy, tender soufflé is a dish for true gourmets. Its base is egg yolks, to which various ingredients can be added, and then whipped whites. The main mixture is usually made with the addition of cottage cheese, chocolate or lemon - it is these components that give the soufflé its exquisite taste.

And whipped whites create airy lightness. Soufflé can be not only a sweet dish, but also mushroom or meat if prepared with bechamel sauce. Many people like this dish, and according to legend, the French King Louis XI required a soufflé for breakfast every morning.

Tarte Tatin

The easiest way to describe this dessert is as an “inside out pie.” To prepare it, apples are separately fried in oil and sugar before baking. There are two versions about the origin of the pie - according to one, when cooking, apples in caramel were placed in the mold, but they forgot to put the dough and, in the end, it ended up on top. Someone claims that the pastry chef simply dropped the finished pie and then collected it as best she could.

Initially, this dessert appeared at the Tatin sisters' hotel, and then the recipe spread to other restaurants, receiving different variations along the way, when other fruits or even vegetables were used instead of filling.

Chaudeau - Chaudeau

The name of this dessert means warm water, it is made in a water bath. The composition includes yolks, grape wine and powdered sugar. All components are thoroughly whipped into foam until it hardens and thickens. It is important that shodo should not be brought to a boil.

Instead of wine, other alcoholic drinks can be used, which significantly changes the taste of the dessert. The dish is considered festive; usually in France, brides prepared it for their wedding and solemnly presented it to their grooms.

éclair

Typically, an eclair is an oblong sweet pastry made from choux pastry with a cream filling inside. It can be decorated with sprinkles or icing on top. The creator of the eclair is called M. Careme, but the cake was mentioned before, in English-language literature of the late nineteenth century.

In Germany, eclairs have funny names such as love bone or hare's foot. And translated from French, the word eclair itself means lightning, flash; it was probably named so because the dessert is prepared very quickly, almost with lightning speed.

All these delicacies form the basis of French dessert cuisine. Every self-respecting gourmet should definitely try such sweets; it is simply impossible not to appreciate them; such desserts will bring real taste pleasure.

Updated: 12/29/2017

Another type of classic pastry, made from a very interesting dough.
This was my first time doing this, although I have seen similar recipes.
But when I saw in one of the issues of our gastronomic magazine a recipe from the book Desserts by Pierre Herme (one of the most famous French confectioners in the world) - cookies made from sablé dough on hard-boiled yolks, I was inspired to make it.
Only I baked not cookies, but portioned linzer cakes.
The most delicate dough, surprisingly crumbly and melting in your mouth. Worth repeating!

As soon as this cake is not called - a pie from Linz, and a Linzentart, a Linz cake, and so on.
The history of the recipe is not known, but it is strongly associated with the Austrian city of Linz.

It recently became known exactly when this cake was first described!
In the archives, culinary records were found from 1653 of an Austrian born in Verona, Anna Margherita Sagramosa, née Countess Paradise (today the recipe is kept in the city museum of Linz). The Austrians claim that this is the very first cake ever described.

And mass production of the cake was first started by Johann Konrad Vogel (1796-1883).

Today this cake is the most famous export product of the city of Linz.
The Jindrak confectionery alone sells about 80 thousand Linz cakes during the year.
And of course, every pastry chef has his own “secret” recipe. “There are many recipes for Linz cake,” says Leo Jindrak about his secrets. “There are many invented inventors of Linz cake. Linz cake or not Linz cake is determined not by the ingredients, what should be in the dough "The appearance is important, the dough lattice and the redcurrant jam filling."

I agree with Leo Jindrak that there are a great many recipes for this cake.

What do they all have in common:
- a base made of shortbread sablé dough in the form of a basket, which necessarily includes nut (almond) flour, ground spices and, sometimes, cocoa.

A layer of raspberry or red currant (black currant) jam
- dough lattice “overlapping” on top.

Shall we get started?

For 6 mini tart tins, 12cm in diameter:

3 hard-boiled yolks
330 grams butter at room temperature
50 grams of powdered sugar
40 grams almond flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (didn't use)
salt on the tip of a knife
1 tablespoon rum
315 grams white flour

200 grams of jam for filling (I used raspberry)

1 egg for glazing

1. Hard boil the eggs, separate the yolks. Rub the yolks through a sieve. Sift the flour.

2. Beat butter and powdered sugar until fluffy. Add the pureed yolks, beat the butter with the yolks until smooth.

3. Add flour, cinnamon, salt, rum, almond flour and knead the dough very quickly.

4. Divide the dough into 2 parts, flatten each into a disk, wrap in film and put in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

The dough turns out very soft, the amount of butter in it is very large in relation to the flour. If the dough is not properly cooled, it will be impossible to work with it.

5. Separate 1/2 of one of the disks and divide the remaining dough into 6 parts. Place in the refrigerator for now.

6. Roll out the remaining piece of dough on a small board, between two sheets of baking paper. Place in the freezer.

7. Distribute the dough between the molds with your hands - the thickness should be the same on the bottom and at the sides. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

8. Preheat the oven to 180 C.

9. Remove the baskets from the freezer. Spread jam in them, but so that the layer height is no more than 5-6 millimeters.

It is fundamentally. If there is more jam, it will wet the basket and the cake will spread.

10. Remove the board with the dough from the freezer. Cut the dough into strips 1 centimeter wide. Place strips in a lattice pattern on each basket. Cut off the excess. Run a knife around the circumference of each basket, making fluted edges and securing the ends of the lattice.

11. Beat the egg with milk or sugar syrup, brush the cakes on top and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the cakes are browned on top and the jam in the slots begins to boil.

12. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pans on a wire rack and only then remove to a plate.

Debriefing.

I did not put baking paper in the baskets because the sablé dough usually comes out without problems.
And this dough is so crumbly that it turned out to be very difficult to take it out. Be sure to line your baking pans with baking paper!

Do not bake one large tart from this dough, you will not be able to cut it beautifully. This dough is only suitable for individual baking or for small “Lintsev” cookies (two disks, one solid, the second cut out, glued with jam).

Do not use this recipe for raw yolks. As an experiment, I also made this dough, but it turned out to be a completely different structure, too “liquid” and it was almost impossible to work with it; I had to constantly return it to the refrigerator and cool it.

UPD
There was a technological error in paragraphs 3 and 4. Corrected.

Very valuable type from Veronica verifica:
It is not at all necessary to boil a whole egg; you can boil only the yolk and use the white for other types of baking.
How to boil a yolk.
1. You can simply carefully lower it into boiling water in a strainer (Veronica’s advice).
2. You can first freeze the yolk. As a result of freezing, the yolk irreversibly gels (I previously wrote about this and warned that to prevent gelling, the yolk must be mixed with sugar or salt before freezing). Then the yolk can be thawed and boiled quietly.

French pastries are very popular in our country. But you don’t have to go to the store to try it. After all, you can prepare it yourself at home.

Today we will tell you about how delicious and quick French pastries are made. Several recipes will be presented to your attention. Which one to choose for treating your loved ones and relatives is up to you to decide.

French pastries: recipes, photos

If you haven’t tried the Brillat-Savarin pie, we suggest making it right now. For it we will need:

• white flour - approximately 500 g;
• soft butter - about 250 g;
• fresh large eggs - 6 pcs.;
• granulated sugar - approximately 60 g for dough and 100 g for syrup;
• natural milk of medium fat content - about 100 ml (use warm);
• rum - approximately 200 ml;
• Warm drinking water - ½ l.

Kneading dough

French pastries differ from other flour products in that they always turn out very tender, tasty and literally melt in your mouth. In order for you to be able to make such a dessert, you must strictly follow all the requirements of the recipe.

So, first you need to knead the dough. To do this, you need to sift the flour into a bowl, and then make a depression in the center and pour warm milk into the recess. By the way, in the same drink it is recommended to dilute the granulated yeast in advance and add beaten eggs. In this composition, the kneaded dough should not stick to your palms. It should be covered with a towel and left in a warm place for exactly 1 hour. In this case, the volume should approximately double. After this, you need to add softened cooking fat, as well as granulated sugar and salt, into the base. After mixing the ingredients again, they should be left in a warm place again for the same amount of time.

Baking process

Now you know how to knead French baking dough. After the baking is ready, it must be placed in a deep form, greased with regular oil. Next, you need to place the filled dish in the oven and bake the cake for 50 minutes at 180 degrees. Finally, the finished dessert should be removed from the mold by turning it over and placed on a cake pan or any other flat dish.

Impregnation process

To make French pastries more tender and juicy, they should be soaked in homemade syrup. To make it, you need to mix warm drinking water with granulated sugar and rum, and then bring it almost to a boil. Next, you need to pour the finished syrup over the entire pie. If desired, you can decorate it with strawberries on top or apply some cream. Enjoy your meal!

French baking: recipes for delicious cupcakes

French muffins are loved not only by adults, but also by children. The main advantage of this baking is that it is done quickly and easily.

So, we need:

• sifted white flour - about ½ cup;
• sand-sugar - about ½ cup;
• baking powder - a small spoon;
• chopped nutmeg - ¼ small spoon;
• medium-sized salt - 1/8;
• fresh large egg - 1 pc.;
• low fat natural milk - ½ cup;
• melted butter - about 40 g for the dough and the same amount for decoration;
• sand-sugar - 4 large spoons;
• ground cinnamon - ½ dessert spoon.

Preparing the dough

French pastries, the recipes for which we are considering, will serve as an excellent dessert for any table. To make it yourself, you need to knead a viscous dough. To do this, in one bowl you need to mix white flour with granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Next, you need to make a small depression in the resulting mixture, and then pour in a liquid mass consisting of beaten egg, milk and melted cooking fat. After mixing for a long time, you should have a viscous dough. It may not be uniform.

Form and bake in the oven

Surely many people know that baking according to her recipes is the most exquisite in the whole world; it is popular not only in Europe, but also in Asia and even America. To enjoy delicious French muffins, they must be shaped and baked correctly. To do this, spoon the base into prepared molds and then place them in the oven. It is recommended to bake the dessert at 200 degrees for 25 minutes.

Decoration process

While the cupcakes are baking, you can start preparing the delicious decoration. To do this, you need to mix 4 large tablespoons of granulated sugar and ground cinnamon. When the dessert is ready, its top should first be dipped into melted butter, and then into the previously prepared bulk mixture. Decorated cupcakes must be served warm.

Baking bread at home

Baking French bread does not take much effort and time. In this regard, such a product can not be purchased in a store, but can be made independently at home. To do this you need:

• warm drinking water - about 300 ml;
• vegetable oil - 2 large spoons;
• sifted flour - about 600 g;
• granulated yeast - ½ small spoon;
• medium-sized salt - 1 small spoon;
• sand-sugar - a large spoon.

Knead the dough

To knead the base, you need to dissolve sand-sugar in warm drinking water, and then add salt and granulated yeast to it. After the last component swells, pour vegetable oil into the same bowl, and also add sifted flour. When you mix the ingredients, you should end up with a fairly thick dough, which you need to cover with any breathable cloth and leave in a warm place for 70 minutes. In this case, the base should approximately double in size.

Baking bread in the oven

Baking homemade bread does not take much time. To do this, you should take any mold and grease it. Next, you need to place the risen dough in the bowl and put it in the oven. The bread must be cooked for 55 minutes at a temperature of 200 degrees.

After the product is ready, it should be removed from the dish and then grease the top with butter. It is recommended to serve French bread warm with any first or second course.

Making delicious cinnamon rolls

Now you know how delicious butter pastries are made. can be prepared according to different recipes. However, we decided to present you with the simplest and most accessible method.

So, we need:

• white flour - from 450 g;
• soft butter - approximately 150 g;
• fresh large egg - 1 pc.;
• granulated sugar - approximately 100 g;
• natural milk of medium fat content - about 500 ml (use warm);
• granulated yeast - an incomplete dessert spoon;
• fine salt - a few pinches;
• crushed cinnamon - approximately 70 g.

Making the dough

The base for French buns is made exactly the same as for the above pie. Granulated sugar is dissolved in warm milk, and then a beaten egg and granulated yeast are added. Next, the resulting mass is poured into sifted flour, which is mixed with sugar in advance. After kneading the base, it should be left in a warm place for exactly 50 minutes. After the specified time has passed, soft cooking fat is additionally added to the dough.

How to shape and bake?

To make delicious ones, roll out the butter dough into a not very thin layer, and then sprinkle it with chopped cinnamon. Next, the base must be rolled into a roll and cut into pieces 7-8 centimeters thick. They should be placed on a greased baking sheet and then placed in the oven. It is recommended to bake French buns for 47-54 minutes.

Serve it right at the table

Once the cinnamon rolls are baked, remove them from the oven and brush the tops with melted chocolate (if desired). They should be served together with some hot drink (coffee, tea or cocoa). Enjoy your meal!

France is known throughout the world not only for its exquisite gourmet dishes, but also for its delicious baked goods. French pastries amaze with their diversity and are the pinnacle of the country's culinary art. It’s rare that anyone can resist the wonderful aroma and delicate taste of fresh confectionery.

French pastry dough recipes

The secrets of making bread, pies, buns and pastries in France are carefully kept and passed on from mothers to children.

To prepare French bread, you first need to set the dough.

To do this you will need:

• 300 g flour (the French use unbleached);
• a little dry yeast;
• 300 ml water.

All ingredients are mixed and kept warm for 4-6 hours. Add 600 g of flour, 10 g of yeast, a teaspoon of salt and 300 ml of water to the finished dough and mix with a mixer until completely homogeneous.

The dough should be placed in a warm place for an hour, during which time it should double in volume. The finished dough for French baking is laid out on a table sprinkled with flour and cut into pieces.

The formed products are left to proof for about half an hour. This recipe can be used to bake French bread, rolls and baguettes.

The dough for brioche buns and savarin pies was invented by the Julien brothers in the 19th century. The dough and bun were named after the famous pastry chef Brioche and gained great popularity around the world.

To make brioche dough you will need:

• 900 g flour;
• 25 g yeast;
• 120 g sugar;
• 6 eggs;
• a teaspoon of salt;
• a stick of butter;
• 1.5 glasses of milk;
• zest of one lemon.

Yeast is dissolved in heated milk, three tablespoons of flour, salt, sugar are added and mixed well. Place the dough in a warm place for 20 minutes. At this time, sift the flour, add beaten eggs, sugar, salt, lemon zest and mix thoroughly, gradually adding warmed milk and melted butter. The kneaded soft dough is covered with a lid and placed in a warm place to ferment.

When the dough has risen, place it in a pan greased with butter and dusted with flour. To proof, place the pan in a warm place for half an hour.

Bake brioche for about half an hour in an oven preheated to 180 degrees.

Types of French pastries

The variety of French pastries amazes any tourist who comes to the country. Confectioners offer a huge number of both savory and sweet products.

When foreigners are asked to explain what a French bread is, everyone immediately thinks of the famous french baguette. Translated from French, this crispy, airy product means “rod, stick.” A classic baguette weighs 250 grams and is, indeed, shaped like a stick. Its characteristic feature is a crispy crust on the outside and a soft core.

The time of appearance of this type of bread is considered to be the 20s. At this time, a law was passed in France according to which bakers had no right to start work before 4 o'clock in the morning. In this regard, bakers had to look for ways to quickly bake bread. That's why the baguette has become so popular, requiring much less time to rise and bake than regular bread.

It is more convenient not to cut the baguette, but to break it with your hands. The peculiarity of this type of white bread is that it becomes stale by the end of the day. The next day, the French soak it in broth or coffee.

The most famous type of French puff pastry is traditionally considered. This crescent-shaped product, cooked with a lot of butter, has become a national symbol of France.

It is believed that the croissant came to the French from Austria. Legend has it that when Ottoman troops laid siege to Vienna in the 17th century, bakers baked fresh buns at night. Hearing that the Turks were going to dig under the walls of the city, they warned the soldiers and failed the enemy’s plan.

The puff pastries that pastry chefs baked after the Austrians' victory over the Turks were shaped like the crescent moon adorning the Turkish flag.

Brioche is a rich bun with a characteristic aroma and taste of fresh butter. Brioche was especially popular in Gournay and Gisors, famous for their largest butter markets. Originally, this type of butter bread was traditionally baked for Christmas. To form the product, small balls are made from the dough and connected to each other in 4-6 pieces.

Profiteroles translated from French as “profitable”, “useful”. Once upon a time in France this was the name for a small monetary reward. Now profiteroles are known and loved almost all over the world.

These airy choux pastry products do not exceed four centimeters in diameter. Custard, mushrooms, and pate are used as fillings for profiteroles.

Unsweetened profiteroles serve as an addition to broth and various soups.

Favorite French pastry

It's hard to find a French person who doesn't love baking. In any French city, even the smallest, the bakery is the main store. On one street there are sometimes 2-3 bakeries, and not one of them goes unnoticed by visitors.

In the morning, bakers offer the freshest baguettes with a golden-brown, crispy crust. Some French may still use a piece of baguette instead of a spoon or fork. Even in cafes you can see how this white bread is used to collect delicious sauce from a plate.

A real French morning begins with a freshly baked croissant. This rich puff pastry goes very well with aromatic coffee. Residents of the country are very fond of brioche buns, profiteroles with various fillings, and savarena pies, reminiscent of our rum baba.

Petit fours are popular in France - tiny cookies or cakes with different fillings and decorations made of icing and cream.

The delicious Millefeuille dessert is reminiscent of Napoleon cake. It consists of many thin layers of dough, which is spread with almond cream and fresh berries.

The French consider talented bakers to be poets of sorts. Making baked goods is equated with an exciting creativity that resonates with many people.

Video about French pastries

So tasty and so different - this can undoubtedly be said about French pastries. Who hasn't heard of baguette and croissants? They are French by origin. No French breakfast is complete without them. And a man with a baguette under his arm is a normal sight on the streets of Paris.

We will be pleased if you share with your friends:

France is famous not only for its delicious gourmet dishes, but also for its wonderful baked goods. There are a great many recipes for bread and pies in France - with a variety of fillings, sweet and simple, or without them at all. For those who are familiar with French cuisine first-hand, words such as quiche, brioche, profiteroles, croissants and onion pie are not empty sounds at all.

In any French city, even a very small one, the bakery is the most important store. The country's unspoken laws dictate that people eat only the freshest bread and bakery products every day. No real French breakfast is complete without baked goods with a crispy, crispy crust. Some may view the process of kneading dough as a boring task, but this cannot be said about bakers from the land of Cézanne and Maupassant. Creating baked goods for them is a fascinating creativity that brings joy, it is an expression of love for people and their work.

Quiche

The short word means an open pie made from chopped dough. And it is even more correct to call it quiche Laurent, that is, a pie from Lorraine. In this province, there has been a tradition of preparing such pies from the products left over after lunch, and therefore the filling of the quiche, in principle, can be anything - mushroom, meat, vegetable, fish, fruit. Many people prefer to cook it with smoked fish, bacon or smoked poultry.

The difference between quiche and other baked goods is that the filling is filled with a specially prepared mixture of eggs, milk and cheese, and only then it is sent to the oven. The quiche is served hot, garnished with a green salad.

Quiche Laurent with green onions and eggs

Ingredients: flour 200 g, salted butter 100 g
egg 1 piece, ice water 2-3 tbsp. l.

For filling: green onions 300-400 g, eggs 4 pcs.
Salt, pepper to taste, butter 50 g

Preparation: Replace the dough with flour, chopped butter, eggs and ice water. Roll out, place in a mold, cool for 20-30 minutes. Pour a load into the mold (cover the dough in the mold with food paper and add any large legumes, such as beans) and bake for 15 minutes at 200C. Remove the pan from the oven, remove the weight.

Chop the onion and fry in butter until soft (1-2 minutes). Remove the pan from the heat. Add raw eggs to the onion, salt, mix, pour into the pan.
Bake the pie in the oven at 200-220°C until done (15~20 minutes).

Profiteroles

And this name can be translated from French as “profitable”, “useful”. Ladies striving for an ideal figure and on diets are unlikely to find benefit in profiteroles, but gourmets and seekers of a good mood will.

Previously, this was what they called a small monetary reward in France. Now for the whole world, profiteroles are small round-shaped choux pastry products. They usually do not exceed four centimeters in diameter.

Fillings for profiteroles are made from mushrooms, meat, and custard. As dessert they are served with various sweet sauces. In addition, they can serve as an addition to various soups or broth.

Profiteroles with cream cheese and salmon

Ingredients: For profiteroles: 150 g butter,
200 ml water, 1/4 tsp. salt, 4 eggs, 120 g flour

For filling: 200 g lightly salted or smoked salmon
200 g cream cheese, 4-5 sprigs of dill

Preparation: Place oil and salt in a saucepan. Add water. Place on the fire and keep until the butter melts. Remove from heat and stir in flour. Return to the burner and keep on heat, stirring constantly, until the dough becomes homogeneous and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the stove. Add eggs to the dough one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each.

Transfer the dough into a pastry bag and place small buns on a parchment-lined baking sheet. If you don't have a syringe, you can put the dough on a baking sheet using a spoon. Place the baking sheet in an oven preheated to 200 degrees and bake the profiteroles until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool at room temperature.

Let's prepare the filling. Cut the fish into small pieces. Mash the cheese with a fork with finely chopped dill. Add fish and mix. Cut off the top of each bun and fill it with filling. Decorate with canned corn and red pepper, it will turn out bright and beautiful. Cover with cut tops and serve.

Brioche

Brioche dough is traditionally kneaded with brewer's yeast and butter. To form the dough into brioche, it is divided into small pieces, formed into balls and then pressed together in groups of four or six.

The French pastry chef Brioche once noticed that butter dough placed in a cold place then rises very quickly in volume if it is squeezed into a narrow baking dish and placed in the oven. And the famous artist and brioche fan Edouard Manet immortalized the brioche on his canvases.

Orange brioche

Ingredients: 450 g premium flour with high gluten content (“bread”) + for kneading
2 packets of instant dry yeast (7 g each)
1 tsp. salt, 2 tbsp. l. fine sugar
zest of 1 orange, 125 g butter (cut into small pieces)
4 tbsp. l. milk, 4 eggs
sunflower oil for lubrication
12 small squares dark chocolate
beaten egg for brushing

Preparation: Sift the flour into a large bowl and stir in the yeast, salt, sugar and orange zest. Cut the butter into pieces and place in a saucepan with milk. Heat over low heat until the butter completely melts. Beat the eggs, then add the melted butter and milk. The oil mixture should be warm, but not boiling. Pour the egg-milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Beat or knead with a spoon until smooth, then knead into a soft dough with your hands.

On a floured board, knead the dough until elastic (5 minutes). Transfer to a large oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for 1-2 hours until doubled in volume. Knead the dough and knead it.

Remove from bowl and divide in half. Return one half to the bowl, cover with film and place in a cool place. Knead the working half of the dough for a minute and divide into 6 parts. Cut a small piece from each part.

Forming and baking brioche

Place the silicone brioche mold on a baking sheet. Flatten one piece of dough into a circle and place a piece of chocolate in the center. Roll the dough around the chocolate, pinching the open ends inward, to form a ball. Place seam side down in the pan and form the remaining 5 large pieces of dough in the same way. Using your finger or the handle of a wooden spoon, make a hole in the center of the dough circles. Roll small pieces of dough into balls.

Place the dough balls in the center of the circles in the pan, pressing them down lightly. Cover with oiled cling film and place in a warm place - the dough will fluff up and double in size. Remove the cling film and brush the top of the brioche with egg.
Preheat the oven to 220°C, bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Turn the brioche out onto a wire rack to cool. Wash the pan, shape the remaining dough into pieces, let rise and bake the second batch of brioche.

Croissants

Small confectionery products made in the shape of a crescent and baked from puff pastry or yeast dough with the addition of butter are now called croissants by the whole world with the help of the French. This is even more than just baked goods - it is a national symbol.

There is an interesting story connected with the origin of the croissant. They say that the French borrowed this recipe from the Austrians; it is no coincidence that croissants are also called Viennese pastries. And the legend says that the creator of the croissant is a certain baker who lived in Vienna in the 17th century. During the siege of the city by the Turks in 1683, the baker accidentally heard the enemies trying to dig a tunnel and get into the city. The baker was not taken aback and ran to wake up the townspeople and the guards. The attempt to capture Vienna was successfully stopped, and the baker was asked what reward he would like to receive for his vigilance. And he chose for himself the exclusive right to produce bagels in the shape of a crescent (a symbol of Islam) - in memory of the significant event.

French croissants

Ingredients: dry yeast - 10 g, milk - 50 ml,
flour - 550 g, butter - 35 g, starch - 50 g,
water - 150 ml, for greasing the dough 325 g butter,
egg yolk for the same purpose, and 7 tsp. Sahara.

First of all, the flour is sifted and mixed with baking powder, then a little salt is added, yeast, sugar and the mixture is mixed well. Then milk is poured in a small stream, and softened butter and water are added to the dough. After kneading the dough, cover it with cling film and allow time to rise to double in size. When the dough has risen, press it slightly and put it in the refrigerator for 1.5 hours.

We take out the dough again and, placing it on the table, sprinkle flour on top. Then we divide the dough into three equal parts, first in our minds, and then in practice. Lubricate two of these parts with butter, and leave one as is. Then we begin to tuck one part under the other, as a result you should get something like a book. They begin tucking from the non-greased part. When the dough has been turned, it is again placed in the refrigerator for one hour to harden.

After an hour, the dough is taken out again and the whole process is repeated, then the dough is put back in the refrigerator for half an hour. This procedure is performed at least three times.

After the dough is completely ready, it is rolled out on the table to a thin layer, a circle is made from this layer and divided into 8 equal parts, each of them is rolled into a croissant. The croissants are left for some time to make them more fluffy. Then they are greased with egg yolk and placed on a baking sheet previously coated with butter. Croissants are placed in the oven when the temperature reaches 220 degrees and cooked until they are covered with a golden brown crust.

Macaroni

French almond pastry macaron (fr. macaron) is a delicate and very exquisite delicacy in the form of two thin meringue cookies and a layer of chocolate, ganache or butter cream filling.

History says that macaroni, despite its incredible popularity among the French, was first created around 1533 in Italy by the chef of Catherine de Medici, who was reputed to have a great sweet tooth. Later, having become the wife of the French king, she transported her little “Italian” weakness to France.

Regardless of who first invented these cookies, they began to spread in France towards the end of the 18th century thanks to two Benedictine nuns who baked and sold them solely for the purpose of earning their own food. Taking advantage of the growing demand for macaroni, Parisian street vendors began to sell them en masse, following the nuns.

Macarons acquired their modern appearance only at the beginning of the 20th century, when Pierre Defontaine, the grandson of the founder of the famous Ladurée confectionery, was visited by a culinary muse, and he combined two cookies into one using ganache cream. The cookies were transformed into a cake called ‘le macaron parisien’ (Parisian macaroni). This delicacy immediately became a “bestseller” of the Ladurée confectionery chain.

Sweet and sour Macaroni

Sweet and sour Macaroni is a special treat. They are good served with tea, as a main dessert, or simply as an afternoon snack.

Ingredients: egg whites (5 pieces); about 210 g of powdered sugar;
almonds, ground in a coffee grinder,
You should get about 125 g of almond powder; sugar 35 g;
½ spoon of salt and a whole tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice;
Also, to make the dessert brighter, you need to purchase yellow food coloring (liquid), twenty drops of such coloring will be enough;

For the filling (ganache) you need to prepare: egg yolks - a couple,
starch – 40 g, butter – 30 g, lemon – steam, granulated sugar – 40 g.
Mix sugar and almond powder in one container. Sift the dry mass.

Beat the whites vigorously into an airy foam, slowly combining with salt and lemon juice, then gradually adding granulated sugar to form a homogeneous elastic mass. Add food coloring drop by drop. Then pour the dry powder mixture into the liquid mass. Gently mix everything together until smooth.

Pour the resulting mixture into a pastry bag, using a round nozzle, squeeze out the viscous mixture in small circles onto a baking sheet lined with two layers of parchment. Leave the baking sheet with the dough circles for forty minutes until a characteristic crust forms, which will protect the cakes from cracks. Crust can be considered the state of the dough when it does not stick to the hand when you press the confectionery product. Sometimes it may happen that the crust will take quite a long time to form, then leave the cakes on the baking sheet overnight.

Place the cakes in an oven preheated to 150°. It is better to grease the parchment with oil first. Once after 8 minutes, you can open the oven and turn the baking sheet over so that the cookies bake evenly.

The filling or ganache is prepared as follows:

Starch is diluted in water, about 200 ml + add oil;
put the starch mixture on the fire and bring to a boil, and then cool;
turn the lemons into a zest mass in a blender, combine with sugar and egg yolks, use a mixer to mix everything together with the starch mixture until a thick cream is obtained; Spread the resulting lemon curd onto one half of the cake and cover with the other half;
It's ideal to refrigerate the cookies for a few hours!

Another variety of French Macaroni is raspberry. To prepare the filling, professionals use “Fraises tagada” candies in the filling recipe. These desserts are the most popular in France, selling 1 billion a year. The candies taste like light marshmallows; the tops of the candies are sprinkled with sugar. You can bake pasta with coconut, as well as with other fillings.

For brighter colors, purchase various food colors, this will surprise your guests and family. For the filling you can use any berries from which purees, fruits and creams are obtained. You can add fruit and cream liqueurs to the ganache, use different types of chocolate and coffee. Vanilla, mint, banana, blueberry or exotic Macaroni will definitely become your signature dish, and you will be known as a creative and original housewife.

French baguette

When foreigners are asked to explain what a French bread is, the famous French baguette immediately comes to mind. Translated from French, this crispy, airy product means “rod, stick.” A classic baguette weighs 250 grams and is, indeed, shaped like a stick. Its characteristic feature is a crispy crust on the outside and a soft core.

The time of appearance of this type of bread is considered to be the 20s. At this time, a law was passed in France according to which bakers had no right to start work before 4 o'clock in the morning. In this regard, bakers had to look for ways to quickly bake bread. That's why the baguette has become so popular, requiring much less time to rise and bake than regular bread.

It is more convenient not to cut the baguette, but to break it with your hands. The peculiarity of this type of white bread is that it becomes stale by the end of the day. The next day, the French soak it in broth or coffee.

French baguette in the oven

Ingredients: dry yeast – 10 g; sugar – 2 teaspoons;
salt – 2 teaspoons; warm water – 400 ml; flour – 500 g;
butter – 1 tbsp. spoon

Preparation: How to bake a French baguette?
Pour some warm water into a saucepan, add sugar, yeast and a few tablespoons of flour. Mix everything, cover with a towel and leave for 15 minutes until a white foam forms. Then add the remaining water to the dough, add flour and salt. Add melted butter and knead elastic dough. Remember that the less you knead the dough, the more porous your baguette will be.

Next, we form real French baguettes: long and narrow loaves with several oblique parallel cuts. Place them on a baking sheet sprinkled with flour, cover with a towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C and place a container of water on the bottom of the oven to generate steam. Bake the baguettes for 10 minutes. Then remove the container and continue baking the bread for another 15 minutes until golden brown. You can serve sliced ​​or with filling.

France is known throughout the world not only for its exquisite gourmet dishes, but also for its delicious baked goods. French pastries amaze with their diversity and are the pinnacle of the country's culinary art. It’s rare that anyone can resist the wonderful aroma and delicate taste of fresh confectionery.