Croquembouches

Have you ever heard of a croquembouche ? Behold …

Despite my affinity for all things French, I had not. It’s a sort of “cake” (well not really), but a dessert which can resemble a cake in its form. Croquembouches can be composed of many different types of French pastries, including but not limited to macarons (my most favorite French decadence), dragées, candied fruits, éclairs (which I just learned used to be called pains à la duchesse – duchess bread – love that) or croquignoles, small crunchy pastries, among many others.

These elaborate, ornate constructions remind me of old France, pré-Révolution. I’ve yet to see one in person (although maybe I just looked past them in patisserie windows during my Parisian life), but I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled next summer. What do you think? Too much or just right?

Posted by artsdevivre

I love pretty much everything David Lebovitz does, from his blog, to his book The Sweet Life in Paris, to his restaurant alma mater, Chez Panisse. (Well, that’s not entirely true. I really want to go to Chez Panisse. Embarrassingly, I have not yet spent any time in the Bay Area and therefore have not yet tried it. But I am dying to.)

So I was ecstatic to find this *pastry* app he developed. It fits the bill for most of my favorite things …

… France, desserts and Paris! What more could a gal ask for? I can’t wait to try this out next summer, and experiment in previously unbeknownst-to-me sweets shops. Pierre Hermé’s macarons will never be replaced as my number one preferred, but that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to try others 😉