Top 5 Lesser-Known Pastries at Paris Patisseries

This post WAS posted by Kelly Soderlund on Hipmunk’s Tailwind blog on August 3rd.

By: Contributors from the Let’s Go Team

Get in, loser, we‘re going pastry shopping. And no, you’re not allowed to get croissants, pain au chocolats, or baguettes. That’s beginner stuff. Branch out a little bit, get some street cred. Here we go.

1. Beignets. No, these aren‘t the puff pastries you get in New Orleans with a side of cafe au lait. They’re different. They MAY be better. Okay, they aren’t better—the New Orleans kind is really good. Still, these are insane: imagine an elongated donut (the oil-fried kind, not the baked kind) drizzled with chocolate and then cut in half length-wise, which are placed back together around another thin layer of chocolate. Okay, now don’t imagine it. Just go eat one.
2. Baba au rhum. Not every patisserie has these, but if they do, jump on it. These little puffs are cream-filled then drenched in rum. Things can get messy. But that’s always the way it is with rum.
3. Croissant aux amandes. These cousins of the mainstream croissant are different in all the right ways: covered in shaved almonds and (usually) powdered sugar, they make breakfast an indulgence if it wasn‘t already. And listen to how they’re made: left-over croissants are filled with cream and BAKED AGAIN, setting the cream and leaving you with a chewier, heartier pastry. Good lord.
4. Choco Suisse (or “Drops,” the French for chocolate chips). Imagine cream studded with chocolate chips sandwiched between a folded-over puff pastry. These things are crispy and chewy, sweet and chocolaty. Now go eat one.
5. Tarts. If you‘re like me, it’s easy to spend your time on various combinations of flour/cream/chocolate. But that would be a shame: the fruit tarts at most patisseries use the freshest fruit available and are the products of overnight toil. Some of you don’t need prodding to go down the fruit route. For the rest of us, make sure to give it a try.

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