Eclairs are a favorite famous French pastry.
Though Americans can choose from almost 100 popular cultural cuisines, French cuisine is one the world's most famous and frequently eaten. One of only six cultures represented in "classical" cuisine, the French are well known for their delicate flavors, especially in their complex desserts. Flaky and light or dense and heavy, foodies with a sweet tooth consistently choose several famous French pastries.
Pate a Choux
Pate a choux is a light, fluffy pastry dough used to make a number of famous French pastries, including eclairs, profiteroles, cream puffs and beignets. Pate a choux dough does not contain a leavening agent (such as yeast or baking soda, but rather becomes fluffy because of its high moisture content. This moisture creates steam, which makes the dough rise. Eclairs and profiteroles are traditionally filled with custard and are either dipped in chocolate or dusted with sugar, while cream puffs are filled with whipped cream and beignets are fried.
Petit Fours
Petit four is French for "small oven," so described because of the pastry's resemblance to a miniaturized cake. Typically made with two layers of cake filled with buttercream and dipped in chocolate, these dainty pastries are approximately 2 cubic inches.
Crepes
Crepes are a versatile French pastry. They can be savory---such as when filled with smoked salmon and cream cheese or eggs and cheese---or sweet---a popular preparation is chocolate, strawberries and whipped cream---and eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert. They are made from a thin batter, spooned into a flat pan and cooked on the stove, similar to pancakes.
Buche de Noel
Buche de Noel, or "Christmas log" is a traditional French pastry dating from the 1800s. French chefs created this cake, which is a thin sponge cake iced with buttercream, rolled into a cylinder and iced to resemble a log, to represent the French custom of burning a Yule log.
Brioche
Though Americans would likely consider brioche more of a bread than a cake, it can't be excluded from the most famous French pastries. Immortalized by the ill-fated French Revolution-era queen Marie Antoinette, it was actually brioche---not cake---she mentioned in her response to the starving poor: "Let them eat brioche," she said. The irony of that statement, of course, is that this enriched, egg-and-butter-rich bread was far beyond the grasp of the commoner.
Croissant
Pronounced "kwass-aunt," this flaky, buttery breakfast pastry is made by repeatedly rolling out and folding a yeast dough. Often filled with chocolate, almond paste or sausages, croissants are time-consuming, high in calories and expensive---but worth it for the occasional treat.
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