Tarte Nouveau

I’m back! And although this roll doesn’t look like much (sorry it’s blurry), it’s my favourite treat in Paris right now. It’s called a Kouin Aman and I’ve only been able to find them at Moisan, a natural bakery chain. I first tried one when my friend Karla was here and we were strolling down to Notre Dame on a Sunday. I was surprised to see that Moisan was open because most things in close on Sundays and Mondays in Paris. I stood in line for a quiche and at the last second, I noticed this buttery, delicious looking bun. I do a quick raisin check. Nope, none. Good. Raisins ruin desserts for me. “C’est tout, Madame?” The woman behind the counter asks me. I can’t pass it up. “Et puis, je va prendre un Kouin Aman, s’il vous plait. Merci.”

My friend Karla isn’t a sweets person. She’s all about the chips. I take it out right away. It’s warm. I scored big time. I bite into it and its sweet, soft, buttery heaven in my mouth.  I insisted Karla, take a bite and even she was in love.

It looks like a cinnamon roll. But instead of a bready dough, it was like croissant pastry almost…although not as soft.

It had a buttery, sugary caramalized glaze on top that was mouth watering. What’s odd about this is that it wasn’t overwhelming. You’d think that a buttery croissant -like roll would be too much.

For only 1.85 euro and being natural and organic, you can’t get a better roll!

Le Censier.

Named after the street where the Carl Marletti patisserie is located, this dessert may have been the best yet.

Side Note: I’m posting a lot of Marletti desserts as it’s my last day in the fifth where his shop is located. But I’m sure I’ll be making the trip across town to keep sampling his creations.

Le Censier is a dark chocolate mousse quenelle on top of a chocolate rice crispy biscuit. The garnish on top is a praline slate of goodness.

I wasn’t sure how to go about eating this one, so I grabbed a fork. After two mouth watering bites, the fork when down and I hand fed myself the most scrumptious chocolate treat ever. The dark chocolate mousse quenelle wasn’t overbearing. It seems as though it would be really rich and creamy but it wasn’t. This dark chocolate mousse is probably how God makes it in heaven. It was that delicious. Below this heavenly egg shape was a rice crispy biscuit that at first sight seems boring, but after taking a bite, then opening your mouth for more…you hear popping noises. That’s right. There are pop rocks in the rice crispy biscuit!!! Carl Marletti, you are a genius!

Le Lily Valley

Another Carl Marletti delight. I bought this one yesterday when I took my friend, Karla there to witness magic. And as always, I’m never disapointed. The Lily Valley was a blueberry dessert with so many different elements.

One the bottom was a flaky, sweet, mille feuille like square that gave the dessert a crunchy element.  Next was four profiteroles (little puffs that are filled with a vanilla pastry cream) with a light tasting blue berry icing on the outside. Normally, icing is too sweet for me but this was perfect.

Through the middle of the neatly placed profiteroles was a light and wonderful blueberry whipped cream with chunks of real blueberries. It was absolutely wonderful, fresh and light tasting. The Lily Valley looks like a work of art and was perfect for the begining of printemps.

Le Venoise.

I’ve never been a big fan of jam in desserts. Or jam in general unless it’s on toast. But I took a chance on this little gateau hoping that it would be as amazing as the rest. Alas, jam is jam. Even if it’s called, “Gelée”.

The Venoise had a marscapone mousse exterieur dusted with some pink sugar and the centre was “Gelée Mara des Bois”. Basically strawberry jam but not as sweet. On the bottom was a moist pie crust called “pate sable” with some little pieces of nut on the bottom. It was a nice contrast having those crunchy bits with the mousse and the jam.

It wasn’t horrible and if you like confitures, you’d probably really like this dessert.

Une Tarte Framboise.

I’ve been wanting to try one of these since I got here because they look so beautiful and fresh. I went to the boulanger just up from my apartment called Le Fournil de Mouffetard. I was a little skeptical. So they look good, but will it blow my mind? Yes. F. Yes.

I kinda knew it would. I was just pretending to be a critic.  I plucked one of the raspberries off first to see if the little berry was flavourful. They aren’t in season so I didn’t expect it to be anything that amazing. Well the French have some secret stash of the plumpest, juiciest raspberries that actually taste like summer. And then just to rub it in, they throw on some pistachio sugar.

The bottom of the tarte is a round shortbread-like cookie. However, it wasn’t buttery and heavy like shortbread and it was sweeter. Holding the raspberries onto the tarte was a light and sweet marscapone whip cream. Marscapone?! Yah, I know. Genius.

It was totally perfect.

Les Macarons

These colourful little cake-like sandwiches are found in every patisserie in Paris. The ones I tried today were raspberry, pistachio and chocolate (mais oui!) but there are plenty of other flavours too. Apparently, these little fellows have quite the history in France. At the Versaille Court in Paris, members of the Dalloyau family served macarons to royalty in the then ruling House of Bourbon.

These macarons are from Le Maison Kayser, a boulangerie who is notorious for yummy treats. Although, I’ve heard that LaDurée on le Champs Elysées is the best place to get them. They have a rose petal flavoured macaron that I’m dying to try!

The shell of the macarons is similar to hardened meringue. It’s very light and crumbly. And in the middle is almost like very moist cake batter…I just looked it up. It’s actually ganache or sometimes cream in the centre.

They are delighful little things but I’d say more visually appealing than delicious.

Le Cannelé.

When I first arrived in Paris, I imagined this little golden treat to taste like a really good sour cream glazed doughnut. I was wrong in a good way. I recently just tried one and it was a delightful light tasting treat that would go wonderfully with afternoon tea.

A bite into a cannelé is almost gummy and not cake-like at all. After doing a little research, a cannelé is made with custard that is baked in cylinder shaped molds. Baking the custard in these molds, gives le cannelé that delicious looking golden appearence.

Quite yummy.

The Mille Feuille.

For those of you who don’t know French, the name means ’ a thousand leaves’. This dessert usually has several layers of puff pastry with some type of mousse in the middle.

The Mille Feuille I had was from Le Boulanger de Monge and of course I opted for the chocolate rather than the vanilla. It looked so delicious in the window but when I brought it home, it didn’t live up to the image. It was the messiest dessert ever. I had to break out the vaccum after I was done… there was mille feuille everywhere!

The layers of pastry weren’t sweet at all and kind of tasted like what I’d imagine bark to taste like. However, with a little bit mousse included in the bite, the dessert wasn’t so bad. The tasteless bark worked with the chocolate mousse.

I’ll have to try another one from a different boulanger to see if I enjoy it better. Will keep you posted if I find one.

The Dome.

It’s from the Carl Marletti shop on the street beside me on Rue Censier.This guy might be best patissier in Paris.  I’ve only tried two things from his shop but both treats have been utterly divine.  This one is for the chocolate lovers. It doesn’t look like much on the outside but on the inside is dark chocolate mousse with a  smooth vanilla cream centre. Ahhhh. The bottom of the dome is a layer of moist chocolate/ brownie like cake. I know, I know. And to top it off, he puts a sugary nutty/sesame seed creation on top. Amazing.

This baby goes for about 4 euro but anything by Carl is totally worth it.