Patisserie Blé Sucré and Sacre Coeur

This post is one of many documenting my week in Paris, a present to myself for graduating pastry school in the fall of 2012. Every moment was spent eating and one post wasn’t enough. It’s now a short novel. Kidding. I hope.

It was so cold, sooo very cold on this particular morning. Hovering around the mid 40’s, the weather wasn’t exactly great for all the walking I needed to do in order to stick to my pastry schedule. Nevertheless I toughed it because it’s Paris and bundled in three layers of clothing, gloves and a scarf I made my way through the Bastille (12th arr) and Montmartre (18th arr) neighborhoods and ended up having some of the best food on my trip.

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Bouchon Bakery: Financiers

Financiers are bite-size cakes once made for bankers to eat on the go without getting crumbs all over their suits. The traditional rectangular bar mold resembles gold bars. I have yet to invest in the mold so I used a mini muffin pan to make little cakes so tempting to pop in my mouth one after the other.

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Bouchon Bakery: Pistachio Madeleines

The madeleine’s adorable shell shape somehow lures me to take a bite every time I see the petite French cake, only to be disappointed by it’s dryness. The one version I do like comes from Ble Sucre in Paris but there is a ton of butter and it’s coated in a glaze. Traditionally the cake’s only addition, if any is a dusting of powdered sugar. I’ve experimented with a couple madeleine recipes in the past but after my attempt this week, I will definitely be making them much more.

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