Famous tasty French pastry recipes that you should know

France is known for its romantic and ancient features with great architectural works. But few people know that this country is also famous for its unique cuisine with delicious and nutritious pastries. It will be a pity if you have not once enjoyed any famous French cakes. If you have the opportunity to travel to France, try the “classic” cakes below, or if you are not ready for the trip, let’s explore how to make French pastries with Andros Asia through this article!

Something about the world of French pastry

In 1270, a man named Régnaut-Barbo came up with ‘oublies’ – the first porous crackers that can be considered a ‘precursor to modern confectionery’. While thin crackers may sound less appealing than modern French pastries, these oublies were the first steps in the development and creation of French cuisine as it is today.

Although in France, cakes are very diverse and flexibly varied according to the taste of French, there are famous, delicious and beautiful cakes still popular with diners all over the world. Most French pastries are combined with fruit filling made from fresh fruits or natural fruit jams, thus when it comes to French pastries, everyone will surely be impressed with the sweet and seductive “first touch” taste.

Some famous French pastry

CROISSANT

Croissant, pronounced as /””krwʌsɔn”’/, is a breakfast cake made from pâte feuilletée artfully interwoven with butter, creating the acclaimed French croissant with quite airy texture on the inside. However, this pastry was not created by French, but it was first made in Austria with the name “Kipfel” (meaning “crescent moon”) and became Croissant in 1770 when the 15 years old Austrian princess – Marie Antoinette, was married the French crown prince – King Louis, in the 16th century. That is also the reason why Croissants have a characteristic crescent shape over the years.

Croissant filled with Cherry natural fruit jam retains its original shape and characteristic flavor

With sophistication in demand and enjoyment style, French Croissant has been modified by adding fruit filling, raisins, chocolate or soft buttercream like in cream puffs, even salty filling to create novel tastes for the pastry.

In Vietnam, croissants are no longer a stranger in French-style cafes, where you can enjoy the pastry with a cup of coffee/tea in the morning or late afternoon.

MACARON

Macaron, pronounced in English: /ˌmækəˈrɒn/ mak-ə-RON; French: [makaʁɔ̃], is a French pastry made with egg whites, powdered sugar, granulated sugar, almond flour and a bit of food coloring. It is well documented that the first original macarons were made by Italian pastry chefs working for Queen Catherine de Medici in France in the early 8th century. Therefore, Macaron is known as the “Queen” in the pastry world and is a classic French pastry to this day.

Lily Collins with a table of cakes, featuring the brilliant “Queen” Macaron in the movie “Emily in Paris”

Over the centuries, Macaron has been modified with a wide range of flavors from natural fruit jam filling or cream filling to create a brand new and sweet taste. In special parties in France, Macaron tower is definitely indispensable on the cake table as a colorful highlight of the whole party.

MUFFINS

Muffin is a pastry line with the original name of Moufflet (meaning sweet bread made quickly); it is mixed with flour, without having to spend time resting the dough or using yeast like making bread. Unlike Cupcakes with no filling but a layer of cream on top, Muffins use much more diverse ingredients, such as savory fillings (sausages, vegetables, bacon, …) or sweet fillings (natural fruit jams, etc.).

Berries Muffins with natural fruit jam filling from Andros Asia

Therefore, Muffins are used for breakfast, snacks, especially as gifts for important occasions such as birthdays, congratulations, tea parties,…

BRIOCHE

Brioche is a hybrid between Viennoiseries (bread) and pastry because it is made in the same basic way as for bread, but has a richer taste typical of a pastry thanks to the addition of eggs, butter, liquid ( milk, water, cream, and occasionally liquor) and sometimes sugar. Extremely high in butter and egg, Brioche has a smooth and rich texture that is unmistakable every time you enjoy it.

Brioche bread is very popular not only in France but also in Vietnam

The French chef of the century – Joël Robuchon – a “recorder” for Michelin stars, holding a total of 32 prestigious Michelin stars as of 2016, described Brioche as a cake that is “lightweight and has a porosity depending on the ratio of butter and eggs”.

Appearing in 1404, until now, Brioche has been widely known and extremely popular with the name “Chrysanthemum bread” in Vietnam. Brioche can be enjoyed for all breakfast-lunch-afternoon snack-dinner, satisfying the need for both “tasting” and “stomach filling”.

ÉCLAIRS

Éclair is an oblong pastry made from choux dough, filled with cream and topped with whipped cream, icing sugar or natural fruit jam. The éclair cake was born in the 19th century in France by the famous French baker – Antonin Carême and was called “pain à la duchesse” (duchess bread) or “little duchess” because of its petite and noble appearance.

Strawberry and Pistachio Éclair Cake with Andros Asia Filling Jam

Later, the name Éclair (meaning “lightning flash”) became more widely used as its decorative layers are often cooled, creating sparkles to the eyes. Another reason is that, because this cake is so delicious, when it appears, people will eat it as fast as “lightning”.

Éclairs today are considered an enchanting dessert at the end of every party; and you can also find them in French pastry shops.

How to make delicious French pastry:

To be able to make standard French pastries, baking experts need to be meticulous in the selection of ingredients, kneading the dough and processing the fillings, shaping… so that the end products are batches of attractive and high-quality cakes.

Understanding those complicated and miraculous stages, Filling jam was born as a great invention to help chefs and bakers cut unnecessary steps while still preserving the fruity taste, luster shine and deliciousness of the pastries.

Filling jam is stable even when baked and refrigerated for making pastries

Conducting research and development in the famous country of pastry (France), ANDROS understands the processing stages and standard taste of pastries in this romantic country, thus has produced a mixture of Filling jam – Natural fruit jam with 100% real fruit chunks, which is suitable for the vast majority of consumers either in Europe or Asia, meeting the needs of novel and diverse flavors of fruit fillings for bakers in the current F&B market.

Andros Asia is a French company having factories in Vietnam. We specialize in the first transformation of locally sourced tropical fruits. Besides, we also focus on processed fruits to produce ingredients well-tailored for applications of beverages and pastries. With a variety of flavors of Filling jam including Apple, Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Cherry, Apricot and other supporting ingredients for baking, Andros Asia is ready to advise on high-quality bartending and baking ingredients for businesses around the world.

Please contact Andros Asia directly through the information below for advice and dedicated support!

Representative office in HCMC: Room 902 – 904, 9th floor, Women’s Building, 20 Nguyen Dang Giai, Thao Dien Ward, District 2, HCMC, Vietnam

Factory: Lot 47-49-51, My Tho Industrial Park, Trung An Commune, My Tho City, Tien Giang Province

Hotline: +84(0)28 3519 0228

Email: contact@andros-asia.com / orders@andros-asia.com