Saveur - 49 French Desserts

49 French Desserts

1. Gteau Millasson (Gascon-Style Flan)
2. Apple Croustade (Flaky Apple Tart)
3. Chocolate Puff Pastry
4. Pain au Chocolat (Chocolate Croissant)
5. Olive Oil Quatre Quarts with Chopped Fruit
6. Raspberry Brle
7. Lavender Honey Ice Cream
8. Crazy Day Crpes
9. Macarons
10. Chewy Almond Macaroons
11. Les Navettes de Saint Victor (Shuttle Cookies)
12. Clafoutis aux Olives Noires Confites (Candied Black Olive Cake)
13. Brown Butter Tart with Blackberries
14. Palmiers
15. Napoleons
16. Pear Tarte Tatin
17. Crpes with Maple Sugar and Syrup
18. Fiadone (Corsican-Style Cheesecake)
19. Cherry Clafoutis
20. Apricot-Almond Tart
21. French Crullers
22. Alice Medrich's House Truffles
23. Croquembouche (Caramel-Glazed Cream Puffs)
24. Pistachio Financiers
25. White Chocolate-Cream Cheese Mousse
26. Chocolate Mousse
27. Lemon Souffl
28. Maple Squares with Walnuts
29. Madeleines
30. Chocolate-Dipped Orange Financiers
31. Torta Pisticcina (Chestnut Flour Tart)
32. Mousse au Citron (Lemon Mousse)
33. Coeur la Crme with Caramelized Strawberries
34. French Apple Tart
35. Plum Tart
36. Sour Cherry Compote
37. Banana Tarte Tatin
38. Maple Syrup Dumplings
39. Punitions (French Shortbread Cookies)
40. La Grand Bouffe : Jacques Pepins Apple Tart
41. Marie Joss Chocolate Cake
42. Cheese Curd Tart
43. Tarte aux Figues, Matignon d'Abricots la Sauge Ananas, Sorbet d'Abricot (Fig Tart with Apricot Sorbet)
44. Small Pastry Puffs with Chocolate Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream
45. Bche de Nol
46. Flourless Chocolate Souffl (Souffl au Chocolat)
47. Crepes Suzette
48. Upside-down Apple Tart
49. Crme Brle

SERVES 8

• Unsalted butter, for greasing
• 1 cups flour, plus more for pan
• cup sugar
• tsp. kosher salt
• 4 cups milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 eggs

Heat oven to 425. Butter and flour a 10" pie plate; set aside. Whisk flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Whisk milk, vanilla, and eggs in another bowl until combined. Slowly whisk dry ingredients into wet ingredients to make a smooth batter. Pour batter into prepared pie plate; bake until browned in places, puffed in the center, and set around the edges, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Chill 30 minutes before slicing.

SERVES 6

• 10 tbsp. unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
• cup, plus 4 tsp. granulated sugar
• tsp. kosher salt
• 6 sweet apples, such as Gala or Golden Delicious, peeled, cored, and cut into wedges
• cup armagnac or another brandy
• 7 sheets phyllo dough, defrosted if frozen

1. Melt 4 tbsp. butter in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Add cup granulated sugar, salt, and apples; cook, stirring occasionally, until apples are slightly caramelized, about 20 minutes. Pull pan from heat and add armagnac; carefully ignite with a match. Return to heat and cook until flames subside and liquid is reduced by half, about 3 minutes; let cool.
2. Assemble and bake the tart: Heat oven to 425. Grease a 10" springform pan with butter; set aside. Melt remaining butter in a 1-qt. saucepan; keep warm. Lay 1 sheet phyllo on a work surface; brush with some melted butter and sprinkle with 1 tsp. granulated sugar. Fit into prepared pan, allowing corners of dough to hang over edges. Repeat using 3 more sheets phyllo, laying each sheet at a 45 turn from the last. Spread apples over dough in an even layer. Cut remaining sheets of phyllo in quarters, and, working with 1 piece at a time, pinch at the center and flip over, so that the corners are pulled together and facing up; place over top of tart. Repeat with remaining pieces phyllo until top of tart is covered. Drizzle with remaining melted butter; bake until golden and crisp, about 30 minutes. Let tart cool completely in pan, then unmold and transfer to a serving platter.

MAKES 3-LB. DOUGH

• 1 cups ice-cold water
• 1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 2 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour, chilled, plus more
• 1 cups bread flour, chilled
• 9 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened, plus 30 tbsp., chilled
• 1 cups Dutch cocoa powder

1. Stir water and salt in a stand mixer fitted with a hook. Add flours and softened butter; mix until dough forms. Knead dough until smooth, 23 minutes. Form dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap; chill 1 hour.

2. Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, mix chilled butter with cocoa powder. Transfer to a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a 7 x 10 rectangle; wrap in plastic wrap and chill until solid, about 1 hour.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12" x 18" rectangle. Use a pastry brush to dust excess flour from both sides of dough. Place butter onto short end of rectangle; fold other side of dough up and over butter. Pinch dough edges to encase butter. Working from 1 short end of rectangle, and using a rolling pin, press pin into dough to soften butter, using a rocking motion between ridges to lengthen dough. Roll dough into a 10" x 24" rectangle. Fold dough into thirds, like a letter; wrap in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.

3. With 1 short side of rectangle facing you, roll dough into a 10" x 24" rectangle. Fold dough into thirds, wrap, and chill 30 minutes. Repeat rolling, folding, and chilling dough 3 more times. Chill dough at least 1 hour before using; freeze up to 6 months.

MAKES 18 CROISSANTS

1 tbsp. yeast
cup milk
cup sugar
1 cups plus 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, barely softened, plus 3 tbsp., melted and cooled
1 tbsp. powdered milk
1 tbsp. kosher salt
4 cups flour
18 "-wide x 3"-long bittersweet chocolate bars
1 egg mixed with 1 tbsp. water, for egg wash

1. Stir together yeast and cup water heated to 115 together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook; let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in milk, sugar, 3 tbsp. melted butter, powdered milk, and salt; add flour. Mix on medium speed until a stiff dough forms, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a work surface and form into a thick square; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
2. Place remaining butter on a sheet of plastic wrap; cover with another sheet. Using a rolling pin, pound and shape butter into a 6, -thick square; set aside. Using rolling pin, roll dough into an 16 square on a lightly floured work surface. Unwrap butter square, and place on dough so its corners line up with the middle point of each side of dough square; fold dough corners over butter so they meet in the center. Roll dough into a 12 x 9 rectangle, and then tri-fold dough like a letter. Roll the dough into a 12 x 9 rectangle and repeat folding. Wrap in plastic wrap; chill for 30 minutes. Repeat rolling and folding dough twice more; chill for 1 hour.