4 Authentic French Desserts That Are Tasty and Aesthetically Pleasing

French cuisine is among the best in the world. UNESCO, for example, included French food on its 2010 selection of intangible cultural treasures. While the European country is known for popular dishes like French onion soup, ratatouille, and coq au vin, it’s arguably more well-known for its delicious and diverse selection of desserts, including the four below.

Macarons

Macarons are delightful small French pastries that can incorporate hundreds of different flavors, colors and themes. Macarons are typically small and round, but shapes and sizes can vary, which makes this popular French dessert so adaptable.

Macarons are considered to be a cookie, and a cute one at that. They are easy to find pre-packaged in stores, but are simple enough to make at home. The two cookie pieces are made from whipped egg whites with ultra-fine almond flour and powdered sugar folded in. A creamy frosting made of butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and a dash of salt is sandwiched in between the two cookies. Some bakers might add food coloring and additional flavor extracts to both the cookie and/or filling for an extra-neat visual.

Macarons are already known as the most popular cookie in Paris, and they have been gaining popularity throughout the rest of the world, as well. Many people serve macarons as party favors or after-dinner treats. Due to their small size and aesthetically pleasing visuals, macarons also make excellent gifts.

Crème Brûlée

Crème brûlée, or “burnt cream” in English, is a classic dessert that was created for French royalty. In the kitchen of the Palace of Versailles in France, a velvety smooth custard was paired with a shiny hard layer of glazed caramel, and that is how crème brûlée was born.

Crème brûlée is usually made by whipping up a custard and pouring it into individual small ramekin bowls. The custard cools completely, then a layer of caramel is added on top. The caramel layer is then broiled by using either the broiler setting on an oven or a kitchen torch. The result is a creamy custard hidden beneath a shiny, crunchy sweet layer of burnt caramel.

What is so aesthetically pleasing about this dessert is not only the visual of the dish itself, but also the sensory experience of taking the first bite. A spoon is used to crack open the broiled caramel layer, signifying the beginning of the dessert. From each bite onward, the mixture of smooth and crunchy textures in each bite is sensationally pleasing. It’s no wonder that the French royals fell in love with crème brûlée.

Mille-feuille

The French love custard and pastries, and mille-feuille is a delicious and delectable combination of both. Mille-feuille, which translates to “thousand sheets” in French, is a popular French dessert usually consisting of two layers of creamy vanilla pastry cream sandwiched between three layers of light puff pastry. A mixture of chocolate and vanilla icing is typically placed on the top layer of puff pastry.

You will likely get the most delicious and authentic mille-feuille at a French café, but it’s possible to make your own with just a few simple ingredients. You can even avoid the arduous baking process of making the puff pastry by using frozen sheets as opposed to fresh. Start by boiling milk and vanilla seeds in a pot over medium heat, allowing the flavors to combine for about 15 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar, corn starch, and egg yolk. Add in some of the hot vanilla-milk mixture and then pour everything through a strainer into the saucepan. Continue cooking until thickened and then stir in butter.

While the mixture is chilling (usually about two hours), thaw and bake your pastry layers and prepare the glaze, which is a mixture of powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk. Take about 1/3 cup of the glaze and add to another bowl with cocoa powder to create the chocolate glaze. Then you can begin assembling the dessert.

Clafoutis

Visually appealing and easily interchangeable, clafoutis is a French dessert that looks like a shallow cake overflowing with vibrantly colored fruit. The name of this dessert means “to fill,” which is indicative of how this traditional French dessert is made by filling up a pan with fruit and batter.

Traditionally, clafoutis utilizes black cherries as fruit topping, but bakers can choose to substitute other fruits such as raspberries, peaches, apricots, apples, pears, and plums, to name a few.

Clafoutis is incredibly simple to make, with easy-to-access ingredients like flour, sugar, salt, eggs, butter, milk, and lemon zest. Everything gets whipped up and poured into a small, round casserole or pie dish, then topped with the desired fruit and baked in the oven. The result is a fluffy yet dense pancake-sized casserole with a custard-like consistency. Powdered sugar is sprinkled on top to add extra sweetness.

Because so many different kinds of fruits can be used in clafoutis, this dish is versatile and guaranteed to always look aesthetically pleasing. It makes a beautiful-looking after-brunch or dinner dessert.