Crème brulée

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Crème brûlée (burned cream) is quite easy to prepare: it's a simple egg-cream dessert. The only difficulty is in making the delicious crunchy caramel layer on top. The perfect crème brulée (for me) is a cold and soft cream, with on top a nice hot caramel crust. This is a completely new version of the former recipe, with video.

How to prevent a sheet of paper sliding

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If you put cooking parchment on a baking sheet, you will find it slides all over the place, which is annoying.

Chocolate and vanilla crème brûlée

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This crème brûlée recipe is a sophisticated combination in three layers: chocolate ganache, vanilla custard, and, of course, a delicious thin crust of caramel. It is more complicated than a simple chocolate crème brûlée, but well worth the effort when you see your guests' reactions.

Yeast-based flaky dough (for croissants)

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This yeast-based flaky dough (or croissant dough) is where puff pastry meets a yeast dough (such as brioche dough). This means that not only will we get flaky layers, but the dough will also swell and rise. The method is along the same lines as for a feuilletage: the basic dough is first kneaded, then layered with butter and folded over several times (in "turns") to give it its flakiness. This is a highly technical dough and quite tricky to make well at home by hand, with a rolling pin. But...

How to make tart cases

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It's not easy to make beautiful, even tart cases, but here I'll let you into the secret of how the professionals do it. You will see that there are a lot of little details that make all the difference. It's a bit technical, but don't worry, I'll guide you through the important points.

Breton sablé biscuit dough

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Brittany is famous for its rich, sandy textured "sablé" biscuits. Similar to shortbread, they are made with lots of butter and egg yolk, and just a hint of vanilla. This dough can be made into simple biscuits – already delicious on their own – or used as the base for tarts and other desserts.

Nonettes

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Nonettes are small, jam-filled cakes from a bygone age. They originated in Dijon, where they were made by nuns (hence the name, which means "little nun" in French). The traditional version is closer to the French "pain d'épices", but this recipe has a more of a citrus flavour, made with marmalade.

Nantes Tourton

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The "tourton Nantais" is a sweet loaf from Nantes, somewhere between bread and brioche, but without egg and only a small amount of butter.

Chocolate mendiants

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Mendiants are made with a thin layer of chocolate, stuck with toasted nuts, dried and candied fruit.

Sesame cookies

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These soft little cookies have a double whammy of sesame flavour from toasted seeds combined with a little sesame oil.

Hay-baked poultry

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Cooking poultry in hay may seem strange, but it is a very simple method. The bird is just seasoned and cooked slowly for a long time with a large bunch of hay. During the slow cooking the poultry takes on the flavour of the hay, with its mix of grassy herbal and floral notes. This recipe is inspired by old rural ways of cooking, where meat was cooked for a long time wrapped in hay that had been freshly gathered in.

Tarte à l'coloche

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This is a tart from northern France combining apples with caramel. The name in the ch'ti dialect means "bubble tart", on account of the bubbles made by the caramel while it is cooking.

Little vanilla, clementine and chestnut verrines

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This is a fresh-flavoured verrine with 3 different flavoured layers: vanilla panna cotta, clementine and chestnut mousse.

Escalope cordon bleu

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Escalope cordon bleu, or "cordon bleu", is a great classic of French family cooking: a cutlet of poultry (often chicken) that is folded over a slice of ham, béchamel sauce and strips of cheese, then breaded and baked in the oven. It's a delicacy that most French children have eaten at home, or at the canteen.

Manou's zucchinis garnished

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Manou's zucchinis are zucchini halves topped with a small piece of toast, Mornay sauce and grated cheese before being put in the oven.

New Zealand pies

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New Zealand pies are small pies with different fillings that can be found in any "eatery", those informal places where you can eat in or take away. In this recipe, you'll find a spicy beef version, and another with salmon and bacon.

Ham and cheese croquetas

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Croquetas are small breaded and fried bites, very popular in Spain. They are made from a thick base of béchamel sauce, mixed here with ham and cheese. On the outside, it's crispy, and on the inside, it's meltingly creamy. In Spain, they are often eaten as an aperitif or as an appetizer in tapas bars.

Little apple turnovers with almonds and raisins

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These are small apple turnovers ("chaussons") of puff pastry, filled with a mixture of caramelised almonds, stewed apple and rum-soaked raisins. To be eaten just as they are...

Langoustine and leek tarts

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Small puff pastry cases filled with a layer of chopped leeks, fried langoustines (also known as scampi or Dublin Bay prawns), topped with hollandaise sauce.

Coconut-vanilla cream for Elsa

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A dessert in three layers: a first of smooth vanilla cream, a second of coconut cream (also very smooth), and to finish, a thin crunchy layer of coconut tuiles. In the spirit of crème brulée: break through the crisp surface layer to discover the smooth melting coconut and vanilla creams beneath. A delight...

Making your own bread

You'll find a whole range of bread and pastry recipes on this site, but before you get started, perhaps you'd like to know more about the subject, get some tips and tricks, and find out what the main mistakes beginners make? If so, this page is for you.
August 22^th 2024580 K 63.9

Recipes

A recipe is really quite a simple thing (or should be): a list of ingredients, a method, and that's all there is to it. Unfortunately its not always the case. Sometimes you might get the impression that a recipe, found in a magazine or on a web site, has been concocted especially to make you fail:...
June 3^rd 2024211 K3.6

Some hints for a pizza-party

A pizza party is always a very pleasant and convivial occasion. Good people (friends and family) get together to enjoy delicious pizzas, baked right in the oven. Here are a few tips to help you make yours a success.
July 14^th 2025197 K3.7

The amateur baker

You may have noticed over the pages of this site, I am passionate about everything that is related to the bakery: I love making bread, pastries, maintain my leaven, etc.. This page contains links to all the different parts of the site where we talk about bread: recipes, special pages, etc.
October 15^th 2024212 K 44.2

In cooking, and particularly in baking, there are a lot of seeds we can use, such as linseed, sesame, poppy, etc. Usually, recipes simply say to add them just as they are to the mixture or dough. To make a seeded loaf, for example, prepare a plain bread dough as usual, then, towards the end of...
January 30^th 201566 K4.0

When you have to knead dough for bread or some other recipe, you may well use a food processor or the type of machine known as a stand mixer. The best-known brands are Kenwood and KitchenAid. They are useful tools, but here are a few tips to help you get the best out of them.
June 23^th 2021289 K 23.8

Often in the kitchen, in pastry-making, or in baking, we need to trace a pattern on a pastry. It's just a question of aesthetics but it has its effect after baking on a galette, pithiviers, pâté en croute (terrine in a pie crust), etc.
May 23^th 201939 K4.1

Have you heard of the microplane? It's an extraordinary tool that allows you to grate very, very finely, and therefore zest with disconcerting ease. Here's some information about it.
December 25^th 202010 K4.9

When you make a cake, pound cake or whatever (what bakers call a "travel cake" because it's easy to carry around) you've most likely made a batter, either by hand or in a food processor, which you then pour into a buttered pan. It's a classic, and I've already talked to you about 2 or 3 tips on...
February 6^th 202141 K4.6

When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?
August 25^th 202511 K5