Understanding French Desserts

Some of the best and most exotic French desserts include seasonally selected fruit. France is known for its wine and exotic dishes, but its desserts are equally popular all over the world. The collection of popular French pastries and desserts include cakes, tarts, flans and breads. The favorite ingredients in these desserts include apples and almonds, which are available in flaky pastry.

The French have always loved their desserts and it is treated as a course, which is typically served at the end of the meal. Generally in most countries desserts consist of sweet food but the French also like their desserts to be strongly-flavored and sometimes cheese will be served with dessert.

The French desserts include recipes, which use a thick bottomed pan named the 'skillet'. The skillet has been vital to the conclusion of the dish, especially for their savories like crépes, waffles or gaufres, and their doughnuts or beignets. Even as the French desserts and patisseries are overflowing with delicious sweet treats one need not worry about weight. When you are having French desserts there is no need to worry about the amount of calories. Just check out all the thin women in France and you would know that something is there about the food, which helps them to stay thin.

Here are some of the most popular French desserts-

Croissant: This ancient standard dessert is something that you cannot go wrong with. The crescent shaped pastry is buttery and flaky and comes with the perfect balance of sweetness along with puffiness. The crispiness and softness of a croissant is unbeatable as it melts right in the mouth. The shape of the croissant is similar to the Islamic crescent.

Éclair: This French dessert is a variant of the donut and has been used as a variation in many American versions. The éclairs are long in shape and they are a thin pastry which is made from choux pastry. The éclair is then filled with cream and gets topped with blissful icing, mainly chocolate. Here, éclairs are not made by frying but by baking and you can fill it with coffee or even chocolate.

Pain au Chocolat: This is the cousin of the croissant and this French pastry is basically a croissant-type puff pastry. It contains yummy strips of chocolate, which is generally dark. This dessert has also been known as chocolate bread and tastes best when it is served hot with chocolate melting from your mouth.

Profiterole or the cream puff- This is one of the other French desserts that are actually little piece of heavens. These delightful little treats made from Choux pastry are made into small round puffs. As the pastry gets cooled down it can be served with either whipped cream or custard oozing from the center. You can make your own variant with some caramel sauce or other toppings.