The Summer Olympics are just around the corner. The Olympics are all about sports, athleticism, and energy, but for some, the Paris Olympics brings to mind something completely different: pastries.
If you’ve ever set foot in a patisserie at home or abroad, or watched The Great British Bake Off, you know just how famous France is for all manner of baked goods. From your everyday baguette to the show-stopping entremets (look it up!), France’s sweet and savory specialities easily sweep the gold, silver, and bronze medals in our hearts and stomachs.
Story continues below ad
So, in honor of this tradition and the Olympics, we’ve decided to pair 10 noteworthy sports with the pastry that best represents them. Yes, this is ridiculously subjective. Yes, we’re okay with that. So, if baking and eating are your preferred spectator sports, join us on our French Culinary Tour.
(Amber Day, The Washington Post)
Cream puffs and basketball 3×3
Like the other pastries mentioned here, choux pastry is made from pâte à choux, a baked dough that is whipped in a pan and then left to rise after being mixed with eggs. To make choux pastry, the baked spheres are broken or hollowed out and filled with other fillings such as custard, whipped cream, or, as in the case of profiterole, ice cream. Choux pastry is closely related to l’éligieuse, which is two layered choux pastries filled with cream and topped with ganache.
Madeleine and Rugby Sevens
French novelist Marcel Proust memorialized the madeleine as evoking memories of times long past, and this elegant treat is perfect with tea or coffee, or dipped into any hot beverage. Madeleines are small, spongy cakes the size of a cookie, and can be vanilla-flavored or flavored with fruit, coffee, or chocolate. Madeleines are made in a special mold, and while it’s not required, some bakers add a touch of glamour by splattering them with melted chocolate or other glazes or toppings. The goal is to achieve a crisp exterior, a moist interior, and the coveted rise on the other side of the scallop.
Croquembouche and sport climbing
Croquembouches take cream puffs to the next level. They are filled with custard or whipped cream and assembled into a spectacular tower using a cone-shaped mould. Caramel holds the cream puffs in place and a dusting of sugar adds an extra decorative flair. Croquembouches are a centrepiece of the holiday season for Christmas and New Year celebrations, but they can also appear at other big occasions, such as weddings.
Eclairs and gymnastics
Like cream puffs, eclairs are based on choux pastry. But instead of forming it into a ball, the dough is piped into smooth or grooved lines and shaped into a rectangle. Eclairs are filled with both a sweet icing and a filling, usually called pastry cream or crème pâtissière in French. To distribute the filling evenly, pastry chefs pipe it in several places along the bottom of the baked pastry, rather than just on one edge.
Story continues below ad
Paris-Brest and cycling – track
It’s a pastry with real sporting ties: pastry chef Louis Durand invented this ring-shaped treat in 1910 to promote a bicycle race between Paris and Brest, a city in Brittany in northwestern France, hence the resemblance to a bicycle wheel. The base is a circular nut-filled choux pastry that’s baked, cut in half and filled with a pastry cream enriched with hazelnut and caramel praline paste, although modern adaptations often use other flavours (some versions have a thin inner pastry ring set into the filling). As well as the expected large Paris-Brest, single-serving versions are also available.
Galette des Rois and trampolines
This round cake appears in bakeries’ display cases around Christmas, as it is the traditional dessert for the Twelve Nights festival preceding Epiphany on 6 January. This version of Galette des Rois, or King Cake, consists of two layers of pastry filled with almond cream. Although relatively simple in appearance, the decorative corrugations around the edges and the notches on the top add to its visual appeal. Like its American counterpart, Galette des Rois often contains a bean or token (fève) hidden in it that is said to bring good luck to the finder.
Macaroons and Athletics — Discus
This colorful sandwich is made of small round cookies made with whipped egg whites, sugar and crushed nuts (such as almonds) and held together by a smooth filling such as buttercream or ganache. The flavors and colors of the cookies and fillings span a rainbow and include chocolate, fruit, caramel, liqueur and flowers. The mark of a good macaron is the “pied,” or little foot, on the bottom edge. Paris-based macaron boutique Ladurée helped turn this gem-like treat into a global phenomenon.
Millefeuille and Diving
This sophisticated dessert is as beautiful as it is visually stunning. Millefeuille, also known as Napoleon, literally translates to “a thousand layers” and usually consists of at least three layers of flaky pastry (each layered on top of another) alternating with layers of pastry cream or whipped cream. Chocolate and fruit may be used as fillings and toppings, and the topping can be as simple as a dusting of powdered sugar or as striking as a swirl of two-tone vanilla and chocolate icing.
Croissants and weightlifting
Interestingly, many claim that the flaky, buttery croissant originated in Austria – from the crescent-shaped kipfels (or kipfels) cookie, or as a 17th-century celebration of Austria’s victory over the Ottoman Empire (whose flag, like that of modern-day Turkey, featured a crescent moon). Whatever the case, 19th-century French bakers undoubtedly helped shape the croissant into what we know today: a pastry made from layers of yeast dough and butter folded over and over again. Pain au chocolat, pain aux raisins and almond croissants are all closely related.
Financier and Equestrian
Like madeleines, financiers are small cakes that are eaten like cookies. Legend has it that these sweet treats made with browned butter and ground almonds were created in 19th-century Paris as a treat for bankers when they went out. That’s why they’re usually rectangular in shape, resembling a gold bar. Some versions are baked in mini muffin tins to give them a small, round shape. Delicious with a crispy exterior and soft inside, financiers don’t require any additional ingredients or decorations, but you can also decorate them with fruit, chocolate, sliced or chopped nuts, or melted chocolate.