Teuscher champagne truffles, bestill my beating heart

Cupid seared my heart when he delivered a box of Teuscher champagne truffles.

I hadn’t had them in years (which is shameful, I was reminded, upon first bite).

I took my time, admiring their bullet-like shape.

 And then did a little aerial surveillance…

A fine dusting of confectioner’s sugar.

Inside, the rich smoothness of the dark chocolate ganache…

…surrounding the champagne core that has just the slightest crunch.

Effervescent. Decadent yet subtle. Sublime.

Piles of pancakes in the dead of winter

This is what greets you at Clinton Street Baking Company.

But this is what awaits.

I’m talking about the pistachio frangipane pancakes with burgundy cherries.

It’s Pancake Month at Clinton Street Baking Company.

 So naturally Bennie and I got the special pancakes.

But we also got some French toast.

You know, just to balance out the carbs.

 

Beholden to Balthazar

Take your pretty eggshell blue and fiery red boxes and the sparkling jewels inside.

I’ll take this sunny yellow box that contains something equally exquisite.

The Balthazar Apricot Frangipane Tart.

Moist. Nutty. Fruity.

Pitch perfect balance and pure pleasure.

Something good right under your nose

Do you know L.A. Burdick?

I’ve always known them for their chocolate mice. I don’t know why. Even after they moved into a quiet strip of 20^th Street here in New York and I’d stroll through from time to time to ogle the pastries, I only thought of them for chocolate mice.

 

So I was happy to meet a friend for breakfast early one weekday morning. The pastry case was plein, full.

 With cakes and torts of various sizes, flavors and fashions.

Let’s get a closer look at those.

And they had plenty of French specialties. Macarons with nice croutes.

Miam.

 Miam, miam.

Madeleines...

...and, the reason we were there: pain au chocolat.

The perfect way to start a day: breakfast with a friend over French pastries.

28 days of hot chocolate

Step right up. It’s Hot Chocolate Festival time!

For the next 27 days, you can sample something different from City Bakery’s annual deluge of fun, funny, inspirational and always delicious cocoa flavors.

 

You can get it with a homemade marshmallow to stay.

Or take it to go.

I’m especially keen for banana peel (today and the 23rd), caramel (the 3rd), bourbon (8th), black rum & cinnamon (22nd) and the ode to the polar bear (27th). What about you?

Paris-Brest, Paris-New York, Always Divine

Phew. I got to indulge in Jacques Genin's glorious Paris-Brest just a month before he put the kibosh on making pastries. So enamored was I, I also went for Philippe Conticini’s award-winning Brest. Both were divine: rings of choux pastry, piped full of rich hazelnut pastry cream. Classically French, undeniably indulgent.

So why stop now? It may be a new year and a different city, but that’s no reason not to indulge in the French classic when the opportunity presents itself.

Not that the Paris-Brest readily presents itself in New York. Macarons are ubiquitous. Baba Rhum is creeping onto menus around town. The Paris-Brest is more elusive.

But when Dominique Ansel opened his Soho bakery a little over a year ago, this was the pastry that garnered him a lot of attention. (That and his oh-so-sweet-sticky-buttery-perfect Kouign Amann).

Ansel, inspired by his go-to snack when he first came to the city—none other than a Snickers bar—replaced the hazelnut cream with rich dark chocolate and savory peanut butter that meld beautifully between the softly crunchy rings of pastry.

He also miniaturized it—perhaps the only dessert that is smaller here in America than in France.

And showing the French flair for artistry, dots of peanut butter and candied nuts decorate the salted caramel glacage on top. 

It's reassuring to know this French beauty is so close here in New York.