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The Best French Pastries Found in Bakeries and Pâtisseries

When it comes to French food, I have simple tastes. I don’t crave fancy foods. I’m happy with bread, cheese, quiches (savoury pies), viennoiseries such as pains aux raisins or chaussons aux pommes (apple turnovers) or simple pastries such as flans.

Nantes has several famous and fancy pâtissiers, such as Debotté or Carli. Their shops are fascinating, with elaborated colourful pastries on display. Frankly, I think sticking a spoon into these art pieces is a crime. Sure, the mousse might be delicious and the chocolate coating is probably just sweet enough… but can you imagine the tedious work involved in each pastry?

I already find bakers are masochists. I mean, they wake up at dawn to bake loaves and loaves of bread, roll croissants into perfect half-moons and stick chocolate into sweet bread—and they do it every single morning, all over again. But pastry chefs take masochism to a whole different level, crafting these fancy yet ephemeral treats.

These days, Mark has a chocolate-smeared face on half of the pictures because he discovered les boulangeries and loves his daily treat. Like every French kid, he unfolds the dough of his pain au chocolat to eat the chocolate first and he complains loudly if I buy something without a sweet filling. A piece of brioche without chocolate chips? Quelle horreur!

French Pastries
French Pastries
French Pastries
French Pastries
French Pastries
French Pastries
French Pastries
French Pastries
French Pastries
French Pastries
French Pastries
French Pastries
French Pastries
French Pastries
Oriental Pastries
Oriental Pastries
Oriental Pastries
Oriental Pastries
Oriental Pastries
Oriental Pastries
Macarons
Macarons
Croissants aux Amandes and Brioche
Croissants aux Amandes and Brioche
Pains au Chocolat
Pains au Chocolat
Brioches
Brioches
Pains au Chocolat Cooking
Pains au Chocolat About to be Baked
French Pastries
French Pastries
Mark and his Treats
Mark and his Treats
Mark and his Treats
Mark and his Treats
Mark and his Treats
Mark and his Treats
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Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

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