The Top Five Regional Desserts You Must Try When Visiting France

Our favorite regional treats when visiting France.

Photo from: CuisineAZ

France is known for many things; the wine, the fashion, and of course, the food! While you could easily live on decadent pastries and sweets throughout your whole visit, the standard pâtisserie or boulangerie fare is just the tip of the iceburg! Sure, you'll find éclairs or traditional tarte aux pommes in most shop windows no matter which city you find yourself in, but there are so many regionally specific sweets in France, I could literally feature a new post each month of a full year, digging into a slew of the different delicacies and still not run out of things to write about! For this post, however, I have narrowed it down to five sweets found regionally around France that every visitor should try, if they haven't yet. 

Photo from: TasteFrance

In the number five slot are the small but absolutely beautiful Calissons d' Aix en Provence. Fun fact, in '91 the calisson became a protected food item, essentially meaning that confectioners must follow the same procedure and use a very strict list of ingredients in order to earn the authentic title of Calisson d'Aix.
So, what exactly is a calisson? It is ground almonds mixed with orange blossom water and candied melon that is brought together into a paste and spread on top of unleavened bread. From there, a thin layer of royal icing is coated on top. It's most compared to the texture of marzipan with  a sweet taste of melon. While the most traditional flavor is in fact melon, there are some places that will offer an array of flavors such as fig, chocolate, orange, or raspberry. These treats can be found all over Provence, but it's especially nice to pick up a tin of them in their hometown of Aix and nibble on a few while strolling the cities beautiful, shaded streets.
Tip: These travel really well, so if you are looking for a specialty item to bring home for family and friends, these would be perfect. They are a little expensive, but that is only because they are made with such pricey ingredients and are packaged so beautifully!

Photo from: Cuisineetmets

Number four on my list is the Tarte Tropézienne. I had seen the tarte here and there around Provence during our home buying roadtrip and our first summer in the house, but it was never alluring enough to warrant buying a whole cake just for the two of us. Andy usually eats one serving of sweets, then wants nothing to do with the leftovers. Because of this, I've always opted for smaller items when at the boulangerie or pâtisserie. This summer, on a trip to Saint Remy with our close friend Agnès, our chosen lunch spot had miniature versions and I finally decided to try my first Tarte Tropézienne. 
Fun fact, the tarte was actually created by a Polish, not French, baker who had relocated to the area after World War II. Adapting a recipe he had learned from his grandmother, the tarte was starting to take shape. When it comes to its famous name, however, the story is rooted in a bit of glamour and fame. The creator, Alexandre Micka, was hired to cater the set of a Brigitte Bardot film that was being shot in Saint Tropez. While on set, the actress is said to have fallen in love with the cake and named it after the town.  The rest, as they say, is history!
So, what exactly is a Tarte Tropézienne? While the cake has a few variations, the basic recipe consists of a brioche dough that is baked and cut in half. What goes inside is where I found the most variations. Some recipes call for a French custard, others call for a crème diplomate (pastry cream + heavy whipping cream), and one recipe even called for madame crème (crème diplomate minus the gelatin), which I have never heard of until looking more into that style of cream. Some recipes also called for flavoring the pastry cream with vanilla or orange blossom water. Beautiful speckles of pearl sugar are placed on top before it is baked, giving the brioche a studded and almost whimsical look. Once the tarte is assembled with the delicious filling, a quick dusting of icing sugar completes the look.
​I personally don't love brioche. To me, it tends to be a little on the drier side of the bread options (or maybe I've just been eating underwhelming brioche?), so I wasn't expecting too much from my dessert that came with my lunchtime formule that day in Saint Remy.
Quelle surprise! (What a surprise!) It was light and airy, not too sweet, not too heavy, just the most perfect dessert! The crunch of the pearl sugar on top mixed with the fluffy cake and the slightly sweetened pastry cream was to die for and, despite appearing like a simple dessert, it felt almost too decadent to be eating for lunch!
If you are around Saint Tropez and are looking for a perfect regional specialty to end your meal with, you must try the Tarte Tropézienne! Don't let it's simple look fool you, you wouldn't be disappointed! 

My third pick for regional desserts is Les Merveilleux (or, in particular, Aux Merveilleux de Fred). While living in France as a language assistant, I ended up forging a very close bond with one of the teachers that I was an assistant for. Despite being in my late twenties, Agnès had a very motherly way about her, taking me under her wing in the most comforting and kind way. Throughout the school year, she and her husband, Christophe, would plan little trips around the region, so I could get a feel of the real Picardie. One such weekend trip was to Lille, where they insisted that I try Aux Merveilleux de Fred.  

Photo: L'observateur

When first walking into the Aux Mervilleux de Fred shop in the old section of Lille, you can't help but be caught up in the whimsy and magic. ​The space is tiny, but there is a lot of charm is packed into this small space. The beautifully tiered chandelier illuminates the brightly colored mounds of meringue that match their flavors such as: caramel, coffee, cherry and praline. 
Fun fact; the cake, while dating back much further than Fred's wildly popular treats, was created in Northern France and named after the nickname of aristocratic woman during the Reign of Terror; the women being called “Les Merveilleuses", or the marvelous, because of their over indulgence in clothes, food and, of course, desserts.

Photo provided by:Praugemorning

So what exactly is different from a Merveilleux and a Merveilleux de Fred? For starters, when Fred gave the pastry a makeover in the 1980's, he started by lightening the meringue base. He also began offering more unique flavors than was traditionally made.
These little sweets are essentially rings of baked meringue sandwiched together with pastry cream until it creates a little mountain. The outside is then covered with more pastry cream and rolled in different toppings that match their designated flavor.
When I was first brought to the small shop by Agnès and Christophe, this was the only location you could go to get the treats. In more recent years, however, the brand has expanded and you can now find them not only all over France, but in Belgium as well.  If you find yourself going to an apèro and don't want to bring the host the standard bottle of wine, pick up a pack of these. Everyone will be glad you did!

Photo: Allrecipes.com

When it comes to the number two and one spots on my list, it was hard to decide which of the treats I loved more. Both were from completely different regions with completely different tastes and histories. In the end, I decided the second spot would go to the humble but delicious Kouign Amann. I have seen the pastry shaped in two different styles throughout the Brittany region; the one style featured above and the one shown below.

Photo:BakeryBrera.com

Andy and I had our first ever kouign amann (pronounced: Kween Ah Mahn) in the beautiful Breton village of Dinan. Sitting outside of a charming ancient church, we split our first kouign amann and were instantly in love. When it comes to the pastry itself, the Kouign Amann is known as one of the most fattening pastries in all of France. Fun fact, Kouign Amann means butter cake in the Breton language and they aren't kidding! The ratio of dough to butter and sugar is 40%, 30%, 30%! This is very much a pastry to be shared, as it is essentially a croissant dough, rolled and layered with immense amounts of sugar and butter, which caramelize the pastry, giving it a unique and absolutely incredibly texture and taste.  I have seen these pastries every once in a while outside of this region, but not as often as I'd like. If you are in the Brittany region or happen to stumble across one outside of the region you must try one, just don't think about the calories! It's totally worth it.

Photo from HomeCookingAdventures

And finally, my top recommendation of regional sweets goes to the Canelé de Bordeaux!  My first experience with this little treat was actually not in France. On a chilly fall evening, my French professor, who was transplanted to Pittsburgh from the suburbs of Paris, brought them in as a little treat for us to try. She was notorious for whipping up some nostalgic French favorites from her childhood and bringing them in for her eager students to taste. The canelé is a strange dessert; a little burnt and caramelized on the outside, yet soft and very moist, and a little sponge like on the inside. I was immediately infatuated with them! The ingredients are very simple, but the process to make the canelé is a bit tricky. 
Traditionally baked in fluted copper molds, the interior of the molds are coated in beeswax in order to help crisp up the outside, therefore preserving the custardy interior for a longer period of time. More and more people, however, are finding new and alternative ways to not fork out the $140 and up cost for a set of these specific copper molds. Many have resorted to using the newly established silicone molds for these incredible treats and some say they've had success with recreating it, but reviews seem to be hit or miss. Some bakers are saying the silicone doesn't give the same caramelized effect to the outside that the copper molds would. It's a steep price to pay, but it seems to me like the copper molds are the way to go. Call me a purist but, without the crispy outer crust, it just isn't a canelé to me.
The canelé batter is a pretty straightforward custard mixture, with rum and vanilla added to give the dessert a very specific and elevated taste. I am very much a texture eater, essentially meaning that there are certain foods I will not eat based soley on the texture. It's the texture of these, though, that I find myself really enjoying. The caramelized outside coating a soft custardy middle is a contrast I really, really enjoy. Though these come specifically from Bordeaux, you can in fact find these around other areas in France. At one point, I spotted one in a McCafé window up north in Amiens. While I don't promote going to Mc Café for your first ever taste of a canelé,  I will say, that spotting should attest to its popularity amongst les citoyens (the citizens) of France! 

Photo:ThePerfectLoaf.com

Fun fact; the word canelé comes from the French word for fluted, referring to the molds they are baked in. The story has it that with so many winemakers in the region using egg whites to clarify their wine, large amount of egg yokes were left over, which the winemakers would give to the local convents. Looking for a way to use up all of these yokes, the nuns added some other ingredients and the canelé was born! Rum and vanilla were added later on down the road but, by then, the canelé was already a regional favorite. 

There are so many different regional treats around France! What are your favorites? Is there a certain sweet from around your region that visitors shouldn't leave without trying? Tell me all about it below!