Christmas in France: three typical desserts to try

What better time than Christmas in France to enjoy a great dessert typical? Those who say France say gastronomy, especially pastry. The country of croissants and founders au chocolat He certainly cannot afford to disfigure, especially during the holidays.

To talk about typical French desserts would not be enough whole weeks, but at Christmas it is impossible not to mention at least three: Bûche de Noël, the Galette des rois and the thirteen desserts Provencals.

Bûche de Noël

The bûche de Noël, literally "Christmas anklet" is an institutional dessert on French Christmas boards, like pandoro and panettone. Based on spongebread, it is stuffed with pastry cream or cocoa and rolled, so as to obtain the shape of a log. The typical wood veins are made with a butter cream or an icing, usually chocolate. The bûche is then decorated in various ways, with puppets, sugar mushrooms or leaflets of fake holly.

Over the years the recipe of bûche de Noël has undergone many original variations. In the best pastry shops it is very easy to find bûches berries, pistachios, lemons, with a base of waffles or biscuits, or with ice cream, cream or Mousse. Would you like to try to prepare it in the house? A recipe for everyone is proposed by the great Cyril Lignac, one of the best French pastry chefs: click here to find out.

If ever in life you will share one bûche with some Frenchmen, no doubt expect the joke: "What is it, a kloug?". Don’t worry, it’s certainly not an offense, but only a film reference that deserves to be known. To know which one, do not miss the film Le père Noël est une ordura, authentic cult of French cinema to be watched strictly in the original language. After seeing him, trust me, you'll never call one again. bûche Same way!

Galette des Rois

If Epiphany takes away all the feasts, the goodness of Galette des rois leads us gently towards the farewell to Christmas. This fragrant and fragrant cake accompanies the French tables, companies and offices from 6 January to Chandeleur of February, and then leave room for traditional Crepes.

In addition to being a symbol of Feast of Epiphany, the Galette des rois It becomes an excuse to find and wish a happy new year to friends, relatives and colleagues. Those who lived in France will have participated at least once in a sumptuous "galette farm", perhaps accompanied by fresh cider and champagne.

Why the galette des rois Is it that special?

The recipe is very simple: two discs of puff pastry stuffed with eggs, butter, sugar and chopped almonds, and then baked gold. The Appearance Remembers the crown of the Magi kings and for this reason, more than during Christmas in France, this dessert reigns sovereign to Epiphany. Also in this case, pastry shops and boulangeries propose a thousand variants: Chocolate, hazelnuts or apples are the most common. But something really special is hidden inside the Galette: the famous fève, a ceramic puppet that will bring so much luck to those who will find it.

The distribution of the cake also follows a very special ritual: the youngest of the table must hide under the table and, with closed eyes and without cheating, decide who belongs to every single slice. Those who find it will receive the title of king or queen of the day and will gain exclusive Cardboard crown accompanying the Galette. Every time galette des rois One always wonders who will be the lucky one to have the crown... and risk breaking a tooth with the fève!

The thirteen desserts of Provènce

 

The latter tradition is typical of Provençal Christmas, in southern France, where the thirteen desserts They are the great protagonists of the table. They are consumed on the occasion of the dinner of the eve, known as "Lou gros soupà". The tasting starts after midnight, upon returning from Christmas Mass.

Despite France's secularism, the thirteen desserts have a profound religious significance. The choice of number is not random, because they are thirteen like Jesus Christ and his apostles. The arrangement is also strategic, since desserts are served on tables with three different white tablecloths, symbolizing the Trinity.

Of the thirteen Provencal desserts, seven can never miss:

• Four mendiants, the four beggars who correspond to four religious orders: grapes pass through Dominicans, hazelnuts or nuts for Augustinans, almonds for Carmelites and finally dried figs for Franciscans:
• à huile pumps, Brioches made from olive oil, scented with orange flowers. Tradition wants it to be broken strictly like hands, like Jesus during the Last Supper. But there is also superstition: affect the à huile pumps With a knife would cause serious economic problems!
• dates, representing the East from which the Magi come;
• black and white torrone, to symbolize good and evil.

Among the six "optional" elements of thirteen desserts We find a wide range of fruits and sweets: plums, oranges, mandarins, candied fruit, Provencal biscuits such as case-dents and biscotins but above all calissons of Aix-en-provence, made from almond paste and icing.

In the frenzy of modernity and daily life, it is beautiful to note how certain traditions are maintained and respected. And traditions pâtissières Christmas can undoubtedly make France very proud!