Paris Brest At Its Best

A really nice and sunny afternoon in Seattle, and this holiday just gets more merry! I have been visiting couple of french bakeries lately. I don't know, I guess I just fall in love with the relaxed atmosphere and those puffy pastries. La Parisienne was located perfectly on my way to Space Needle, one of the tourist attraction in Seattle.

Okay, my fav pastry, a Paris Brest! This is a choux pastry that looks like a donut married with cream puff. 

Another words, a donut shaped puff pastry sandwiching a rich and creamy hazelnut pastry cream, and some silvered almonds on top with sugar dusting.

 This is my first time trying paris brest, and I gotta tell you, it's really good! The sweetness of the hazelnut cream is just nice, and the hazelnut flavor is really coming out and melts in the mouth. Then this sweet and nutty soft cream is balanced with delicate puffy choux pastry. This is the type of pastry that you will feel like buying one extra piece, but at the same time you want some savory food and a nice tea to cleanse your palate with.

Next, a meringue. 

Yes, it literally is the size of a face. So big yet so tempting. Meringue is actually my brother's favorite baked goods, and he got really excited to taste. In a second, there you go! A meringue on our plate, ready to enjoy. 

As you see in the picture, that was how crunchy the meringue is. Crumbs everywhere, and it is not hard to make a mess on your table. When you cut it open, you'll not get a fully structured meringue top to bottom, but rather airy hole in the middle. Then, as you progress cutting near the bottom, it's going to get chewier and less crunchy. 

A little bit of science, the chewy part is created by the moisture that is trapped inside the batter during the baking process. The hot temperature caused the surface of the meringue batter to cook more rapidly in the oven, leaving that moisture to be sealed in inside and cannot be fully cooked. There goes the food science! As far as taste concern, no worries, my brother managed to finish it in one seating.

See you on another post!

La Parisienne

2507 4th Avenue

Seattle, WA 98121

USA

A Very French Bakery

Yesterday, I went to one of the must-to-go places in Seattle, the Pike Place Market. And yeah, it was really crowded all here and there. There were so many bakeries, restaurants, and food shops that are rated above 3.5 stars in Yelp. Just out of my curiosity, there was this bakery that stood out the most, Le Panier. People were making long lines to queue baked goods and I got myself in the line too, not wanting to miss out. As I got towards the display glass, oh wow! They got lots of pretty eclairs and macarons. Pistachio, hazelnut, classic chocolate eclairs, then raspberry, orange blossom, vanilla, and lots of fragrance flavored macarons. Under the Le Panier sign, it said 'A very french bakery', and so I was looking for more baked stuffs they had that were  french. Looking around the bakery, they had this one section, a special section for sandwich. It gets more interesting knowing that all the sandwiches were wrapped with baguette. I suggest you guys to try the Brie Sandwich. It is a simple baguette with brie in the middle, and you can ask to have it warmed up. Melted buttery cheese in the middle, with warm and crunchy-on-the-outside baguette will just make your day. You know, good food good mood. They also have baguette with ham, cheese, lettuce if you maybe are looking for a more familiar type of sandwich. Deliceux!