Chouquettes

The pastries of Paris. Sigh. What are you going to do but...well...eat them? I keep telling myself not to indulge. But with the kids on spring break and lots of errands still to be done, I found myself today bribing them to stick with me through all the comings and goings with the promise that we would go test the best chouquettes in Paris, as featured in last week's Figaroscope.

If you don't know what a chouquette is, let me explain. The short answer is that it's a little cream puff. But that description is really too pedestrian. It's a tiny, light as air, sphere of fresh pastry that's studded with thick sugar crystals.

At any rate, we took a detour in our errand running to Le Quartier du Pain on the rue St. Charles in the 15th arrondissement. I bought a little bagful and we bit into the first one right there in the street. Wow. Yum. OMG. Insert your favorite expression of rapture here. They were hot from the oven and the warm caramelized sugar on top of the rich pastry added an extra hint of luciousness.

Thank goodness, it's a bit of a shlep from my place to there. Although my 10 year old pronounced it worth the trip, there's little chance that I will get in the habit of swinging by Le Quartier du Pain on the spur of the moment. But if you happen to be in the neighborhood, don't miss it. And if you stay on the train for an extra few stops, even if you have to change lines to get there, your secret is safe with me.

You can find the addresses and ranking of the top 10 addresses for chouquettes in Paris here.

At the request of an anonymous commenter, here's some grade A footage of the baked goods in question:

Le palmarès des chouquettes - Le Figaro
Le test des meilleures chouquettes de Paris par la rédaction du Figaroscope

Mots-clés : chouquette paris figaroscope

Video de figaroscope