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When you think of France, you may notice your mouth start to salivate. That’s because the country is synonymous with flaky, buttery, and delicious pastries. France is known for many other things, like the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, but let’s take a minute to appreciate the perfect croissant and its many other pastry friends.
The smell, the textures, the flavours, even how they look, you can’t deny French pastries are the ultimate sweet treat and many walking and tasting tours should be taken when visiting so you can fully indulge. Short on time? Not sure where to start? Want to try them all? These are 20 of the best French pastries you simply have to get your lips on.
Pâtisserie vs. Boulangerie vs. Viennoiserie
When in France, traipsing through the pretty cobblestoned streets and the fair weather, you will (very) often stumble upon one of these three establishments: a pâtisserie, a boulangerie, or a viennoiserie. While you’re scratching your head in confusion, we’ll explain the difference.
A pâtisserie is both the French word for pastry as well as the shop they’re sold in. The word is thrown around quite liberally in the rest of the world, but in France the rules for what makes a pâtisserie and what doesn’t are quite strict. For a shop to be considered a real pâtisserie, a licensed ‘maître pâtissier’ (master pastry chef) must be employed. This is because many pâtisseries are complex and require a high level of skill to make – so if you want to tantalise your taste buds with the real deal, make sure you’re in a real pâtisserie!
A boulangerie is a bakery where you will find all kinds of fresh and crispy French breads, as well as a selection of the best French pastries. You can buy a lot at boulangeries, whether it’s an armful of baguettes or a hefty pain de campagne for lunch, but in order for a boulangerie to be real, all the bread must be freshly baked on the premises.
Lastly, a viennoiserie is the name for a specific type of pastry made in the style of Austrian baking. Viennoiseries include the iconic croissant, as well as fluffy brioche breads, and the pain au raisin. Viennoiseries rose to popularity in France when Austrian August Zang opened a Boulangerie Viennoise in Paris, offering this style of pastry to the French and ensuring they fell in love. Many Danish pastries are also inspired by the Austrian style!
So, while all viennoiseries are pâtisseries, not all pâtisseries are viennoiseries, but they can usually all be found in a boulangerie!
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The best French pastries
Anyway, that’s enough history and culture lessons, let’s get into the crème-filled heart of it and discover the 20 best French pastries.
Traditional French pastries
1. Croissant
Starting off with my personal favourite, you just can’t go wrong with a fresh-out-of-the-oven croissant. You may scoff, call it simple or plain, but the buttery, flakey goodness of this pastry might be the pinnacle of French baking.
While its roots are distinctly Austrian (the kipferl), it came to France in the 1800s where it received its crescent shape that earned it the croissant name. Best enjoyed for breakfast and dunked into a rich hot chocolate, the croissant is the most iconic French pastry that garners recognition all over the world.
2. Éclair
When it comes to éclairs, size matters. The bigger it is, the more deliciousness you get! Éclairs are a quintessential French pastry and one of the most indulgent. Made with light choux pastry, éclairs are hollowed out, filled with unctuous crème pâtissière, and then topped with shiny icing. Typically the icing is chocolate and the filling is vanilla, but there are many variations and flavours to be found all over France – we dare you to try them all! My personal favourite is coffee: nothing like a sweet treat that gives you an energy boost.
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3. Mille-feuille
If you’re not from France, you might call this tasty treat a Napoleon. But, when you are in France, you call this a Mille-feuille. Characterised by sheets of puff pastry layered between cream and topped with sugary icing, the mille-feuille is without a doubt one of the best French pastries. It gets its name because of the puff pastry crackling into a thousand layers, and as for why other countries call it a Napoleon I suppose it’s because of what a complex guy he was…
Depending on where you get it from, the mille-feuille can look a little different. Some like to pipe the cream into handsome little dollops, some add fruit like raspberries or strawberry slices, and others change the flavour or pattern of the icing. But, you really can’t go wrong with the classic. Simplicity is better in my opinion!
4. Paris-Brest
While you may not have heard of the Paris-Brest, it’s very iconic within France, especially Paris, and it’s one of the best French pastries you just need to taste for yourself! The Paris-Brest was created in 1910 to commemorate the Paris-Brest-Paris cycle race. So, it follows that this pastry is in the shape of a wheel!
Made up of buttery choux pastry, the ring is sliced through the middle to make two layers and filled with praline cream. Then, it is topped with crunchy almond slivers and powdered sugar to ensure maximum flavour on every bite! It’s indulgent for sure, and best shared with a group of friends on your Contiki around Paris – in my humble opinion, anyway.
5. Palmier
Crispy, sugary, and sticky, the palmier is one of France’s most simplistic pastries. Puff pastry and sugar are rolled together and shaped into a palm and then baked in the oven. Voilà! You can enjoy them on the go as they are flat and sooo portable, or dunk them into your coffee or hot chocolate as a side.
6. Religieuses
Translating to ‘religious’, but really meaning ‘nun,’ the religieuses pastry is underrated in my opinion. The reason it is called a nun is simply because it kind of looks like one! Two choux buns are stacked and chocolate ganache is poured over the top of them both, making this pastry look like a plump little nun wearing a chocolate habitat. The buns are filled with crème pâtissière (sort of a theme in French pastries) and they make for a perfect afternoon desert. Imagine yourself enjoyed one on a street-side café in Paris, watching the people go by – bliss.
7. Pain au chocolat
The croissant’s slightly fancier cousin, you simply can’t ignore the pain au chocolat. It’s perfect for those wanting a lighter pastry that still contains a hint of sugar and surprise. Made with the same flaky dough as a croissant, the only difference is that two bars of chocolate are placed inside, and the shape is different.
Perfect for a walk, for breakfast, or for any time of day really, pain au chocolats are available in every French pâtisserie and boulangerie, and come in all kinds of fun flavours! If you can find one, I would 100% recommend trying an almond pain or chocolat, or a pistachio one – they’re heaven.
But please, no matter what you do, do not call them chocolate croissants!
8. Croquembouche
A croquembouche is certainly a mouthful to say and to eat, and it is the definition of decadent. A tower of cream filled choux buns, stacked and held together by caramelised sugar, then decorated with spun sugar to create delicate strings of gold. The croquembouche isn’t really something you eat everyday, and you’ll be hard pressed to find one in a pâtisserie, but it’s the best French pastry when it comes to big events like weddings or birthdays as it’ll feed a crowd. In fact, the croquembouche is the wedding cake of choice in France, so if you’re heading for some nuptials here, you’re in luck!
9. Profiteroles
Similar to a croquembouche but different, the profiterole is also a choux bun, but it can either be filled with vanilla crème pâtissière or vanilla ice cream! These can be ordered as a dessert in many French restaurants, and they’ll come served with a heart drizzle of warm chocolate ganache causing the ice cream to melt and for the whole dish to become the most delicious mess.
10. Financier
Financiers are small and bite-sized cakes and they make the ideal snack for when you’re on the go flitting between Paris’ many, many museums. They’re quite different from other traditional French pastries actually, as they are formed into compact rectangles and made with nut flour and browned butter, giving them a unique taste.
They’re similar to a flapjack, but only really in shape and size, and oftentimes the financier is topped with pistachios, almonds, or other nuts, and they are spiced with cardamom. They’re golden and scrumptious, and they get their name from the fact that they look like gold bars – financier meaning banker in French.
11. Merveilleux / Mont Blanc
Depending on where you are in France, this pastry is either called a Mont Blanc or a Merveilleux, and either way, it’s aptly named. Merveilleux means marvellous, and Mont Blanc is the tallest peak in the French Alps, and this pastry is constructed with a hunk of meringue dressed in thick whipped cream and coated with a full blanket of chocolate shavings. If you order one of these, prepare to receive a small mountain sitting tall on your plate!
You can purchase these as a single serving, or you can get an entire merveilleux cake for special occasions from pâtisseries and viennoiseries. Best enjoyed cold so that the whipped cream doesn’t slump.
Other French pastries
You may believe that pastries only extend to bite-sized flaky bits of goodness, or unctuous crème-filled choux buns, but actually the word pâtisserie encompasses all sorts of desserts. Here are a few others that you can also find in boulangeries and pâtisseries around France!
1. Macaron
Pronounced mahk-ah-rohn, not mack-ah-roon (that’s a different coconutty treat), the macaron is France’s most elegant bite-sized delight and is often found side by side with the Eiffel Tower, a poodle, and a beret on tourist memorabilia.
Made with almond paste and meringue, filled with jams, ganaches, or buttercream, these little cookies are perfect for those that like sugar, sugar, and more sugar. You can get macarons practically everywhere and they make for a great post meal snack or souvenir for your friends.
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2. Tarte aux Fraises
The tarte aux fraises (strawberry tart) is not only delicious but it’s beautiful. A pristine shortcrust shell, filled with vanilla crème pâtissière, and adorned with a crown of ruby red strawberries, enrobed in a sticky glaze. It takes some real will power to dig your fork into a slice and ruin the aesthetic, but your tummy will thank you.
The tarte aux fraises is sweet and filling, and you can get small handheld ones or a large one to share. Either way, they’re best enjoyed on a hot summer day.
3. Clafoutis
Veering more into cake territory, but still a pâtisserie, the clafoutis is not to be sniffed at. A little hard to describe, a clafoutis is a sort of crustless tart which has a custard-like consistency. It’s a little reminiscent of Portugal’s pastel de natas, but much larger.
Fruit, generally pitted black cherries, are placed on a buttered dish, and then the custardy batter is poured over to bake and then sit to cool. Sugar is sprinkled over the top and then served. It’s really delicious, rustic and charming, and so easy to make!
4. Bûche de Noël
Another cake-type dessert on this list of best French pastries, la Bûche de Noël is a very special cake indeed, and enjoyed during the festive Christmas season. These log shaped cakes are always elaborately decorated with chocolate or fruit toppings and icing sugar to mimic snow, but as its core, la Bûche de Noël is very basic. A thin layer of sponge cake gets lathered in a filling (frosting, jam, you name it) and then rolled to form the log before being covered in frosting. The flavours are endless, ice cream versions are very popular as well, and they are the best part of a French Christmas.
5. Baba au Rhum
The baba au rhum is generally reserved for adults thanks to the rum infused pastry, but they’re worth waiting until your 18th birthday to try. This French pastry is made of a small brioche-style cake which is then soaked in a rum syrup which was invented in France in the 19th century!
The cake is left to infuse and then it is topped with a healthy mountain of whipped mascarpone as well as some fruit – usually strawberry or kiwi. Fresh, boozy, and unbelievably moist, imagine devouring this on a yacht cruising the French Riviera?
6. Madeleine
Shaped like little seashells, the Madeleine is one of France’s best and most classic pastries, enjoyed by people of all ages – I certainly stuffed my face with them growing up! Madeleines are sponge cakes with a lemon flavour, and they are shaped like shells thanks to the ridges on the bottom making them look like scallop shells. They exist in many versions and you can find them all over France – literally, everywhere – though the most standard iteration is the plain lemon-y one.
As a child, Madeleines were my go to during goûter (snack-time). I’d have three or four and dunk them in a cold glass of milk just to let the sponge absorb the drink so I’d have a refreshing bite! I’m not saying that’s how you have to eat them too, but…
7. Canele
Canele means cinnamon (though the actual French word for cinnamon is spelled differently, weirdly), and these French pastries are incredible. Firm but kind of squishy, perfectly browned and sticky, it’s very hard trying to resist popping at least 50 of these into your mouth at a time. These contenders for best French pastries come for the Bordeaux region, so that must mean they pair perfectly with a dessert wine, and the flavours of spiced rum and vanilla really seal the deal!
8. Tarte Tropézienne
A specialty of the French Riviera, specifically glitzy St. Tropez, the Tarte Tropézienne is a sort of mix between a cake, a choux bun, and a brioche. Made up of two round layers of light choux/brioche and filled with a generous amount of crème pâtissière, the tarte Tropézienne is topped with sugar crystals, and that’s it! It’s a very light dessert, which is great as St. Tropez can get devilishly warm, and it’s a great cake to eat while you admire the yachts docking at the port or try to spot celebrities in the crowds.
9. Charlotte aux fraises
And last but not least on this best French pastries list – though there are so many more – is the adorable Charlotte aux fraises cake. Personally, the Charlotte reminds me of childhood and summer days as it’s a cake made with sweet lady fingers and light, pink, strawberry mousse. Easy to make, super refreshing and light, it’s not only amazingly tasty, it’s also very pretty! These cakes are decorated with fresh strawberries on top, as well as little edible flowers – so even if you don’t like it, it makes for a great centrepiece.
Strawberries aren’t the only fruit available on a Charlotte cake, you can pretty much make it with anything, but strawberries are the classic and the most common one you’ll find.
