The French make some of the best pastries in the world. The French word for pastry is la pâtisserie (pronounced lah pah-tee-ser-ee). French pastries add sweetness, texture and flavor to our lives, offering culinary experiences that are just unforgettable.
Bonjour! My name is Anthony Rosemond. I’m the head chef at Pastreez, a bakery which sells Macarons online. I am a Codon Bleu alumni chef and grew up in Paris. Today I will present the names of French pastries and explain the uniqueness of these delicious desserts!
Most common French pastry names with pictures
1) Macarons
The first must-try French pastrires are macarons, cookies that resemble a mousse and are baked with almond flour. French macarons have to be one of the most enjoyable and aesthetically striking French sweets, apart from being among the most ubiquitous.
Hues and flavors are galore! Strawberry, mango, flowery, pistachio — the possibilities are endless! You won’t believe how many possibilities there are!
2) Croissants
Croissants are undoubtedly the most common and popular French pastry worldwide. The dough in croissants is layered with butter and folded over many times. This process called “laminating” gives croissants their famous layered and flaky texture.
The key to delicious croissants is using high-quality butter. Croissants are a very popular breakfast food throughout the French-speaking world.
3) Palmier
The next pastry list of top French pastries is the amazing leaf-looking dish called The Palmier.
This looks like a large crusty cookie that we obtain by cutting the small pastry into thin layers a size of a tree leaf. The pastry is fully prepared in sugar before giving it a final touch of crunchy puff.
4) Lemon Tart
Lemon tart, or tarte au citron, is a famous French dessert with a flaky puff pastry crust and a lemon-flavored center. It’s a really creamy and tangy pastry that you can find anywhere in France easily.
The tart is made up of two main elements, the dough, and the inner creamy batter. If you’re health-conscious, you can top it with some healthy fruits like apples, bananas, or melted butter.
5) Financier
A financier is a little, bite-sized nut cake from France. These miniature cakes, which are close in size to pas des fours, are prepared with almonds.
Lemon is sometimes added as well. Financiers are little rectangle cakes with crunchy exteriors. It can be compared to a small sponge cake but is quite yummy.
6) Chouquettes
The first pastry in the row is Chouquettes, by the name you can guess it’s something really crispy with a profiterole outer. And belong to the viennoiseries category.
You can add this cute and small item to your breakfast and won’t regret it. It can be topped with your favorite sprinkles or even chocolate chips.
7) Opera Cake
This exquisite cake is made of thin cake slices drenched in coffee sweetener, covered with espresso buttercream, and topped with chocolate.
You can easily try this dish at home and won’t get disappointed by its outcome. If you want to feed your sweet buds something worth it, try Opera Cake.
8) Eclair
A puff pastry stuffed with buttercream and capped with frosting is known as an éclair. Cream and puffs make the best combination together and French people call it an éclair.
The éclair, like the croissant, is one of the most popular French pastries. It’s a chiffon cake pastry filled with chocolate ganache in an oval shape.
9) Mille-Feuille
Mille Feuille is one of the real classics from France among the pastries. It originally consists of three layers of puff pastries and two of the mouth drooling cream batter.
The attractiveness of this French dessert resides in its layers, which are created by covering puff pastry with pastry cream and repeating the process.
10) Brioche
If you’re a bread lover, you need to try this pastry out. This bread piece item filled with butter and desired sweets can make any mouth watery. Brioche technically isn’t a pastry but is a mixture of bread and a different kind of pastry full of butter craze.
You’ll often see Brioche getting served at tea time on peaceful evenings in France.
French pastry names – conclusion
We hope that this article has provided a good introduction to the names of the most famous French pastries. Which ones are your favorites to either prepare or eat? Let us know in the comments section below!
Learn more about French cuisine
Avez-vous faim? Are you hungry? French Learner has more articles covering French cuisine including articles on the typical French breakfast, most popular French desserts and the ten most common French dishes! In addition, this page offers an extensive list of French cooking vocabulary. Bon appétit!
