I recently (Sunday) returned from a trip to France (Paris) and Germany (Stuttgart), and while trying to get back into the swing of things here in the US, I have been suffering from some serious French patisserie and confectionery withdrawal.
Luckily, before I left, I ordered a copy of À la Mère de Famille ("the mother of the family") from Amazon. À la Mère de Famille is Paris' oldest sweet shop (founded in 1761) and has been in business for over 250 years. It has multiple locations in Paris and most recently, published their French cookbook in English.
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The cookbook features cakes and pastries, chocolates, candy making, jams and spreads, syrups, cookies, tuiles and meringues, frozen treats and candied fruits.
This is one of the easiest and quickest cookie recipes you can make, as it only requires 4 ingredients!
Almond croquants (croquant means "crunchy) are a crunchy almond and egg
white cookie. The resulting baked cookie is a light, chewy, and (obviously) crunchy
delight.
You can add a bit of citrus zest or flavor the cookie batter with orange flower water, as suggested by the book, or you could also dip or drizzle the cookie in chocolate. I left these naked, but definitely will make them again with the above variations.
My take...as stated in the book, 10 minutes prep time, 15 minutes to bake...5 stars!
Recipe based on: Almond Croquants by À la Mère de Famille, Recipes from the Beloved Parisian Confectioner by Julien Merceron, Chronicle Books, 2014 (English version).
Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1 c plus 2 tbsp sugar
1/3 c plus 1 tbsp all purpose flour
1 1/4 c sliced almonds
Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower-middle position and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper or use a silicone baking pad.
Batter: In a large bowl, add the sugar to the egg whites with a spatula. Sift in the flour. Gently fold in the almonds, being careful not to break them.
Using a tablespoon, place mounds of batter on the cookie sheet 2" apart.
Bake for 15 minutes until golden (my oven is quite accurate, but I only baked these for 13 minutes). Let cool before removing from baking sheet.
The recipe says the yield is 30 cookies; I used a tablespoon to measure and got 20 cookies. Perhaps I needed to level the tablespoon off a bit?
Perfect with a cup of café crème in one of my café au lait bowls found at the
Le marche aux Puces de Vanves (one of the flea markets) during my trip to Paris.
This is a great recipe to make if you want easy preparation and quick gratification!
If you have a chance, be sure to check out the blog, Paris Breakfasts. My best friend and I were lucky to meet Carol Gillott, the author of this blog, on our trip to Paris. Carol is a very talented watercolorist and she writes and paints about her life and adventures (especially food) in Paris. My friend and I were recently mentioned in her blog when we introduced her to City Pharma (a mecca for French beauty products) and when she introduced us to Les Deux Magots. You can read all about it here.
Luckily, before I left, I ordered a copy of À la Mère de Famille ("the mother of the family") from Amazon. À la Mère de Famille is Paris' oldest sweet shop (founded in 1761) and has been in business for over 250 years. It has multiple locations in Paris and most recently, published their French cookbook in English.
The cookbook features cakes and pastries, chocolates, candy making, jams and spreads, syrups, cookies, tuiles and meringues, frozen treats and candied fruits.
This is one of the easiest and quickest cookie recipes you can make, as it only requires 4 ingredients!
 |
| How easy can this be? |
 |
| Ooh la la! |
My take...as stated in the book, 10 minutes prep time, 15 minutes to bake...5 stars!
Recipe based on: Almond Croquants by À la Mère de Famille, Recipes from the Beloved Parisian Confectioner by Julien Merceron, Chronicle Books, 2014 (English version).
Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1 c plus 2 tbsp sugar
1/3 c plus 1 tbsp all purpose flour
1 1/4 c sliced almonds
Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower-middle position and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper or use a silicone baking pad.
Batter: In a large bowl, add the sugar to the egg whites with a spatula. Sift in the flour. Gently fold in the almonds, being careful not to break them.
 | |
| Careful, do not break the almonds! |
Using a tablespoon, place mounds of batter on the cookie sheet 2" apart.
 |
| I probably could have spaced these better. |
Bake for 15 minutes until golden (my oven is quite accurate, but I only baked these for 13 minutes). Let cool before removing from baking sheet.
The recipe says the yield is 30 cookies; I used a tablespoon to measure and got 20 cookies. Perhaps I needed to level the tablespoon off a bit?
 |
| Sweet! |
Perfect with a cup of café crème in one of my café au lait bowls found at the
Le marche aux Puces de Vanves (one of the flea markets) during my trip to Paris.
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| Reminds me of Paris. |
If you have a chance, be sure to check out the blog, Paris Breakfasts. My best friend and I were lucky to meet Carol Gillott, the author of this blog, on our trip to Paris. Carol is a very talented watercolorist and she writes and paints about her life and adventures (especially food) in Paris. My friend and I were recently mentioned in her blog when we introduced her to City Pharma (a mecca for French beauty products) and when she introduced us to Les Deux Magots. You can read all about it here.
2 comments:
What a delish and easy cookie to make!
I hope you got to visit the original La mere du Famille shop in the 9th. It is a treasure in every way.
Next trip I'll take you if you didn't.
Parisbreakfast, I did not get a chance to visit the shop! But I am going to take you up on your offer when I come back next year! I did take a picture of the business card from there I happened to find in your Paris Letters...I added it to this post. Merci!
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