My favorite pastry shop in Paris, France is that of pastry chef and chocolatier Christophe Roussel. After tasting the macarons, pastries and chocolates of other master pastry chefs like Pierre Hermes and Gerard Mulot, Christophe’s were some of the best! Christophe and his wife Julie were both in the shop when we arrived and they gladly answered our questions and made recommendations on which macarons, pastries and chocolates we should buy.
Christophe personally plated and served his version of a Religieuse pastry to us when we ordered it. He was also more than willing to pose for a photo with me! The filling of the Religieuse pastry was to die for! See the photo below of the dissected pastry. The name means “nun” in French, and this pastry takes its name from a resemblance to a nun wearing a nun’s habit. The religieuse is constructed of two or three choux pastry cases filled with crème pâtissière (confectioner’s custard). Each case is covered in a chocolate ganache or caramel glaze and then stacked with the biggest pastry at the bottom followed by the smaller pastries.
After a lot of deliberation we selected 6 macarons from the display and Julie packed them neatly into a box. From left to right they were: coffee, raspberry, salted caramel, orange, chocolate dipped in chocolate and cheesecake.
Christophe and Julie also offered us samples of their chocolates. We were blown away by their Praline With Coconut Popping Sugar Chocolate mini-bars. Apart from the incredible melt-in-the-mouth texture of the chocolate, the filling pops in your mouth while your are eating it. And yes, we ended up buying a few of these too!
You can see more of his creations at www.christophe-roussel.fr.