DAY 6

Today we made galettes with half of our puff pastry dough, an apple galette and a chocolate hazelnut galette.

To make the apple galette we first made a dark caramel, then added the most delicious French butter and apples, then we cooked them down for 15 minutes or so, until all of the liquid and caramel had absorbed into the apples and turned them into delicious mush. Then we added rum and vanilla, and let the mixture cool. After cutting and shaping our puff dough, we sandwiched the apples in between, scored the top, and baked. Eh voila!

The chocolate hazelnut galette is like making cookies; it is full of butter, cocoa powder, and hazelnut flour, but sandwhiched in puff pastry. We will eat them tomorrow for breakfast our chef promises.

We then made pate brisee and Sable Breton for later applications in the week. However, we did take the Sable Breton, and it is like the flakiest, crunchiest shortbread cookie in the shape of a cake you’ve ever had. It is delicious and super basic.

Our newest discovery is M&Ms. Yes, M&Ms. In America, the general consensus among pastry chefs is that M&Ms are barely passable as chocolate. These are manufactured in France (it says so on the back of the package which we have been reading for an inordinately long time) and they are amazingly delicious! We have eaten a giant package in two days between 4 girls. They are so creamy; what milk chocolate always strives to be. We’ve done taste tests with various people on consecutive days to ensure that we are not being swayed by crowd mentality or freakish taste buds, but so far, the M&Ms are holding their own. French M&Ms=vastly superior.

The magical allure of France may be sucking me in, against all odds and my previous disinterest in all things snobbishly French. I will be in Paris for the weekend, and again in a few weeks. Hollywood has convinced me that Paris will be magical, so I should prepare to be disappointed, but I don’t want to. Provence the weekend after that, then the French Riviera, then Switzerland.