Regardez le buffet numero deux

I came to pastry school in France so I could learn the fundamentals. I figured I'd get the basics from the people who invented pastry, then I'd take it from there. I don't have a concrete plan as far as what I want to make in my own shop someday, but I always imagined a mix of traditional and not so traditional. But traditional to me is Scandinavian. My family heritage is Danish and Norwegian. So I think of pepperneur (sp?-no clue, but I can hear my grandma saying it), kringla, puff pastry and Danish wedding cakes. I've never put too much thought into French traditions until now. And now I'm consumed.

Exhibit A:
Les religieuses
They're basically two small eclairs stacked together and decorated with buttercream. If you like eclairs, you'd like a religieuse. Me, it's not my thing.

Exhibit B:
Le Moka

The Moka is pretty good. It's a layered cake with alternating rhum soaked sponge cake (genoise), and coffee flavored butter cream. Can't go wrong there. The mini bread loafs below are navettes - brioche sprinkled with sugar.

Exhibit C:
La croquembouche

Croquembouche is very traditional. Always made for weddings. It's pâte a choux (same dough as eclair) spackled together with sugar. They're usually formed into a tower of some sort.

I'm really not into it. I just don't see the beauty. Especially for a wedding. So I made my croquembouche into a fort. At least it's stable. I can appreciate stability.

And finally, Exhibit D:
Les chouquettes

I love love love. And I'm bringing them home with me. Not sure why they're so good. It's empty unfilled pâte a choux, sprinkled with clumpy sugar. Doesn't sound like much but they're fantastic. Pop 'em in like popcorn. Mmmm.