Made With Pink: Pastry

In the world of recipe books, there's some that just belong on the shelf. C'mon - I'm sure we all have a few. Then there's some that belong in the kitchen. You know, the ones that get used ALL the time. And then there are the ones that belong centre stage on the coffee table for all eyes to see. They're the kind of books that you could sit with for hours and just read every single recipe and imagine exactly what each of them tastes like. The kind of book where you just lose yourself in page after page of gorgeous pictures, and fantasize that one day when you make that recipe it will turn out EXACTLY as it looked on the pages of the book.

These books don't come around very often, but when Laduree finally released their famous recipe book Sucre in English I'll admit I got SUPER excited! Sucre got glowing reviews on the Amazon France site, and if French women thought it was good (because we all know French women are able to whip up a perfect pastry at a moments notice!) I knew it was going to be amazing.

I purchased my copy from Amazon and was pleasantly surprised when it arrived at my office nearly 5 days ahead of schedule. When I opened up the package I was greeted with a familiar looking box - or so it seemed! Laduree's Sucre comes packaged in a replica of their famous macaron box, and it looked so similar that I actually had people stop by my desk thinking I had a rather large box of macarons!

Sucre The Recipes can be purchased in English via Amazon US here and Amazon UK here. Unfortunately it's not available in English yet on Amazon Canada.

Laduree has done a fabulous job transferring the opulence of their tea salons into this recipe book. With it's mouth watering pastry pictures, velvety pistachio green cover and gold gilded pages, this book is a little work of art. There are oodles of recipes in it. Everything from Vanilla Eclairs and Strawberry Napoleons to Raspberry and Rose Sundae's and of course - their famous macarons!

Strawberry Marscapone Tart

I can't wait to start making delicious pastries from this book, although I will warn you that some of the ingredients are rather hard to find. Things like chestnut puree, almond & pistachio pastes or rose syrup. But, there are definitely lots of recipes that can be made with ingredients are can be found at your local grocery store.

Harmonie

A sampling of some recipes that caught my eye:

Chestnut Barquettes
Rose Cream Puffs
Pistachio Salambos
Roasted Pineapple Tart
All Chocolate Tart
Upside Down Apple Tarts
Chocolate Mousse
Pistachio Sour Cherry Verrines
Lemon Cake
Cherry Calfoutis

The list goes on and on!!

There are even several recipes included for their infamous macarons, but my past history of macaron making has been a bit hit and miss. Sometimes they turn out beautifully, and sometimes they don't. I have no idea why. So for now, I'll try my hand at making a few other Paris pastries from the book and stick to buying my macarons from Laduree. Speaking of which - each year Laduree partners with one (sometimes more) famous fashion brands to design and release a limited edition macaron box. This year Laduree has partnered up with famed fashion designer John Galliano, and I must say the box is absolutely gorgeous. Last week I popped into the Harrods branch of Laduree and picked one up. I couldn't help but rush down there the day after they were released so I could get a hold of one. In case you don't know - I'm a bit obsessed with collecting Laduree Macaron boxes. The limited edition John Galliano box is available in Laduree stores now.