Miam, miam, miam! Délicieux!

Miam, miam, miam!  (Yum, yum, yum!)

Last week, as the students got out of the métro at the Bastille station, there was lots of excitement in the air as they were heading to the SquareOne pastry-making workshop.  After having more than two weeks to sample all kinds of delectable French pastries, it was now their turn to give it a go at making some traditional French pastries themselves.

As the pâtissière (pastry chef) greeted everyone at SquareOne, she handed each student an apron, which they were allowed to keep at the end of the workshop.  Everyone gathered around a long table where the pâtissière placed the needed ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, vanilla beans) to make chouquettes (round, airy choux pastries with custard-like insides and a sweet, crunch pearl sugar topping on the outside) and craquants (a type of French cookie).  The pâtissière gave instructions for the recipe one step at a time, and she then demonstrated each step.  For each step of the recipe, the students divided up the tasks - mixing, whisking, kneading, etc.  There were lots of smiles and lots of laughter throughout the activity.

While the pastries were in the oven, the students prepared the crème pâtissière.  When the pâtissière took the pastries out of the oven, the students cut the pastries in half, spread the crème pâtissière on them.  Then, they added the strawberries in the middle and sprinkled more sugar on top.  Then it was time to taste their creations!  Everyone was delighted with the end products.