Genius

8 French Desserts From Dorie Greenspan

July 14, 2016

Around our office, Dorie Greenspan is beloved. She baked her port jammer cookies with Amanda and Merrill in our test kitchen, and we swooned. Her cookbooks, the most recent being Baking Chez Moi, deliver accessible and spot-on French cooking to the intimidated world. The secret to French cooking and baking, she tells us, is that none of it is complicated or unreliable.

Dorie is an expert cook and excellent teacher: When Julia Child needed someone to write Baking with Julia (published in 1996), she turned to Dorie. In other words, there is no better person to hold your hand while you first attempt French cooking. Dorie brings it to your door with authority, class, and gentle whispers of encouragement. 

These sweet recipes will make you cry with pleasure and relief—relief that you, too, can produce rich, simple French desserts in your own kitchen. Here, we have 8 such desserts by Dorie, with love:

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Parisian Macarons

  

Tarte Tropézienne

  

Les Whoopies

 

Apple Tarte Flambée

 

Cardamom Crumb Cake

 

Pierre Hermé & Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies

 

Hot (and Cold) Chocolate

 

Custardy Apple Squares

We originally ran this piece on April 10, 2015—but we're bringing it back today in honor of Bastille Day!

Tell us: What are your favorite French sweets?

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Jaime Brockway

Written by: Jaime Brockway

Polenta, mac and cheese, farmers' market breakfasts, smoky food & drink. These are a few of my favorite things. I was an editorial intern @Food52 in 2015!

4 Comments

Denise July 15, 2016
My favorite dessert is a toss up between Mille Feuille and Charlotte Mousse
 
Natasha April 14, 2015
Oh Dorie, I love what you do! All of your ideas/recipes inspire me. It would be so fun to watch your creative process! Why don't you come up to Portland, Maine and come play in Standard Baking Company's pastry room with me?
 
Barbara R. April 14, 2015
I love her stuffed pumpkin recipe! And I'm going to make the custardy apple squares very soon!
 
nancy E. April 12, 2015
Les Whoopies?? Really? Tres French, ooh lala