Voila! I give you my favorite french pastry – the Saint-Honore. I first had this dessert by accident. I saw it everywhere, and it looked like a boring combo of whipped cream and choux. WRONG.

It is actually a puff pastry base, ringed with cream puffs (which are filled with pastry cream, or creme patissiere in French). The cream puffs are dipped in caramelized sugar, which gives is a super satisfying crunch. The traditional shape is a circle or crown (shown below), and in the middle of the creme puffs will be creme chiboust (the name of the bakery where the Saint-Honore was invented), which is pastry cream with whipped cream mixed in to “lighten” it up (what a concept). Then the whole thing is topped with whipped cream.

Here are a few photos to get you in the right frame of mind for appreciating Saint-Honore’s superior position in the pastry rankings.

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I think it is so delicious because it has all kinds of textures – flaky, crunchy, and three different kinds of creamy. And a caramel, vanilla, butter flavor profile is never a bad thing.

According to my wikipedia research, Saint Honore is the patron saint of bakers. The dessert was invented in 1847 at a bakery on Rue Saint-Honore, which you fashionistas will know because it’s where all the fancy fashion houses are.

The very best Saint-Honore I’ve tasted was from Fue de Patisserie (remember the place that ships in all the best pastry from around town). Unfortunately, I can’t remember the chef and they won’t always have it, but if you want really good Saint-Honore, I’d start there.

Another winner is Patiserrie des Reves. Shown above. They only make the Saint-Honore on weekends, so be strategic. I haven’t tried it myself, but my pastry instructor said Hugo & Victor has a really good version as well.

As soon as I find myself a suitable kitchen, I’m gonna start practicing making these babies. So if you don’t have plans to get to Paris soon, you just need to wait until I get good at them, and return to the U.S. Maybe just plan the trip to Paris.