title: Teatime in Paris! A Walk Through Easy French Patisserie Recipes
author: Jill Colonna

publication date: July 1, 2015
publisher: Waverley Books

As a busy working mum, my kind of French baking has to be easy, tasty, pretty and inexpensive to reproduce at home. In a nutshell, recipes should have that wow factor without much effort.
— Jill Colonnoa (in Teatime in Paris!)

Last year Paul and I almost booked a trip to Paris, but at the last minute we ended up going to Hawaii instead. So, we’ve still never been to the City of Lights, but we hope to eventually get there someday. Besides the churches, museums and the Eiffel Tower, the main attraction is, of course, the food, and especially for me, the pastries.

In the meantime, I was lucky enough to win a copy of Jill’s latest book, Teatime in Paris! This book should at least bring the taste of Paris closer to home.

the first nibble:

I love the colour and the feel of this book. It’s bright, colourful and makes me think of spring and flowers. I guess this is what Spring in Paris feels like?

I also love the idea and philosophy behind this book – Jill’s goal is to make Parisian pastries accessible to any home cook and she introduces the reader to some of her favourite pastries and sweets in a ‘walking tour’ of Paris patisseries.

As with many baking cookbooks, this one has a section at the start that outlines some baking tips and guidelines. There are also several appendices in the back that are very useful, including two that I adore:
1. Favourite Sweet Walks in Paris – Jill outlines some of her favourite walking tours of patisseries in Paris (grouped by area). I can’t wait to visit Paris myself and do a few of those tours!
2. Baking Equipment. Both essentials and ‘Little Luxuries’.

Religieuse Rose

On my first pass through the book, the most tempting recipes from each chapter were:

• Something for Teatime: Speculoos Ice Cream, pg. 57
• Choux Time! – Eclairs and Cream Puffs: Religieuse Rose, pg. 101
• French Tartlets – As Easy as Meringue Pie: Double Chocolate Tartlets, pg. 113
• Millefeuilles – A Thousand Leaves: Wild Blackberry Millefeuille, pg. 140
• Parisian Macarons – A Pastry with Feet: Lemon and Grapefruit Macarons, pg. 156
• A French Tea Party – La Creme de La Creme – Saint Honore with Violet, pg. 199

 
the nitty-gritty:

number of recipes (as stated by book): n/a

recipe list? Yes, in the Table of Contents

table of contents: The Table of Contents is very thorough and lists the chapters and each recipe included in the chapter. Makes it incredibly easy to browse and find specific recipes.

photography:  I love the feel of the photographs in this book. There are shots of pastries ‘in progress’ (the step-by-step photos in the macaron section are so useful), finished pastries, beautifully plated pastries and half-eaten pastries.

Interspersed amongst the pastry photos are shots of Paris landmarks and street signs, giving the entire book the feel of a walkthrough of Paris and its patisseries. I love it. It feels like I’m walking through Paris, stopping for sweet treats along the way, and taking photos as I go.

Vanilla Millefeuille for Sunday

photo to recipe ratio*:  out of 53 total recipes**, 53 recipes had at least one accompanying ‘finished dish’ photo or step-by-step photo (photo : recipe ratio = 1 : 1)
notes:
* this is a manual count, so numbers may be slightly off due to human error (mine)
** only ‘main’ recipes are counted – recipes that appear as part of another dish are not counted

recipes:
– separate ingredient list? yes
– serving info given? yes
– prep/cook time given? yes
– recipe format: numbered steps

The recipes in Teatime in Paris are very well laid out. I wish all cookbooks were this easy to follow.

Each recipe is listed by its English title (with the French name underneath). Down the left side are useful things like serving size, prep/cook/chill time and oven temperature (listed in both degrees Farenheit and Celcius and a Gas Mark), an ingredients list and a ‘Serve with’ suggestion (ie. a specific tea to go with the pastry).

The recipe is introduced with a brief history or story and some notes. Recipe steps are well spaced out and numbered and many of the recipes also come with baking tips and variation suggestions. The recipes are very well-written and easy to understand. Every detail is outlined, leaving nothing to the imagination. Since French pastries are all new to me, such detail and simple language is very much appreciated.

As I mentioned, some recipes come with step-by-step photos, making things even easier.

the last bite:

I adored this cookbook from start to finish. I loved Jill’s explanation of why French women can stay slim while being surrounded by so much tempting cream and butter and I found her appendices incredibly useful. In between, her recipes are easy to follow and the photographs are whimsical and delicious.

I also appreciate how accessible Jill makes French pastries. As someone who generally bakes cupcakes and brownies, I had always thought these pastries were too complicated for me to even begin attempting (except for macarons – I have an unhealthy obsession with trying to figure out those things!). But with this cookbook, I definitely don’t have any second thoughts about giving them all a try.

What makes this baking book extra enjoyable to read is the feeling that you’re walking through Paris and stopping here and there to try out some recipes. I can’t wait to go to Paris and visit some of the patisseries Jill mentions. In the meantime, making the treats at home will have to do!

Rose, Raspberry and Lychee Eclair

cooking the book

Speculoos Ice Cream

what worked: The ice cream is thicker and creamier than most (probably with the help of the cookie butter) and is incredibly flavourful
what didn’t work: Nothing.
did your dish look like the one pictured in the cookbook? Definitely!
ease/expense of ingredients: The ingredients were all very easy to come by, especially now that cookie butter is becoming much more popular here in Canada. I only wish that the Speculoos brand was easy to find
would you make this again?: I definitely would! I’ve even adapted this recipe into my own chunky version (recipe to come soon)

Click here to purchase Teatime in Paris! from The Book Depository (free worldwide shipping) or Amazon.

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