It seems summer is the perfect season for celebrations. While our own nation proudly boasts many festive patriotic holidays, why not also join our longtime french friends across the pond in a toast to their independence this July 14th with your own fete for Bastille Day?
With some similarities to our Fourth of July, Bastille Day, or Le Fete Nationale, marks the famous storming of the bastille prison and fortress in 1789 and what could be called the kick-off to the french revolution. Spurred by an oppressive regime, excessive lavish spending by the royals and country wide food shortages (the infamous "Let them Eat cake" quote was attributed, now controversially, to the queen at the time Marie Antoinette), the people of France revolted, eventually overthrowing their monarchy and establishing their own democratic republic.
Much like festivities in the U.S., Bastille Day is marked with historic military parades, lots of wonderful parties, firework displays and of course fabulous food, all adorned in red, white and bleu.
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| Versailles and Paris, France all photos CPaul |
As an avid francophile with a serious sweet tooth, naturally my first instinct was to whip up some sort of french inspired dessert in honor their historic holiday.
Pastry is an art form in France and as I perused the elegant delectable recipes in my various cookbooks, I soon realized that my limited time and my less than stellar culinary talent might prove an obstacle. How could I concoct something simple yet party worthy?
One dessert which caught my eye was a croquembouche. Translated as "crunches in one's mouth", this show-stopping tower of cream puffs is constructed with crisp caramel and adorned with wisps of crackling spun sugar. Especially popular at weddings and birthdays, I thought I'd create a my own simpler scaled down variation of this very french confection for July 14th.
Previous efforts in making caramel has not gone well. Since the last attempt resulted in ruined pans and a kitchen spattered with cement-hard scorched sugar, I thought I'd try a quick and easy white chocolate alternative to construct my more modest dessert "masterpiece".
Using store bought frozen cream puffs, white chocolate melts and a garnish of red and blue seasonal berries this is more of an assembly project than recipe but makes a surprisingly easy yet festive focal point on your french inspired table.
Thaw cream puffs slightly. Having them still semi-frozen makes working with the warm chocolate easier.
Melt white chocolate according to package directions.
Dip bottom of cream puffs in melted chocolate and arrange in large circle on a plate or platter. Continue dipping and "building" layers of cream puffs making circles smaller with each level creating a large cone-like shape.
Place a puff or two in the center for support if needed.
Using melted chocolate adhere berries to tower and give a final generous white chocolate drizzle over puffs.
Unlike the creation by the talented gentleman pictured above, this embarrassingly easy process took less than ten minutes
Garnish with additional fruit, berries and mint leaves.
I added a bit of festive flare with mini battery operated fairy lights, costume pearls, some leftover Fourth of July ribbon and gold accented table ware.
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| printout created with vintage frame image from thegraphicsfairy.com |
and add a festive printable
Bastille Day Fun Facts
The extravagant 1889 Paris World's Fair which included the construction of the Eiffel Tower, marked the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille
The famous parade, or Fete de la Federation, which travels down the Champs Elysees is the oldest military parade in the world
Only seven prisoners were being held in the bastille at the time who were freed in the event but large amounts of ammunition and weaponry were confiscated by the french people
According to records of the time the Bastille's prisoners were described as four forgers, two "lunatics" and a deviant aristocrat, one of which allegedly refused to leave the prison until he had finished his dinner of roast pheasant
For for a whimsical Marie Antoinette Cake pop over to our 2016 Bastille Day post
Let Them Eat Cake
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