The Sweet Taste of Victory: Our Recipes to Celebrate the 2024 Summer Olympic Games

In recognition of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games that run from July 26 through August 11 in Paris, we present to you these winning pastries. 

Olympic Medal Arlettes

We transformed the timeless French palmier into the elegant arlette, a shape reminiscent of a champion’s medal. While arlettes usually feature cinnamon, which tends to darken their hue, we embraced the beloved palmier profile, ensuring each bite is a celebration of caramelized sugar and irresistible crunchiness.

Olympic Ring Meringue Nests

Savor the elegance of these crisp, delicate meringue nests, also known as vacherins. Each nest is filled with airy diplomat cream (crème diplomat in French), a delightful blend of pastry cream (crème pâtissière) and unsweetened whipped cream. This captivating dessert offers a visually stunning presentation, as each filled nest is crowned with fresh fruit in the same colors of the Olympic rings.

Gold Medal Apricot Brioche Tarts

Apricot tarts, known as oreillettes des l’abricots in French, traditionally feature puff pastry filled with crème pâtissière. However, our twist on the classic substitutes puff pastry with brioche dough and replaces crème pâtissière with frangipane, presenting a novel approach to the classic French pastry. The term “oreillette” translates to “tab” or “flap,” which precisely describes the method to fold the pastry.

French Flag Mille-Feuilles

Mille-feuille is a classic French pastry that translates to “a thousand sheets.” It’s a traditional French dessert composed of three layers of puff pastry, which we filled with luscious crème mousseline and adorned with sweetened whipped cream and berries to reflect the colors of the French flag. By using quick rough puff pastry and baking the dough between two baking sheets, we achieve the perfect flatness required to assemble those iconic layers to get you to your finish line in record-breaking time. 

Melomakarona

Soft, chewy, a little cake-like, and swathed in citrus-infused honey, these cookies are the embodiment of time-honored traditions and ancient flavors. Although melomakarona are traditionally shaped by hand, we’ve sped up the process a little by rolling out the dough and using a cutter. Learn the story of this ancient cookie in our Origin of a Classic article here. 

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