Les Galettes des Rois; A Delicious Tradition!

Les Galettes des Rois are one of the most sumptuous and delicious of all French pastries that I can’t resist.

The  sweet aroma of this multilayered  orgy of cream filled crunch and flakiness fills the air of every pastry shop in France to the degree that I can smell it baking walking in the streets.

They make the miserable cold drizzly gray days of a Parisian January tolerable and even sweet filled!

Even though all the feasting on Christmas and New Years is just past, I always look forward to January’s  12 th Night Celebration, or Epiphany, for several reasons. First of all ,as I am from Louisiana, it is for me an immediate signal for the Mardi Gras season to begin.

Epiphany, occurring on January 6 is a Christian holiday celebrating the visit of the three wise men to the baby Jesus as a manifestation of him being the Christ child.

In January, Galettes des Rois  starts flooding all the pastry shops everywhere in France.  When made by a good pastry maker, it is not only stunning to look at, but is a fabulous delight to eat!

Traditionally here is Paris, it is a thick cake of puff pastry baked to a glistening brown with decorative designs and filled with frangipani cream, which is an almond flavoured pastry cream.  Bakers here strive to offer various fillings from caramel au beurre sale (salted butter) to praline,  chocolate, and whatever is their fancy!

I have always made my own puff pastry, as seen on silver tray,  because It tastes best freshly made and I know mine will be buttery and flaky, but the best bakers in Paris make artistically designed Galettes.  Plus, they all have   fèves or small porcelain figurines tucked inside that you can collect.

Additionally all galettes come with a paper gold crown for the  future King or Queen of the day.  The only downside is that they are expensive if made by  renown pastry chefs.

Every year the most famous pastry chefs, try to outdo their competition, not only with exotic fillings, but  make a point to offer very unique fèves that change each year.  Many here is France like to collect them , called favophiles.

  These 2019 offerings are a fabulous display of the imagination of Parisian pastry chefs.  The most original shaped one this year in my opinion is the four leaf clover design from Hotel La Réserve, selling for a hefty price of 70 euros!

Another hotel, the Nolinski has the large oval shaped creation by pastry chef Yann Brys filled with frangipane and caramelised pears.

 

The famous house of Lenôtre always comes up with original ones both in design and flavours,  but my favourite was Fauchon’s luscious red lips that was the most romantic one in 2017. 

Pastry chef Yann Couvreur presented a pretty designed hazelnut shape filled with hazelnut cream.

 

Tradition calls for the youngest member of the family to designate which slices of the galette go to whomever, and the first piece is always set aside for God(part de Dieu) or for the Virgin Mary.

Who ever gets the fève is proclaimed king or queen for the day, and is obliged to buy the next galette and offer to host the next king’s cake party, which this tradition survives also in Louisiana.

The most regal one this year comes from Sebastien Gaudard in collaboration with Chateau Chambord’s 500 years celebration.  The lovely fèves are the crowns of the kings of France.

 

Here is one of the most beautiful and original ones from a new chocolaterie, La Mutinerie, filled with cream of almonds and hazelnuts, studded with chips of gianduja cocoa and topped with layers of chocolate!

Pierre Hermé is offering Christophe crystal  and silver fèves in his galettes.  This one  has almond cream with a layer of soft candied lemon.

The most expensive fèves to have anywhere  this year are a Rolex watch and pieces of jewelry, creations from Objectif Horlorgerie.  This jewelry store has codes in each galette that all match up to prizes, with one for the 5000 euro Rolex!

One of the most nut filled ones is from famous Cédric Grolet,  acclaimed pastry chef at the Hotel Meurice, going for 52 euros.

 

The caramel topped one is from talented Nicolas Haelewyn’s shop Karamel, filled with hazelnut cream and with a layer of Corsican  candied lemon.

Most of the pastry chef creations start around 26 euros and are too large for even two to eat!  Therefore I look for some small ones which can be hard to find!

Arnaud Larher had some individual ones, that I ate before I took a photo.  They were fantastic, some filled with rose flavoured almond cream or orange zestes.

For those who love to bring home something risqué, Legay Choc pastry shop in the Marais  is still making their phallic shaped ones called the Galette Magique.

 

 

 

Historically, a puff pastry galette to celebrate Epiphany was written about as early as 1300’s and most notably by 1650 there are accounts of it being served in the French courts by Ann of Austria, the mother of the young Louis XIV, who carried on the tradition.

This little pastry has a remarkable survival story,  being at one time extinguished by famine and the French revolutionaries.  In 1711, due to the famine, the government decreed that flour being in scare supply, could only be used for making bread, not pastry.

Well, with that the pastry makers in Paris revolted with such a clash, claiming they were being deprived of their livelihood, that eventually the government gave in with the stipulation that only those designated as patissiers could create delectables with eggs, butter and sugar, not a boulanger, or bread maker!

Since the French revolutionaries abhorred and forbid anything to do with royalty, they initially forbid the sale of the galettes de rois, and decreed that it could only be sold with the name of  a galettes de l’égalité(equality).

Even today, a trace of the above is evident in that the French president is not allowed to have a galette des rois with a fève, therefore doing away with him or anyone in his cabinet being declared king for a day!

In the southern areas of France, it was known as a gateau de rois, or Kings cake because it was made from a round crown of brioche dough filled with candied fruits.

Since a large amount of the Acadians that eventually settled in New Orleans and the surrounding parishes were more from the south-western part of France, Louisiana retained this version, minus the candied fruits.

For those readers, who are not familiar with Louisiana cultural customs, 12th Night marks the opening of the Mardi Gras season with balls and parades that proliferate in New Orleans primarily, but in recent years has gained territory in north Louisiana.  This season culminates with Mardi Gras, which this year will be March 5.

A good freshly baked galette literally crumbles and flakes everywhere as you bite into it, hopefully more in your mouth than on your plate.  The pastry should have a heavenly smell and taste of pure butter!  Just thinking about  it makes me salivate, but I can’t go around eating all the galettes that my heart desires!

All in all , it is a great excuse to have one party after another till Mardi Gras, and lets face it, who doesn’t like to feel like being a  King or Queen for the day!

P.S. This is a rewritten post with updated 2019 photos of some of this years Galettes des Rois.