Easy-to-make and classic French recipes which you can recreate at home, including Cannelés, Chocolate Éclairs, Profiteroles, Madeleines, Financiers, Chouquettes, Hachis Parmentier, Galette des Rois, Cherry Clafoutis, Beef Bourguignon.

Pains au Lait (French Milk Bread)

Pains au Lait are soft and fluffy French milk buns, which are a popular afternoon tea treat for children in France. Make these delicious buns at home with this step-by-step recipe. French Milk Bread We all know about Japanese Milk Bread, and we know about French Brioche. But something which is perhaps a little less known outside of France is French Milk Bread, or Pains au Lait. French Milk Bread is hugely popular

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French Crêpes

A simple and delicious recipe for basic crêpes, or thin French pancakes. Recipe with step-by-step photos. French Crêpes Recipe My husband hails from the French region of Brittany where crêpes are thought to have originated. And so it goes without saying that, in this part of the world, it is completely acceptable to have pancakes at breakfast every morning, or even as a goûter, the French equivalent of afternoon tea.

French Brioche Loaf

A delicious French Brioche Loaf which is soft and buttery. Follow this easy brioche recipe with step-by-step photos. Homemade Brioche Something I am really into at the moment is making homemade brioche. At this particular point in time, i.e. March 2020 during the outbreak of a certain virus, the majority of people seem to be searching the internet for a million and one ways to bake bread at home.

Brioche Bread

A delicious brioche recipe with step-by-step photos. Make this classic French brioche (Brioche à Tête) at home for breakfast or brunch. Brioche Bread If you live in France or Switzerland, brioche bread can be found in almost every bakery in every town, and it is quite a common treat for breakfast or morning tea. Brioche buns tend to be quite popular with children, but I know many adults who would happily devour a

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Kugelhopf

Kugelhopf recipe with step-by-step photos. A kugelhopf is a yeasted bread, similar to a French brioche, which is perfect at breakfast or morning tea. Make this kugelhopf plain, with raisins or other dried fruits. What is a Kugelhopf? A kugelhopf is a yeasted bread which has been baked in a special mold, and it is typically served at breakfast in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The taste and texture of a kugelhopf is quite similar

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Chocolate Fondant

A quick and easy Chocolate Fondant for the perfect warm and cosy dessert! Recipe with step-by-step photos. Chocolate Fondant One of my go-to, middle-of-the-week, easy-to-make desserts is this Chocolate Fondant, also known as Chocolate Lava Cake, Molten Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Pudding, Moelleux au chocolat … one dessert, so many names! A Chocolate Fondant is a dessert which is cake-like around the edges, but with a soft and oozy centre, hence why it is

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Homemade Mayonnaise

Make a delicious Homemade Mayonnaise in just a few minutes using ingredients from your fridge and pantry. Tips for making mayonnaise by hand or with a food processor or electric whisk. Homemade Mayonnaise One recipe which is always handy to have up your sleeve is a Homemade Mayonnaise. While it is easy to buy a jar or tube of ready-made mayonnaise, there are times when it is best to have the real thing

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Chocolate Madeleines

Tender and fluffy Chocolate Madeleines which will steal your heart! Tips for making the perfect madeleines and recipe with step-by-step photos. Heart-Shaped Madeleines Call me kitsch, but I couldn’t resist adding to my madeleine pan collection when I saw this heart-shaped mould late one night on Amazon. Those last five words also explain why the postman shows up at our place almost everyday, the poor guy.

Classic French Toast

Transform any leftover, stale bread into a delicious and decadent French Toast! Easy French Toast recipe with step-by-step photos. French Toast This is the French Toast that dreams are made of. Thick, pillowy slices of bread soaked in eggs and milk, lightly scented with vanilla and cinnamon, generously sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, followed by a drizzle of warm maple syrup. Could breakfast get any better?

How to Make Crème Pâtissière (Pastry Cream)

An easy to follow recipe for Crème Pâtissière, also known as pastry cream or vanilla custard. Comprehensive recipe with step-by-step photos. Pastry Cream Recipe Pastry cream is a popular component of many French desserts. It is a thick, vanilla custard which you will often find inside Profiteroles or Éclairs, spread between the layers of a Millefeuilles, or used as the filling for fruit tarts.

Yule Log (Bûche de Noël)

A spectacular and easy Yule Log (Bûche de Noël) to make at Christmas time. Tips to make a gluten-free Chocolate Yule Log Cake. Recipe with step-by-step photos. Yule Log My family in Switzerland has always celebrated Christmas with a Yule Log (or Buche de Noel), and when I realised that it was essentially a Swiss Roll rearranged to look like a log, I thought it was worthwhile trying to make my own one

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Duck Confit (Confit de Canard)

A classic French recipe for Duck Confit, or Confit de Canard, which are duck legs slowly cooked in duck fat until meltingly tender, and then pan fried until the skin is crispy and golden. Recipe with step-by-step photos. Duck Confit (Confit de Canard) Confit de Canard is a classic dish found in many Parisian bistros, and it is a dish which my mother-in-law likes to serve whenever we visit. After one of our

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Beef Bourguignon with Baguette Dumplings

A classic and easy recipe for Beef Bourguignon with a delicious side of Baguette Dumplings. Tips on what red wine to choose when making Beef Bourguignon, and what to serve with Beef Bourguignon. Recipe with step-by-step photos. Beef Bourguignon After the uncomfortable heatwave that strikes most of Europe every July and August, which generally renders our kitchen a no-go-zone and where turning on the oven is like turning on the heater, I always

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Cheese Soufflé

cheese souffle

A classic recipe for Cheese Soufflé with step-by-step photos. Instructions for large and individual soufflés. Making soufflé is easier than you think! Cheese Soufflé Recipe My husband’s great-aunt, whom we call Marraine, is a spritely 93 years old who still loves to cook and bake for the family. At the top of her list is a Cheese Soufflé which, to most ordinary people, is a rather frightening and panic-inducing dinner suggestion. Yet, this

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Easy Waffles

Quick and Easy Waffles which are crisp and crunchy, perfect for a lazy brunch or breakfast. Follow this waffle recipe for the perfect results! Waffles in France On one of our many visits to my husband’s family in France, my mother-in-law decided to make waffles for dessert after lunch one day. She made them to order in the kitchen whilst we sat impatiently at the dining table until she would appear with a

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Béchamel Sauce (White Sauce)

A quick and easy recipe for béchamel sauce (or white sauce) with step-by-step photos. Béchamel Sauce Recipe If there is one handy sauce recipe to have in your back pocket, it would have to be this béchamel sauce recipe. From this one basic sauce, you can create other difference sauces, including creamy pasta sauces like for an unctuous macaroni and cheese.

Profiteroles with Chocolate Ganache

profiteroles with chocolate sauce on white plate

A classic and foolproof recipe for Profiteroles served with a vanilla pastry cream and drizzled with a decadent chocolate ganache. Recipe with step-by-step photos. Profiteroles with Chocolate Ganache If I had to name one dessert as my “desert island dessert”, it would probably have to be profiteroles. It seems most people are abuzz with French macarons these days (which I also adore) but, to me, the profiterole is what encapsulates a typically French

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Galette des Rois with Frangipane

Celebrate the Epiphany with this classic Galette des Rois with Frangipane, also known as a French King’s Cake. What is a Galette des Rois? A Galette des Rois is a cake or tart which is traditionally eat in France on 6 January to celebrate the Epiphany. A Galette des Rois is comprised of a top and bottom layer of puff pastry, with a filling made from ground almonds (called a frangipane). Hidden inside

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Gingerbread Sablé Cookies

Gingerbread Sablé Cookies, a Christmas twist on a traditional French butter cookie. Tips for using cookie stamps and embossed rolling pins. Sablé Cookies It’s that time of the year again to get out the Christmas cookie cutters and, this year, I’m having much fun with my newfound cookie stamps and cookie moulds.  I love the old-fashioned Swiss-style Christmas cookies, and I thought it would be fun to replicate them using a favourite family recipe.

French Cookies with Chocolate (Pétit Écolier)

Delicious homemade French Cookies with Chocolate, also called Pétit Beurre or Pétit Écolier. Pétit Beurre and Pétit Écolier As a child visiting my family in France and Switzerland, I always loved snacking on Petit Beurre cookies, especially those made by the French brand, Lu, and especially the ones which came with a bar of chocolate on top, called Petit écolier.

Beef Wellington with Green Peppercorn Sauce

How to make the perfect Beef Wellington. Beef filet mignon coated in mustard and wrapped in a mushroom duxelles, prosciutto and puff pastry. Served with a delicious Green Peppercorn Sauce. Beef Wellington If you are looking for a show-stopping recipe which will wow your family and friends at your next dinner party, look no further than this Beef Wellington with Green Peppercorn Sauce.

French Madeleines

These classic French madeleines are dainty little sponge cakes baked in a scallop-shaped mould. This madeleine recipe includes tips on how to make the perfect madeleines with step-by-step photos. Classic French Madeleines Something which my children and I associate with our visits to France are homemade madeleines. I have loved eating madeleines since I was a child, and even though I bake them quite regularly at home, my son associates madeleines with his

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Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake

A Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake recipe with step-by-step photos. A French chocolate and almond cake which is light, moist, gluten-free and also dairy-free! Also called a Queen of Sheba Cake (Reine de Saba). Queen of Sheba Cake (Reine de Saba) I am conscious that I have quite a few recipes for chocolate cake on this blog, but I suppose one more can’t hurt … This recipe for Queen of Sheba Cake (or Reine de

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Cannelés

Cannelés are golden and crispy cakes with a custardy centre, flavoured with a hint of rum and/or vanilla. Recipe for Cannelés with step-by-step photos, with instructions for using copper cannelé moulds or silicone cannelé moulds. Recipe also for Mini Cannelés. Cannelés If you have ever travelled to France, you may have come across these little specialty cakes called cannelés (also called canelés or cannelés Bordelais). Unlike their more successfully exported cousins, the madeleines

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Rhubarb & Vanilla Friands

Delicious Rhubarb & Vanilla Friands to make the most of vivid pink forced rhubarb. Friands One of the most popular recipes here on Eat, Little Bird is for Lemon Drizzle Friands, a little cake which is widely popular in Australia and which has surprisingly intrigued so many readers worldwide.

Blueberry Financiers

An easy Financier recipe with blueberries. These Blueberry Financier cakes are light and dainty, which are perfect with a cup of tea! Financier Cakes A financier cake is baked in a special rectangular mould so that the cakes resemble bars of gold.  In Paris, you will find financier cakes at almost every bakery and cake shop, and they are commonly sold either plain or chocolate flavoured, although other flavour combinations exist too.

Creamy Tarragon Chicken

Make this classic Creamy Tarragon Chicken recipe in 30 minutes for a delicious weeknight meal! Recipe with step-by-step photos. Tarragon Chicken When it comes to cooking traditional French food, most people think of a complex concoction of ingredients in a Le Creuset pot which has been simmering away on the stove for hours and hours à la Julia Childs.

Ham and Cheese Hand Pies

Tasty Ham and Cheese Hand Pies which are a great way of using leftovers. These hand pies are filled with ham, béchamel sauce and vegetables, but you can use any leftover meats and vegetables you like. Cooking with Leftovers My mother is someone who can effortlessly create a delicious three-course meal from a simple fridge raid, with an uncanny ability to never let anything go to waste. Sadly, I did not inherit this

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Cottage Pie

This Cottage Pie recipe has a rich meaty beef sauce as the base, topped with creamy mashed potatoes and baked until deliciously golden. An easy Cottage Pie recipe – make a double batch of the sauce to serve with pasta! Difference between Cottage Pie and Shepherd’s Pie One of my winter favourites is this traditional Cottage Pie which I have, confusingly, wrongly called a Shepherd’s Pie for most of my life. It appears that

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How to Make Choux Pastry (Pâte à Choux)

How to make choux pastry (pâte à choux) perfectly every time to use in recipes for profiteroles, éclairs, cream puffs and so much more. Recipe with step-by-step photos. Pâte à Choux Pâte à choux is the French term for choux pastry in English. And in case you were wondering “choux” is pronounced like shoe in English 😉

Marble Bundt Cake

marble bundt cake

A delicious and easy Marble Cake, perfect for any occasion. Step-by-step recipe for a moist marble cake, which looks spectacular baked in a bundt pan and topped with a chocolate glaze. Marble Cake A traditional marble cake, baked in a loaf tin, is something which my husband’s great-aunt frequently makes whenever we visit her in France. But I thought I would give my own spin on a gâteau marbré by baking it in

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Raspberry Friands

Delicious Raspberry Friands with step-by-step photos, including notes for making Mini Raspberry Friands. Friand Recipe If you are someone who, like me, makes a lot of custard, pastry or shortbread, you might find yourself with a lot of leftover egg whites. I follow Nigella Lawson’s tip to freeze egg whites in small zip-lock freezer bags – usually in pairs – which means that I always have egg whites on hand to make pavlovas,

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Butter Cake with Peaches and Raspberries

A delicious recipe for Butter Cake with Peaches and Raspberries, with step-by-step photos. Plus a review of The Cook’s Atelier cookbook. I received a copy of The Cook’s Atelier cookbook to review, complimentary from the publisher, but the content, opinions, and photos below, are my own. The Cook’s Atelier My husband’s family live in the far north-western corner of France in a region called Brittany. In summer, we often make the long journey

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Apple Galette

red love apple galette

A delicious and easy apple galette recipe which will impress your friends and family. Use any type of apple in this rustic apple galette, or special varieties such as Red Love Apples. Apple Galette We always have a basket full of apples at home, ready to be turned into an apple compote which we eat religiously at breakfast each morning. It used to be my job to make the week’s apple compote, which

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Chouquettes (French Cream Puffs)

Recipe with step-by-step photos for Chouquettes, which are French cream puffs (or pastry puffs) sprinkled with pearl sugar or chocolate chips. They are a delicious bite-sized snack made from choux pastry. Chouquettes Something which I love to bake throughout the year are these little French cream puffs called chouquettes.

Steak with Peppercorn Sauce (Steak au Poivre)

A delicious Steak with Peppercorn Sauce (Steak au Poivre) which can be made in 30 minutes! Use beef fillet or filet mignon for a delicious treat with this easy and creamy peppercorn sauce. Steak with Peppercorn Sauce (Steak au Poivre) A nice piece of steak is hard to turn down, especially when it is served with a creamy peppercorn sauce. Served simply with some steamed greens or even just a green salad, Steak

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Chocolate Mousse (Mousse au Chocolat)

Recipe for Chocolate Mousse with step-by-step photos. A classic recipe for a decadent Chocolate Mousse served with cocoa nibs or chocolate chips. A great dessert to make ahead when entertaining. Chocolate Mousse With summer in full swing in Europe at the moment, a chilled dessert is the ideal way to end a nice meal. That or a big bowl of ice-cream. And one can hardly go past the quintessential French classic, a mousse

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How to Cook Artichokes

How to cook artichokes – instructions for boiling, Instant Pot, pressure cooker, grilling and frying. Don’t be intimidated by artichokes any longer! Plus recipes for a delicious aioli and vinaigrette to go alongside. I adore artichokes. As a child, my mother would boil a whole artichoke for my dinner on those nights when she was preoccupied with other things or, more likely, fed up with cooking and needed to give me a no-fuss

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How to Make Raclette

how to make raclette

How to make and serve raclette, a traditional Swiss dish, at home with a raclette grill. Tips on what kind of cheese to use, and what to serve with raclette. Raclette The word raclette is both the name of a type of Swiss cheese and the name of the dish itself. As soon as the nights start to become a bit chilly, the Swiss can be seen tucking into a bubbling pot of

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Baked Camembert with Honey & Raspberries

baked camembert honey raspberries

Baked Camembert with Honey & Raspberries is a delicious addition to any cheese platter, and perfect as an appetiser for small parties. Easy to prepare with just a few ingredients, with tips on how to cook your camembert to perfectly. Thank you to Baer AG for sponsoring this post. Please note that the content and opinions are my own. Baked Camembert Switzerland is almost synonymous with cheese and, with the vast array of different cheeses produced in

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Salted Butter Chocolate Cake

salted butter chocolate cake mimi thorisson

This Salted Butter Chocolate Cake is rich and sophisticated, perfect for dinner parties. As the daughter of a baker, something I cannot resist is the smell of freshly baked bread. And freshly baked bread slathered with good quality salted butter is, quite simply, a match made in heaven.

Chocolate Chip Sablé Cookies

giant choc chip sable

These Giant Chocolate Chip Sablé Cookies, or French shortbread cookies, are the perfect snack with a glass of milk. Chocolate Chip Sablé Cookies Recipe We recently returned from our annual family retreat to Grindelwald, a small but popular ski resort in the Swiss alps. We have been going there since our son was a mere 1 month old baby, so it was somewhat awakening to accept that, this year, he attended ski school for the

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Celeriac and Chestnut Soup

celeriac chestnut soup

A simple and delicious Celeriac and Chestnut Soup. Christmas is often a time for indulgence, whether it be treating yourself or loved ones to a special gift (or three), or enjoying the festivities with an abundance of good food and maybe too much champagne. After feasting on Duck Confit Parmentier and multiple serves of our favourite Chestnut Cream Pavlova for Christmas lunch, my husband asked for a simple vegetable soup for dinner later

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Chocolate Pavlova with Chestnut Purée

mont blanc pavlova

A Chocolate Pavlova with Chestnut Purée, which is perfect at Christmas or any time of the year! An easy chocolate pavlova recipe which is a delicious twist on a Mont Blanc dessert. A great recipe using sweetened chestnut purée. Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas celebration with your friends, family and loved ones. Christmas in our home today started with a leisurely breakfast … until the children

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Roquefort Cheese Ball

roquefort cheese ball

A stunning and delicious Roquefort Cheese Ball to impress your guests! A lovely Aussie friend was recently telling me about her menu plans for Thanksgiving, and my interest was piqued when she mentioned that she would be making a cheese ball for the appetiser. Her cheese ball, if she was still in Australia, would have been comprised of cream cheese with cheddar and good ol’ Coon, sprinkled with curry powder and decorated with fried onions. I was

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Walnut Cake

walnut cake

A delicious and moist Walnut Cake using seasonal walnuts, rum and honey. This simple cake looks stunning baked in a bundt pan. Seasonal Walnuts It is that time of the year again in Switzerland when the Advent is approaching and the children are becoming excited about meeting Samiclaus (the Swiss version of Santa Claus) on St. Nicholas Day on 6 December.

Cherry Clafoutis

cherry clafoutis

This Cherry Clafoutis is a classic French dessert consisting of fresh cherries baked in a dense custard. You could also use apricots, peaches or blueberries. A Typical Day About three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, we head to the farmers’ market near our home to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. I avoid, as much as possible, going to the supermarket with two tiny tots in tow, but the farmers’ market

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Lyonnaise Sausage Roll

A  Lyonnaise Sausage Roll has a delicious pork sausage encased in a brioche loaf. One of the advantages of reading cookbooks like novels (I’m sure you have heard of many foodies using this phrase) is having a repository of recipes stored in the memory for those many moments when I find myself holding an ingredient and wondering how I can cook it.

Caramelized Beetroot Tarte Tatin

This Caramlized Beetroot Tarte Tatin is a delicious way of serving beetroots. Most Australians will have some memory of soggy lunchtime sandwiches. When I think of the sandwiches of my childhood, they were most often sliced multigrain bread filled with lettuce, grated carrots, tinned beetroot and a slice of plastic cheese. The beetroot always left a red stain on the bread, on my hands, on my school uniforms. And they almost always made the sandwiches soggy,

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