by: Hillary Davis

“What I learned over the many years I lived in France and from my extensive traveling throughout the country, is that French desserts-the ones the French make in their homes-are easy to make,” Hillary Davis.

As a self proclaimed Francophile I have always had a love for French desserts. The French Desserts cookbook provides easy to understand recipes that allow home chefs of any level to make a delicious dessert in their own kitchen.

I found some many recipes I wanted to make in French Desserts it made it difficult to choose just two. In the next few months I plan to cook through a lot more of these recipes.

Eiffel Tower Pie Crust Cookies

Cut out cookies are one of the most fun desserts to make in my opinion. They are great to make with kids as they get to be a huge part of the baking process.

The recipe for these Eiffel Tower Pie Crust Cookies is so simple, you just have to buy a pie crust. You don’t have to spend the time or effort in making and chilling the dough. It is really the perfect recipe to do with kids as they can roll out the dough and help with all the steps.

The cookies are delicious and I did sprinkle some red sugar on some at the end and they looked really festive. The only change I would make to the recipe is to cut out the cookie shapes first and then once they are cut out brush with the butter/vanilla mixture and sprinkle the sugar on them. This way if you have scraps of dough it will be easier to put that together and roll out to cut out more cookies. I hate to waste dough so even though I had already put the butter/vanilla mixture and the sugar on them I still put the dough together. They turned out okay since I had enough of the butter/vanilla mixture to coat the cookies again.

I will definitely make these again and remember it depends on how large your Eiffel Tower cookie cutter is as to how many cookies you will get out of the recipe. I used this cookie cutter*, but I also love this one* from Sur La Table.

Chambord Raspberry and White Chocolate Mousse

Chambord is my favorite thing to drink, so I had to make this dessert. The recipe seemed a little complicated at first but once you get all the ingredients measured out and start it’s really easy to follow along.

I don’t have a scale so I did have to count out the white chocolate pieces to get the correct amount, I’m sure it looked pretty funny. As with all recipes it’s really important to measure everything out ahead of time and don’t forget the egg yolks need to be at room temperature.

Letting the dessert sit in the fridge for five hours was the hardest part of the recipe. It was totally worth it in the end. The Chambord raspberry and white chocolate mousse was so light, fluffy and absolutely delicious. I think I may make these again over Christmas while my sister is home since she loves raspberries.

If you want to step up your dessert game then French Desserts is a cookbook that you need on your shelf. It breaks down desserts that seem so scary to make into easy to follow steps. Home chefs of any level can definitely make show stopping desserts with the French Desserts cookbook.