Galette de Roi

T'is the season for Galettes des Roi, flaky pastries traditionally filled with either marzipan or frangipani. These King Cakes, associated with the festival of Epiphany in the Christmas season are on sale until the end of January and are a favorite of the boy's. Anything with frangipani or marzipan and the boy gets that glazed expression in his eyes....

In any case, having been invited to the lovely Umami's house for a day of majong and hotpot, we brought one from our favorite local bakery...the one with the impossibly thin apple tarts. Of course, knowing that Umami had a hankering for the apple tarts, we bought one of those as well.
Unexpectedly but happily, I won the coveted 'feve' or trinket, which was hidden inside, thus got to wear the crown for the rest of the dinner.


Having not had enough of the Galette de Roi, the boy went and bought a mini sized one from one of his favorite bakery shops, Malineau. The boy even had the gall to say that he bought it for my sake. For comparison reasons.

This one was very very flaky and buttery, and to my taste, a bit *too* flaky and dry. (and yes, in my world there is such thing as too flaky). I preferred the one from the local bakery which had texture and lovely layers to bite through to get to the rich frangipani.


And yes, we did end up buying a third one. From the local bakery to take to the boy's grandparents in Sunderland.... his grandfather ended up almost eating the feve!

Umami and I, in a fit of time indulgence, traveled all the way to the 13th arrondissement to find Pain et Passion, which was recently rated in the Figaro for having the best Galette de Roi. Although we only had a small individual one, the boy and I agreed for having been the worst of the three, all dry and heavy.

My advice is to buy your Galette de Roi from a local bakery from whom you buy your pies.

For a wonderful round up of Galettes, see Umami's latest post!