Progrès Poire-Caramel from L'etoile Pâtisserie (all the way from Taipei!).
I have to be frank with you guys. I have a bad habit of choosing sweet desserts over savory meals. It's so bad that it's gotten to the point where I'd just have some tarts or a bagel as my brunch. But do not fret, that's only sometimes. I repeat: sometimes. If my parents knew about my lack of nutritional habits, they would probably scold me. Haha. So, yeah, please keep that a secret for me.
Anyway, as I go through my college years I feel that one of my goals in life is exploring all the food-- especially desserts-- that's available to the world. One of my good friends came back to campus from Taipei and brought me this really intricate, yet tasty dessert. Wow! Thanks so much! It's amazing how something simple, like food, can make the world feel smaller.
Sigh.... but I digress. My friend told me that she had been craving some sweets from this place back home and promised to give me some when she returned. This place is known as L'etoile Pâtisserie.
L'etoile, which means "star" in French, is a French style dessert house in Taipei. I checked out the house's Facebook page and what I really liked about the setup is that the employees present the desserts with a long platform instead of a multi-desk chilled display common at most bakeries. My friend told me that when she was there, she had a difficult time deciding what to get, because it was like picking out jewelry at Tiffany's. I've never shopped there before, but can you imagine all the different varieties of cakes, and glittering desserts grabbing for your attention? Dang. Seems nice.
Aesthetically, the Progrès looks like an accordion. The top and bottom are hazelnut flavored dacqouise with caramel-pear cream in the middle. I've lately been obsessed with dacqouise and if you don't know what it is, it's basically a dessert cake made with layers of almond and hazelnut meringue.
The dessert itself is not too overwhelming to the eye. But don't let it's low profile deter you from taking a bite. It's phenomenal. Clearly in my top 10 favorite sweets of all time. Haha! (But knowing me, the list changes with every new dessert I discover!)