Poilâne

Back in Paris after the start of the New Year, I got a serious craving for my favorite chaussons aux pommes from Poilâne (which I mentioned recently in an earlier post).  I was dreaming about them while away and it took me only two days to get back there.  While there, I saw these beautiful new year's cakes, called Galettes des Rois.  The Poilâne website describes them this way - 

The "Galette des Rois” is a French tradition. A cake you eat in January only, that hides a charm. The person who finds the charm is Queen or King of the day and bears the golden paper crown that comes with the cake.  This Galette season, Poilâne asked Le Petit Atelier de Paris to create a charm that would symbolize luck and happiness. They crafted two hands; one bearing a heart, and the other a four-leaf clover.

Of course, what brought this bakery fame are its large round sourdough country bread loaves.  If you visit one of their three little shops in Paris (and now also in London), be sure to take a punition (shortbread cookie) which you'll find in the basket that sits on the table where you pay for your purchase.  "Punition" means punishment, but of course a visit to Poilâne is anything but.