Pastries

The éclairs will begin to get soggy as soon as they are filled, so be sure to wait until just before you're ready to make the chocolate fondant to add the pastry cream.

For this cream puffs recipe, if you don’t have any pastry bags handy, cut off the tops with a serrated knife and carefully spoon in the pastry cream.

When properly baked, the puffs should have a firm but not crusty exterior, and a moist but airy center.

Thinner links of merguez sausage are ideal for these nibbles, but if you can’t find them, just halve larger ones lengthwise into quarters before wrapping in pastry.

The best beignets come from New Orleans, but the high protein content in bread flour gives this classic-style beignets recipe an authentic texture.

Grinding half of the walnuts into the streusel makes for extra tender, buttery muffin tops.

Using a cookie cutter as a guide to shape and form the scones instead of rolling and cutting them out ensures tenderness.