From Paris

"Delicious!"
When I hear this from people with their mouths full of my pastries and a smile on their face,
I would always say: "Good, but I can do even better!"
This is a motto of my everyday life.
Sadaharu Aoki



J is a darling and brought me back two boxes of delight from Sadaharu Aoki's store in Paris. An amazing gift box full of three flavoured cakes, two flavoured florentines, sablé breton, chocolate sablé, hazelnut sablé, chocolate orange slice, tuiles coco, marrons glacés and a smaller box of chocolates each presented in a different color (see photo above). I have wanted to try Aoki's pastries for a couple of years now so this was a special treat.

The first and most striking thing about the products was the presentation. The white box with silver and grey writing and silver string had the allure of a Tiffany's blue box - fetishistic magic in other words. You just know something fantastic is inside from the get-go. Unsurprisingly the insides were magical. Subtle and delicate flavors, the over-riding aspect being a lightness of touch.

Aoki has made an international reputation for himself by combining Japanese flavors with French techniques.

I like to create simple things, but it is the most difficult thing to do, since simple things cannot be manipulated. Sadaharu Aoki

For those who can't make it Paris or don't have lovely friends like J to bring you something back - here is a recipe from Aoki-san - roughly translated from the French



Financier with green tea
Makes 20 Financiers
Prepartion time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

* 45g egg white
* 50g powdered sugar
* 5 g of glucose or honey
* 45g clarified butter
* 25g powdered almond
* 25g hazel nut powder
* 15g flour
* 2g matcha green tea powder
* black sesame seeds
* white sesame seeds
* guerande sea salt

A mold with 20 slots - 3 x 5cm each

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
2. Mix the egg white and sugar without making a foam. Add glucose or honey.
3. In a strainer, filter the powdered almond, hazel nut powder and matcha green tea powder - incorporate into the mixture without adding air
4. Heat butter to 80 degrees C, add to mix and emulsify as you would a mayonnaise. Heat the mixture in a microwave. You want to get the temperature of the mix to 40 degress C.
5. Fill the moulds with the paste (the temperature of the mix should now be 30 degrees C). Sprinkle with white sesame, black sesame and sea salt. Put in oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Best served cold.

Aoki has three stores in Paris and one two in Tokyo - here's a picture of him in his store in Paris. I look forward to visiting the store in person this fall.