Beautiful, creative French desserts are sure to make a statement on your table whenever you serve them. These 25 spectacular recipes will give you all the inspiration you need to get started!
You are probably familiar with the many classic French desserts you can make at home—especially if you’ve spent a bit of this on this website 😍 But one of my favorite things about “classic recipes” is that once you master them, you can get creative and put a fresh new spin on them!
This collection of 25 creative French desserts does just that! Getting creative doesn’t have to be complicated, it just requires a little imagination. Think of new or unique flavor combinations and work out how you can incorporate them with your classic recipe—it’s often easier than you think!
1. Cinnamon Palmiers
by Everyday Delicious
Cinnamon palmiers are crunchy and fragrant cinnamon cookies that are super quick to make and require just 3 ingredients!
2.
by Food Nouveau
These easy-to-make hazelnut financiers have crunchy edges and a nutty, tender crumb. Topped with maple-infused roasted figs, they’re just irresistible!
3. Raspberry & Pistachio Financiers
by Simple Bites
These brightly colored raspberry and pistachio financiers are the perfect sweet bite to end any meal. You can use fresh or frozen raspberries, which means you can make and enjoy these beauties year round!
4. Mocha Madeleines with Espresso Glaze
by Food Nouveau
These mocha madeleines are the perfect coffee companion! Infused with espresso and cocoa and dipped in a stunning glaze, they’re not too sweet and just perfect as a snack or evening treat.
5. Honey Orange Macarons
by Food Nouveau
These crowd-pleasing Honey Orange Macarons combine comforting, mellow flavors in a tiny, colorful package. This recipe includes a variety of resources to help you learn how to make French macarons, including a video class!
6. Pumpkin Crème Caramel
by Good Life Eats
These warmly flavored pumpkin crème caramel are super simple to make. Indeed, your blender will do most of the work for you! Aside from making the caramel sugar and putting the final recipe together before baking it, this recipe is simple enough the kids can make it!
7. Chai Crème Brûlée
by Gluten-Free Palate
Creamy, smooth, and decadent this Chai Crème Brûlée has the perfect flavor profile and insanely pleasing texture.
8. Chocolate Hazelnut Pots de Crème
by Food Nouveau
Chocolate and Hazelnut Pots de Crème are incredibly easy to make, yet incredibly delightful. Your guests will swoon over the silky texture and the rich flavor of this impressive and creative French dessert.
9. Apple Maple Clafoutis
by The Bake School
This creative take on the classic cherry-centric French dessert combines apples with maple syrup and aromatic spices. The egg custard batter is divided between individual ramekins and puffs up like crazy in the oven, like a Dutch baby, and then it settles down as the ramekins cool. An absolutely comforting dessert for a crisp fall day!
10. Blackberry, Cherry, and Chocolate Clafoutis
by Food Nouveau
This striking chocolate clafoutis combines the creamy texture of the classic French dessert with a rich chocolate flavor and juicy seasonal fruits. The texture of this lovely dessert is somewhere between a rich pudding and a summer fruit cobbler. Serve it warm with whipped cream or vanilla bean gelato and let yourself be transported to cloud nine!
11. Brown Butter, Hazelnut and Cherry Clafoutis Bars
by Food Nouveau
These juicy, nutty, and rich bars transforms the quintessential cherry dessert into a portable treat! The buttery crust contains ground hazelnuts and aromatic brown butter and the clafoutis custard is tweaked to perfectly hold its shape. The resulting texture comes close to that of a blondie, one that’s dotted with juicy, delicious cherries throughout. Simply irresistible!
12 Persian Rosewater Cream Puffs
by Honest and Tasty
These rosewatter cream puffs are absolutely heavenly! With a bit of Persian rose, it takes a classic to another level.
13. Rose Raspberry Fool Cream Puffs
by Food Nouveau
These super cute rose raspberry fool cream puffs elevate a quick and easy summer favorite—raspberry fool—to special occasions status. Raspberry fool is an English dessert that dates back to the 17th century. Traditionally, fools combine custard with pureed fruits, but nowadays, most recipes favor using whipped cream over custard. This produces a super light texture and rich taste and makes the dessert much quicker and easier to achieve—and becomes the perfect filling for cream puffs. Why eat your fool with a spoon when you can serve it in the cutest, fluffiest container?
14. Salted Caramel Éclairs
by Dessert for Two
A tempting salted caramel eclair recipe perfect for a small batch. This caramel eclair glaze is incredible!
15. Poached Pear and Almond Tart
by Food Nouveau
This Poached Pear and Almond Tart is a creative take on a classic apple frangipane tart combines a crunchy sweet crust with a fluffy frangipane and spiced pear filling. It’s an elegant dessert to serve on a special night!
16. Honeyed Fig Frangipane Tart
by Food Nouveau
This fig frangipane tart is a spectacular addition to holiday tables, but it’s also a delightful brunch-time or teatime treat. Easier to make than it looks, it’s the perfect vehicle to highlight juicy figs!
17.
by Food Nouveau
Pears and chocolate are a flavor match made in heaven. This French free-form tart is the perfect dessert to celebrate that perfect pair!
18. Peach Tarte Tatin
by In the Kitch
In this peach tarte tatin, peaches absorb a delicious, caramel pan sauce as well as release their juices, giving the sauce a hit of peach flavor. They are surrounded by a flaky, puff pastry and served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
19. Plum Tarte Tatin
by Vikalinka
Take the fear out of making French pastry at home by learning how to make this delicious Plum Tarte Tatin, which is simply an upside down puff pastry plum tart.
20. Tatin Cake
by Food Nouveau
Traditional Tarte Tatin turned into a lovely cake doused in maple caramel—what’s not to like? Tatin Cake will quickly become one of your favorite fall desserts.
21. Framboisier
by The Bake School
This framboisier cake is a play on the classic fraisier cake, made with two layers of sponge cake, fresh raspberries, and mousseline cream.
22. Raspberry Paris Brest
by Zoë Bakes
This Raspberry Paris Brest is a beautifully nontraditional take on a very traditional French pastry. Paris Brest is usually filled with a praline buttercream. In this creative take on a French classic, instead of stirring praline into the pastry cream, an easy raspberry quick jam out of fresh berries is mixed in. The result is fresh and light, which will be a welcome end to your holiday dinner.
23.
by Food Nouveau
This Black Sesame and Chocolate Financier Cake looks utterly spectacular but it’s actually easy to make: if you can make muffins, you can achieve this cake! Plus, you can make the batter and even bake the cake in advance, which makes it the ultimate stress-free dessert.
24. Chocolate Crêpe Cake with Cocoa Hazelnut Cream
by Heartbeet Kitchen
This Chocolate Crêpe Cake is made from layers of delicious chocolate crepes, filled with cocoa hazelnut cream. You can make the crepes a day ahead and assemble when you want to serve!
25. Crème Brûlée French Toast
by How Sweet Eats
This decadent French Toast recipe combines two classic recipes – crème brulée and French toast – to create an utterly delicious, festive breakfast or brunch dish. The dish is assembled the night before and only needs to be baked before everyone gets to dig in the morning after!
