In Paris, just like everywhere in France, a sumptuous Christmas dinner always ends with a Christmas Log!
This traditional dessert, which is inspired by the pagan ritual celebration of the Winter Solstice, inspires all pastry chefs whether they work for prestigious firms or in the bakery at the end of the street, to create ever more original and tasty recipes.
While we eat it today after a good dinner, the Christmas log has not always been a dessert! Before gracing our tables, the log was for a long time condemned to be burnt in the chimneys of houses: on Christmas eve, it was blessed and doused with wine, then burnt in the family hearth. Its ashes, thought to protect the home from lightening and the devil, were kept carefully.
This ritual, which goes back to the12th Century, has gradually disappeared in our modern era to be replaced by a tempting sweet.
The log is constantly being reinvented by the top names in gastronomy.
Here are a few places where you will find the best logs in Christmas :
LADUREE: Balls of Christmas logs,
LENOTRE: A Christmas in Paris Log-book, by Sempé,
FAUCHON: log shaped like a Snow Choc snowflake,
DALLOYAU: Log sculpture: Christmas magic, orange madeleine and almonds meringues,
And in all the good patisseries in the capital, depending on individual creative inspiration!
Hotel Gramont Opéra Paris, a beautiful 3 star hotel located at the heart of the Opera district in Paris.
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