Bonjour! We are popping into Les Halles Boulangerie and Patisserie in Epcot’s France Pavilion today to take a closer look at a new-to-us pastry!

You may remember last year around Mardi Gras time when we shared with you the Beignets commemorating that time of year. They were really interesting — unlike what we normally think of as beignets. (You know, those fluffy fried pillows of deliciousness. Rectangular or Mickey-shaped — we’re good either way.)

But on a recent visit to Les Halles we were intrigued to read that the Beignets seemed to be different, since they were described as Chocolate Hazelnut-filled.

Wait. What?!

Yeah…that’s all it took to get us there.

Le Beignet at Les Halles

The previous beignets at Les Halles were Bugnes Lyonnaise, diamond-shaped with a hole in the middle, and were rolled in granulated sugar. So when I was handed this treat, it was clear that we were dealing with something completely different.

We took the snack to my favorite secret hide-y place in the France Pavilion. (Nope, not tellin’ ya where…OK, behind the perfume shops. But don’t tell.) It’s a wonderfully quiet and shady spot — a perfect place to dig into Les Halles loot!

As you can see, it looks like a traditional filled doughnut. Actually, it reminded me a lot of the Berliner featured at the Germany Booth during last year’s Epcot Food and Wine Festival.

Time to cut into it! I went for it, expecting to see a snug little pocket of chocolate Hazelnut filling. But this is what greeted me on the cross section.

Well, I knew there was filling in there. It was too heavy for there not to be! And so I [Read more…]