Allumettes Glacées

DUE TO THEIR ELONGATED SHAPE, WHICH MAKES THEM RESEMBLE THE STICKS OF WOOD THAT WERE ONCE USED TO START FIRES, FRENCH PÂTISSERIE USES THE TERM "ALLUMETTES" TO DESIGNATE LONG PUFF PASTRY DOUGH SPONGE CAKES GLAZED WITH SUGAR.

Text by Eric Birlouez - photos ©Xavier Ferrand

iconic desserts

an essential for any window display

This little cake is one of the traditional treats now absent from the shelves of most of our patisseries. And yet, allumettes glacées are so simple—a strip of puff pastry dough (2 to 3 cm wide by 8 to 10 cm long), covered
with a sugar glaze—and relatively quick to make. Two assets that should appeal to our fellow citizens, who are often in a hurry and in search of a something sweet (these two factors being, in this case, all the more compatible as allumettes glacées taste much better straight from the oven). Light and flaky, this little sponge cake was once very popular with customers of all ages.

In kitchen vocabulary, the term "allumette" was first used in 1739. It can be found in the Nouveau Traité de la cuisine by Joseph Menon, one of the most famous cooks of the 18th century. Under his pen, the word refers to a small savory cake served hot as an appetizer. It was shaped like a stick—hence the name "allumette"—and consisted of a savory puff pastry dough filled with cheese, ham or anchovies (even today, savory versions of puff pastry matchsticks, flavored with cheese, herbs or olives, are eaten as aperitifs).

Allumettes glacées are relatively quick and easy to prepare

From the mid-19th century onwards, allumettes also appeared in sweetened versions, in the form of narrow strips of puff pastry glazed with sugar. These are thought to have been created by a Swiss-born artisan named Planta, who had opened a pastry shop in Dinard, opposite Saint-Malo. In his Mémorial historique et géographique de la pâtisserie, published in 1890, the great pastry chef Pierre Lacam (1836-1902) wrote: "Planta [...] one day had some leftover glaze for decorating and didn't know what to do with it. Having softened this glaze, he added a pinch of flour to prevent the sugar from sinking in the heat of the oven, then spread it on a strip of puff pastry which he cut into small sticks, and baked it in the oven." But other authors see the invention of allumettes glacées as the work of Henri-Paul Pellaprat (1869-1954), one of the creators of the famous Cordon bleu cookery schools.

A puff pastry dough treat...

While the origins of allumettes glacées remain unclear, the origins of the puff pastry dough they're made from are equally unclear. There are many stories about this type of dough. We often read that it was introduced to France in the 16th century by Catherine de Médicis, when this Tuscan princess came to our country to marry the future King Henri II. Equally fanciful is the claim that puff pastry dough was invented in the following century by a certain Monsieur... Feuillet! Another fake news story is that of the great painter Claude Gellée, known as Le Lorrain (1600-1682). In his younger days, this artist is said to have been a pastry chef's apprentice, and to have invented puff pastry dough by mistake: having forgotten to incorporate butter into a pastry, he placed a piece of butter on top of it, he then ensured it was well incorporated, by repeatedly folding the pastry over on itself!

The origins of puff pastry dough actually go back much further: some three and a half thousand years ago, the inhabitants of Mesopotamia were already making pies by layering very thin layers of pastry separated by a layer of fat. Later, the Greeks and Romans also used this technique. Craftsmen in Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire, used to make a cake with several layers of dough, stretched thinly and separated by a honey cream. But the real puff pastry dough, obtained by stacking, rolling and folding, was developed by the Arabs and then spread throughout the European continent. In France, Rabelais wrote about "puff pastry cakes" in 1552, but it wasn't until the early 17th century that the puff pastry method was specifically standardized. This was introduced in 1604 by Lancelot du Casteau, cook to the prince-bishops of Liège (Belgium), who used the dough to make savory pastries. Half a century later, François Pierre dit La Varenne explained in detail in his work Pâtissier françois (1653) how to make the puff pastry dough he used to make savory pies.

... covered in royal icing

While you can simply coat a cake or sponge cake with icing or powdered sugar, you can also—and this is the case with allumettes glacées—make a "royal icing" by working powdered sugar with egg white and a few drops of lemon. This easy-to-make glaze is often used to decorate Christmas cakes (including gingerbread men), wedding cakes and many other baked goods.

A Return to Favor?

Allumettes glacées could regain their former popularity and enjoy a renaissance thanks to the current vogue for old-fashioned pastries. For several years now, a number of artisans and media bloggers have been trying to bring these back—sometimes by "revisiting"—these delicacies of the past. Allumettes glacées may also be back in the spotlight, thanks to our fellow citizens' growing awareness of the phenomenon of food waste: this delicacy is, for example, one way of putting leftover galette dough to good use. In days gone by, when no edible food was thrown away, these matchsticks were made from puff pastry dough trimmings.

These delicacies are one way of making the most of leftover galette dough, and were once made from puff pastry dough trimmings

Mots de table, mots de bouche. Claudine BRECOURT-VILLARS. Editions La table ronde. 2009, La merveilleuse histoire des pâtisseries. Jacques GENIN et Michel TANGUY. Gründ. 2017. Dictionnaire de la gourmandise. Anne PERRIER-ROBERT. Robert Laffont. 2012, La très belle et très exquise Histoire des Gâteaux et des Friandises. Maguelonne TOUSSAINT-SAMAT. Le Pérégrinateur éditeur. 2018