{"id":8336,"date":"2026-10-19T23:30:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8336"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:49:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:49:46","slug":"puits-damour","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/puits-damour\/","title":{"rendered":"Puits d\u2019Amour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A sweet filling sits in a case made of puff pastry or choux pastry. Puits d\u2019amour, whose name means \u201cwell of love,\u201d is a French pastry in which a sweet filling is placed in the hollow of pastry that has been baked first. Some have vanilla cream with sugar sprinkled on top and caramelized, while others are filled with fruit jam, and their appearance varies with the pastry and the filling. The large wells of the 18th century even had decorations suggesting chains and a well bucket.<\/p>\n

Stacking a puff pastry disc and ring offset by 90 degrees<\/h2>\n

The method of combining a disc-shaped base with a ring-shaped rim is still passed down today. Two circles are cut from laminated puff pastry, and the center of one is removed to make a ring. The edge of the chilled pastry base is moistened, and the ring is rotated 90 degrees, placed on top and gently pressed to adhere.<\/p>\n

When the rim is brushed with egg, the brush is moved along the curve of the ring. If egg runs onto the cut edges, it tends to keep the pastry layers from rising. After brushing, the pastry is chilled; once it has been baked and has puffed up, it is cooled and the center is pressed down to form the shape of a well. What surrounds and supports the filling is not a wall of thick dough in a single mass, but layers of pastry that have risen in the oven.<\/p>\n

\n\"Puits\n
Puits d\u2019amour with cream filled in the center (October 2012, location unknown). The browned rim surrounds the filling like a well. Photo: Elie plus \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC0<\/a>. Original-size image obtained. Made available under CC0 by the photographer. No alterations to the content and no cropping on our part.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n
\n\"Layers\n
An example of laminated puff pastry (2015). Thin layers stack up at the cut edge. The photo was not taken of pastry made for puits d\u2019amour. Photo: Popo le Chien \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from the source. No alterations to the content and no cropping in this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Filling with cold cream and caramelizing the sugar on top<\/h2>\n

Vanilla custard is made by mixing egg yolks, sugar, milk, starch and other ingredients and cooking them while stirring. Taking it off the heat, adding butter, covering it so that it does not dry out, chilling it and then folding in whipped cream produces a filling with a light texture.<\/p>\n

The cream is filled into the cooled case, mounded slightly on top and sprinkled with sugar. Caramelizing the sugar with a hot iron or the oven\u2019s top heat forms a thin layer of hard caramel over the cream. Some versions are left to rest and then go through the caramelizing step once more. It is a pastry in which the smoothness of the vanilla cream, the hardness of the caramelized sugar and the fragility of the puff pastry are enjoyed together.<\/p>\n

At Stohrer, a long-established pastry shop in Paris, puits d\u2019amour is also one of the classics that have been carried on. There are also versions in which a ring of choux pastry is placed on a puff pastry base, so the case is made from two doughs.<\/p>\n

\n\"An\n
An example of pastry custard. It is made from milk, egg yolks, sugar, starch and other ingredients, and is also used as the filling for puits d\u2019amour. Photo: SKopp \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>. Image obtained from the source. No alterations to the content and no cropping in this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Captieux\u2019s shallow choux and cream lightened with egg white<\/h2>\n

The version loved in Captieux, in southwestern France, is a small choux pastry case heaped with cr\u00e8me Chiboust, with the sugar on top caramelized. Because whipped egg whites are folded into the custard, the way air is incorporated differs from versions that add whipped cream.<\/p>\n

According to the family history told by Maison Seguin, the father learned this distinctive recette (formula and method) from a pastry chef in Pau and opened a shop in Captieux after the Second World War. His children took over in the early 1980s, and in 2013 Brice Leguillon took over the business and the method. Passed from a craftsman in another town to a family-run shop and then on to a successor, the method became a Captieux specialty.<\/p>\n

In one method for making the choux cases, water, milk and butter are brought to a boil, taken off the heat, and the flour is added all at once. The dough is put back on the heat to drive off moisture and transferred to another bowl, and the eggs are mixed in one at a time. The dough is piped in small amounts and baked without being fully dried; after baking, the center of the dough, which has settled flat, is pressed with a finger to shape it into a shallow cup.<\/p>\n

Maison Seguin regards this pastry as delicate and caramelizes the sugar on top just before finishing.<\/p>\n

Some methods for cr\u00e8me Chiboust use Italian meringue, made by pouring hot sugar syrup into whipped egg whites. Gelatin is dissolved in cooked custard, the meringue is folded in, and the cream is piped into the cases. After the cream has cooled, sugar is applied evenly and caramelized with a hot iron or a torch. Cream filled into layered puff pastry and egg-white cream heaped onto shallow baked choux have both been passed down under the same name of \u201cwell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Versions filled with raspberry jam<\/h2>\n

Jam-filled puff pastry versions are still made today. The case, baked from a stacked disc and ring, is cooled and dusted with powdered sugar, and raspberry jam is filled into the center. In contrast to the cream-filled versions with caramelized sugar on top, here the sweet-tart flavor of fruit takes center stage. In both, the hollowed pastry is baked first and cooled before the filling goes in.<\/p>\n

Well-shaped decorations and fruit fillings in a 1733 cookbook<\/h2>\n

Volume 2 of Vincent La Chapelle\u2019s \u201cThe Modern Cook,\u201d published in London in 1733, contains two \u201cpuits d\u2019amour,\u201d one large and one small.<\/p>\n

The large one was an elaborate construction: a case made by stacking dough with its center cut out onto a puff pastry disc, assembled with separately baked S-shaped pieces of pastry and chain-shaped decorations. It was filled with redcurrant jelly or apricot marmalade, and small choux with the same filling were also used as decoration. The name \u201cwell\u201d was expressed not only in the hollow center but also in a design that even suggested chains and a well bucket.<\/p>\n

The small one was made by stacking a small ring onto a puff pastry disc about the size of the rim of a glass, baking it, then sprinkling it with sugar and glazing the surface with a hot fire iron. It was filled with a sweet filling of redcurrant or apricot and covered with a small cut-out piece of dough as a lid. It was a fruit well, unlike today\u2019s cream-filled versions.<\/p>\n

The name \u201cwell of love\u201d and a court legend whose dates do not match<\/h2>\n

A name linking \u201clove\u201d with a form that holds sweetness in a hollow has also been taken as hinting at romance. A commentary by the Japan Federation of Western Confectionery Associations also notes its romantic quality and the popularity of a pastry name that was provocative for its time.<\/p>\n

The well-known story that Louis XV had it made for Madame de Pompadour has a gap in dates. The Palace of Versailles records that the two met in 1745, while the 1733 recette came earlier. Any romance or court event behind the name is not clearly known.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Maison Seguin<\/strong>: A pastry shop in Captieux, southwestern France. It passed on a recette inherited from a craftsman in Pau to family members and a successor.<\/p>

Brice Leguillon<\/strong>: The pastry maker who took over Maison Seguin\u2019s business and method in 2013.<\/p>

Captieux \/ Pau<\/strong>: Both are towns in southwestern France. They are connected with the passing down of the Seguin family\u2019s pastry.<\/p>

Vincent La Chapelle<\/strong>: An 18th-century cook. He published \u201cThe Modern Cook\u201d in English in 1733.<\/p>

Laminated puff pastry<\/strong>: Dough in which layers of dough and fat are folded over one another, so that thin layers rise when it is baked.<\/p>

Choux pastry<\/strong>: Dough made by bringing liquid and fat to a boil, adding flour, cooking it over heat and then mixing in eggs.<\/p>

Cr\u00e8me Chiboust<\/strong>: A light cream made by combining custard with meringue. Some recettes add gelatin.<\/p>

Italian meringue<\/strong>: Meringue made by adding hot sugar syrup to whipped egg whites and whipping.<\/p>

Stohrer<\/strong>: A Paris pastry shop founded in 1730. It still presents puits d\u2019amour as one of its classics today.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. \n

    Maison Seguin, \u201cDans les coulisses\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The shop\u2019s practice of caramelizing this delicate pastry at the last moment.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  2. \n

    Vincent La Chapelle: The Modern Cook, Vol.II (1733), pp.21\u201323<\/a> \u2014 Large and small well shapes, puff pastry, S-shapes, chains and small choux, redcurrant and apricot, and finishing the sugar with an iron. The relevant recettes and the title page were read via OCR, and p.21, which is missing from the OCR, was examined directly in the page image.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  3. \n

    Le Fooding: Puits d\u2019amour, S\u00e9bastien Gaudard recette<\/a> \u2014 Puff pastry disc and ring, chilling and egg wash, custard and whipped cream, caramelizing the sugar twice.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  4. \n

    \u00c9ditions Larousse: Puits d\u2019amour \u00e0 la confiture<\/a> \u2014 The raspberry jam type, ring and disc, and the variation with a puff pastry base and a choux ring.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  5. \n

    Stohrer: Notre savoir-faire<\/a> \u2014 Its place as a classic carried on in the current workshop.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  6. \n

    Maison Seguin: Puits d\u2019Amour de Captieux<\/a> \u2014 Captieux\u2019s choux pastry, cream combined with egg white, and finishing with a hot iron.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  7. \n

    Bernard Dauphin: Le Puits d\u2019Amour<\/a> \u2014 Shallow choux case, Italian meringue and custard with gelatin, applying the sugar evenly and caramelizing it. This is one recette published by a craftsman, not Seguin\u2019s unpublished recette itself.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  8. \n

    Japan Federation of Western Confectionery Associations: Puits d\u2019amour<\/a> \u2014 Later commentary on the romantic connotations of the pastry\u2019s name; the link between Michael William Balfe\u2019s 1843 operetta of the same name and Stohrer\u2019s cream version is the commentator\u2019s hypothesis. It is not a historical source explaining how the pastry\u2019s name arose in the 18th century, so it has been moved from the history in the main text to a reference note.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  9. \n

    Maison Seguin: Family history and recette<\/a> \u2014 From a craftsman in Pau to the father, Captieux after the war, and succession in the early 1980s and in 2013. Because the official pages are inconsistent, giving the founding as both 1944 and 1952, the main text limits itself to the family history of \u201cafter the Second World War,\u201d and the single year is kept as unconfirmed.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  10. \n

    Ch\u00e2teau de Versailles: Madame de Pompadour<\/a> \u2014 The 1745 meeting with Louis XV and its chronological order relative to the pastry\u2019s 1733 recette.<\/p>\n<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Puits d\u2019amour is a traditional French pastry in which a sweet filling is placed in pastry with a hollowed center. Its name means \u201cwell of love.\u201d One of its best-known forms today is round puff pastry filled with vanilla cream, with the sugar on top caramelized to amber.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7254,"menu_order":107,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Puits d\u2019amour","subtitle":"Well-shaped puff pastry with vanilla cream and a thin layer of caramelized sugar","topics":"Making a well from a disc and a ring\uff0fChilling the cream and caramelizing only the surface\uff0fA jam-filled well shares the same name","country":"France","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["cream","egg"],"texture":["smooth"],"occasion":[],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[168],"class_list":["post-8336","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t