{"id":8339,"date":"2026-10-19T23:30:52","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8339"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:49:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:49:53","slug":"religieuse","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/religieuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Religieuse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A small choux, representing a head, sits on top of a large choux. The religieuse is a French pastry in which large and small glazed choux are joined by a collar of buttercream. The cream piped at the join between the large and small choux both supports the upper choux and serves as a collar-like decoration. The hollows of both the upper and lower choux are filled, and the small choux representing the head also contains cream.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
A vanilla religieuse (January 15, 2021, location unknown). The large choux is coated with white glaze, and the upper choux is dusted with icing sugar. Photo: Thomon \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Full-size image obtained. No content alterations or cropping made on our side.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Cooking the Panade and Adjusting the Dough’s Moisture<\/h2>\n

Choux pastry is made by bringing water or milk, butter, salt and so on to the boil, taking the pan off the heat, and adding the flour all at once. The mixture is stirred with a wooden spatula or similar and returned to the heat to drive off moisture. The dough at this stage, when it comes away from the pan and forms a single mass, is called the panade.<\/p>\n

It is transferred to another bowl to let some of the heat escape, and the eggs are added in stages. Right after eggs are added, the dough may look as if it is breaking apart, but it comes together as it is mixed. Each addition of egg is mixed in thoroughly before the next is added, bringing the dough to a pipeable consistency.<\/p>\n

Some recettes (ingredient proportions and methods) for professionals weigh the dough after drying it out, make up the evaporated amount with water, and then add the eggs. In methods that use both milk and water, the balance of liquid, flour, fat and eggs is aligned in this way to adjust the firmness before baking.<\/p>\n

\n\"Piping\n
Piping choux pastry for profiteroles onto a baking sheet with a piping bag (November 22, 2007, location unknown). It shows the shaping of choux pastry that is also common to the religieuse. Photo: Allie Cooper \u201cPiping mini cream puffs\u201d \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 2.0<\/a>. Image as distributed by Commons obtained. No content alterations or cropping made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Baking Large and Small Choux and Filling Each with Cream<\/h2>\n

As a guide for one set, one method pipes a large choux about 5 centimeters in diameter and a small choux about 3 centimeters in diameter. During baking, the moisture in the dough turns to steam and the dough, which contains egg and flour, puffs up, creating a hollow inside to hold the cream. The choux are baked until well colored and until a light tap reveals the hollow inside.<\/p>\n

Once cooled, a small hole is made in the base, a piping tip is inserted, and custard is filled in. For a chocolate cream filling, one method adds chocolate to the hot cooked custard to melt it, then mixes in softened butter after the custard has cooled. To avoid bursting the shell by piping too forcefully, the cream is spread slowly throughout the space inside. After both the large and small choux have been filled the same way, the glaze is applied.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
Chocolate religieuses (August 17, 2007, location unknown). Large and small choux are stacked, with cream piped at the join and on the top. Photo: Sonia Geffrier \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ Public domain<\/a>. Reduced-size version from Commons obtained. No content alterations or cropping made on our side.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Finishing the Glaze and the Cream Collar That Supports the Choux<\/h2>\n

Fondant is a glaze made by crystallizing sugar into fine crystals. It is warmed over a water bath or similar to make it flow more easily, and flavored and colored with cocoa or coffee. One method works with it at around 37\u201340 degrees as a guide; if it is overheated, the finish tends to lose its sheen.<\/p>\n

The tops of the choux are dipped into the glaze, the excess is allowed to drip off, and the edges are tidied. The glaze is stirred even between coating one choux and the next, so that a skin does not form on its surface and cause uneven coating. Once the large choux has cooled and its surface has set, buttercream is piped on it in a ring and the small choux is placed on top. The cream piped like a collar bonds the upper and lower choux together.<\/p>\n

There are also variations in how the glaze is applied. In one method, glucose and cocoa butter are combined with fondant, spread thin and frozen, then cut into large and small discs that are placed on the cream-filled choux. Decorating with shaved white chocolate as a collar changes both the look and the mouthfeel compared with a buttercream collar. There are also versions covered in ganache with a base of sweet tart pastry and almond cream added.<\/p>\n

The blackcurrant religieuse that Len\u00f4tre introduced in 2026 fills large and small choux with blackcurrant cream and confit and adds decorations made of almond dough. Beyond coffee or chocolate glazes, there are also versions whose flavor is built around fruit.<\/p>\n

At P\u00e2tisserie Religieuse in Setagaya, versions are also made in which the large and small choux are filled with creams of different flavors. The buntan flavor featured in a 2023 interview has the fruit worked into the custard. Chef Mori, the owner, explains that for other flavors, confiture, pur\u00e9e or fresh fruit and custard are sometimes arranged in two layers. The two choux not only create the shape but also serve as vessels that hold different flavors in a single set.<\/p>\n

Large Religieuses Stacking \u00c9clairs and Sabl\u00e9 Discs<\/h2>\n

The \u201creligieuse \u00e0 l’ancienne,\u201d made for banquets, is a format that builds height by assembling many \u00e9clairs<\/a>. Stick-shaped choux are filled with creams such as coffee and chocolate and then glazed. Their sides are bonded with caramel to form a ring, which is stood on a baked sabl\u00e9 disc, and the next disc and ring of \u00e9clairs are stacked on top.<\/p>\n

The rings become smaller toward the top, and a single round choux decorates the summit. Piped buttercream covers the spaces between the \u00e9clairs and the joins. It is not simply a single-serving pastry scaled up, but a large confection assembled by bonding \u00e9clairs and base discs with cooked sugar.<\/p>\n

From a Square Choux to a Two-Tiered Form Evoking a Nun<\/h2>\n

Frascati, in 19th-century Paris, was the name of a caf\u00e9 and pastry shop. After the first establishment closed, a new one was built in 1833, and the religieuse is said to have been born at this shop. The City of Paris and the Fondation Napol\u00e9on give the year 1856, but who invented it is not clear.<\/p>\n

The old form that has been handed down is a square choux filled with custard and topped with whipped cream. Today, large and small round choux are stacked one on top of the other and the join is decorated with cream. The small choux looks like a head, the large choux like a body, and the cream at the join like a collar. In French, religieuse<\/em> means \u201cnun.\u201d Uncertainties still remain about when the shape changed and when the pastry acquired its name.<\/p>\n

From the same choux pastry and cream come both a single-serving pastry evoking a nun and a large confection of stacked \u00e9clairs. The process of baking the dough, filling the hollows with cream, glazing, and then joining the pieces with cream or cooked sugar is common to both.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Confit<\/strong>: An ingredient made by, for example, heating fruit together with sugar.<\/p>

Choux pastry<\/strong>: A dough made by boiling liquid and fat, adding flour, cooking the mixture over heat, and then mixing in eggs. It puffs up during baking to form a hollow.<\/p>

Panade<\/strong>: In choux pastry, the dough of liquid, flour and other ingredients cooked into a mass before the eggs are added.<\/p>

Fondant<\/strong>: A glaze made by crystallizing sugar into fine crystals. It is warmed and applied to choux and other pastries.<\/p>

Buttercream<\/strong>: A cream based mainly on butter, combined with sugar, eggs and other ingredients. It is also used for decoration and for joining pieces together.<\/p>

Glucose<\/strong>: A type of sugar used in confectionery. It is also used to adjust how easy a glaze is to work with.<\/p>

Ganache<\/strong>: A mixture of chocolate with cream or other ingredients.<\/p>

\u00c9clair<\/strong>: A pastry of choux baked in a stick shape, filled with cream and covered with glaze or similar.<\/p>

Religieuse \u00e0 l’ancienne<\/strong>: The name for a large format in which \u00e9clairs are arranged in a circle, assembled in tiers, and topped with a choux.<\/p>

Frascati<\/strong>: A caf\u00e9 and pastry shop in 19th-century Paris cited when the origins of the religieuse are discussed. It is also spoken of as a person’s name, but the inventor has not been determined.<\/p>

P\u00e2tisserie Religieuse<\/strong>: A pastry shop in Setagaya, Tokyo. The main text covers versions introduced in a 2023 interview with Chef Mori.<\/p>

Buntan<\/strong>: A citrus that bears large fruit. Also written \u6587\u65e6 in Japanese. In the main text, it refers to the shop’s cream made with buntan from Kochi Prefecture.<\/p>

Confiture<\/strong>: Fruit cooked with sugar; jam.<\/p>

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

    Len\u00f4tre \u201cReligieuse cassis\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Blackcurrant cream and confit and decorations of almond dough, introduced in 2026.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  2. \n

    Chef Philippe: Religieuse au chocolat<\/a> \u2014 All 48 steps; panade; piping at 5 cm and 3 cm; filling; chocolate added to hot cream; butter after cooling; fondant at 37\u201340 degrees; collar and assembly. The steps were actually read.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  3. \n

    Prova Gourmet \/ Tristan Rousselot: Religieuse<\/a> \u2014 Dough with milk and water; correction for evaporation; vanilla cream; discs of thinly set fondant; white chocolate collar. All listed ingredients and steps were read closely.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  4. \n

    Chef Philippe: Religieuse \u00e0 l\u2019ancienne<\/a> \u2014 All 104 steps; cream-filled \u00e9clairs and sabl\u00e9 discs; bonding with caramel; tiered assembly. A practical version of the large format, not presented as the original 19th-century formula itself.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  5. \n

    Dalloyau: Notre histoire<\/a> \u2014 A 19th-century Parisian pastry; the square old form; a 2005 reconstruction with ganache and an almond-containing base. A first-party explanation of the shop’s own modern technique.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  6. \n

    Puratos: Religieuse<\/a> \u2014 Attribution to an Italian craftsman named Frascati, and the change in shape from square to round, with two pieces of large and small size. No original record of the inventor is given.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  7. \n

    City of Paris, \u201c\u00c0 Paris,\u201d Spring 2022 issue, p.28<\/a> \u2014 The Frascati shop, Boulevard Montmartre, and the 1856 theory. A city guide to food culture; it does not include an original menu from 1856.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  8. \n

    Fondation Napol\u00e9on: G\u00e2teau Frascati<\/a> \u2014 The shop’s rebuilding in 1833 and the theory of the religieuse in 1856. Dumas’s 1873 \u201cFrascati cake,\u201d presented alongside, is a different formula and not a recette for the religieuse.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  9. \n

    Puratos, \u201cCahier P\u00e2tisserie 2022,\u201d p.5<\/a> \u2014 The theory attributing it in 1885 to Frascati, an Italian ice-cream and pastry maker, and an explanation of the old form. It differs from the 1856 shop-name theory of the City of Paris and the Fondation Napol\u00e9on by 29 years and in referring to a person rather than a shop, and it gives no signed record of the creation or original menu record. The contradiction is not treated as resolved, and the change in form was made the central thread of the main text.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  10. \n

    ufu. \u201cReligieuse, a Super-Classic French Pastry\u201d (March 28, 2023)<\/a> \u2014 A direct interview with the shop owner. Two layers of custard and fruit; different flavors in the large and small choux; the buntan example. Historical claims of a Naples origin or of a pioneering introduction to Japan are not adopted, as there are no original records.<\/p>\n<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The religieuse is a French pastry in which a small choux is placed on top of a large choux and a collar of cream is piped. Its form, with a round head, a plump body and a white collar, matches its name, which means \u201cnun.\u201d It has an exterior covered in chocolate or coffee glaze and two hollows filled with cream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7260,"menu_order":110,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Religieuse","subtitle":"Two choux, large and small, joined by glaze and a collar of cream","topics":"Baking two different sizes to the same finish\uff0fGlaze for sheen, the collar for support\uff0fSingle servings and an old banquet form","country":"France","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["chocolate","cream","butter","egg","coffee"],"texture":[],"occasion":[],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[154],"class_list":["post-8339","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