Sacristains & Summer Vacation Vibes

Sacristains are a puff pastry specialty from Provence (Département Vaucluse) in the Southeast of France, to be exact. These crunchy puff pastry twists are generously filled and sprinkled with pearl sugar and slivered almonds. They can be found in most bakeries (boulangeries) and many markets (marchés) throughout Provence.

The origin if the name ‚Sacristains‘ is not entirely clear but the French word ‚Sacristains‘ means ‘parish clerk‘  in English, hence, an official designated to carry out various duties for a church parish. The twisted shape of the Sacristains is said to represent the shape of a parish clerk’s walking stick or the rope that was tied around said walking stick. Now, whether that is exact or not, it is a fun and interesting way to explain their name and one fact remains undoubted, namely, these Sacristains taste absolutely heavenly.

This recipe is easy to make and a delicious and rather decadent sweet treat. Use a roll of ready-made, all-butter, good quality puff pastry (pâte feuilletée)  that you buy at the grocery store near you or were lucky enough to have bought in France OR go all the way and make these Sacristains a real treat and make the puff pastry from scratch – believe me when I say that agreeable wheather (meaning cooler temperatures) is helpful when making these from scratch.

No matter whether you make the puff pastry yourself or not, just remember that to be true Sacristains, these treats have to be filled AND topped with sugar and almonds.

Personally, I like them to be elegant and long but you can opt for shorter versions too. Serve them alongside a fresh summer fruit salad, ice cream or milk shake. Come cooler temperatures, these are lovely alongside a steaming cup of coffee, tea, hot chocolate or a tall glass of milk. If you are looking for a bit more of that French flair, why not opt to serve them with a glass of ‚Sauternes‘ (that French sweet wine from the Sauternais region), much like you would serve Italian Cantuccini (Biscotti) dipped into Italian dessert wine called ‚Vin Santo‘ (from Tuscany).

Sacristains - Almond & Sugar Puff Pastry Sticks
(makes about 10 to 11 sticks)

Ingredients

• 1 roll all-butter puff pastry (pâte feuilletée) – around here a roll of ready-made puff pastry weighs about 275g (if you chose to use store bought, make sure to get the fresh kind, as frozen puff pastry tends to un-roll less well) OR use homemade puff pastry
• 1 egg yolk (M), free-range or organic 
• 60g pearl sugar (divided into 40g and 20g)
• 8g pure vanilla sugar (or use homemade vanilla sugar)
• ¼ tsp cinnamon (I like to use Ceylon cinnamom)
• 60g flaked almonds (divided into 40g and 20g)
• a bit of powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

In addition

• a bit of regular flour for working the pastry
• rolling pin
• baking sheets and baking parchment

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 200° C (180° C convection).
2. Line a large baking pan/cookie sheet with baking parchment and set aside: Depending on the size of your baking sheet, you may need two sheets and bake them off one after the other).
3. Roll out the puff pastry. Using a sharp kitchen knife, straighten the sides of the pastry. Then cut the pastry in half.
4. In a small bowl whisk the egg yolk with a bit of water (eggwash) and brush one side of the puff pastry (keep a little for the rest of the procedure).
5. Top the half that you brushed with the eggwash, with 40g of the pearl sugar, then 4g of the vanilla sugar, a tad bit of cinnamon and then 40g of the flaked almonds.
6. Fold the other half of the dough over and flatten the two halves together with a rolling pin to press in the ingredients.
7. Brush the top of the surface with the rest of the eggwash.
8. Sprinkle the top with pearl sugar (remaining 20g), 4g vanilla sugar, cinnamon and finally the remaining flaked almonds (20g).
9. With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut 10 to 11 (2cm) stripes and twist them against each other.
10. Place the Sacristains on the baking sheet(s).
11. Reduce the heat to 180°C (160°C convection).
12. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until they become golden brown and crispy.
13. Remove from the oven and pull them with the baking parchement onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool for a few minutes.
14. Dust with powdered sugar.
15. Serve fresh from the oven, if possible. These taste best the day they were made but can be kept in a cookie tin for a few days. If you want to store them in a cookie tin, make sure to do so between layers of parchement and keep the tin in a cool room.

These Sacristains are great served as nibbles with a little French flare. Just think summer vacation in the Provence.

They are also very easy to make and while the traditional almond-pearl-sugar-version is my favorite kind, it is fun and equally easy to experiment with different fillings and flavors. I have seen them filled with a ‚Crème pâtissière‘ (a sort of vanilla custard), or a 'Ganache au chocolat‘ (chocolate ganache) or a ‚Crème fragipane‘ (almond filling) – much like the filling for my ‚Galette des Rois‘ (recipe and post here) – also with marzipan or homemade fruit jam. You can also opt to add a hint of orange or rose blossom water to their filling. But whatever be the filling of your choice, make sure to fill AND top them. And just let your taste buds and your imagination be your guide.

Please note that my recipe for French Sacristians from Provence is part of my series for a 'local' (meaning across the state of North Rhine-Westphalia) radio station, where, throughout the year, I talk about different baked goods that are closely tied to various holidays and seasons. If you are interested, have a listen (in German) HERE.

The various recipes of my series can be found here:

• in January, for Three Kings Day (Dreikönigstag) two kinds of Galette des Rois (Dreikönigskuchen) (HERE)
• for Lent (Fastenzeit) Lenten Soup with Lenten Beugel (Fastenbeugel) (HERE)
• for Good Friday (Karfreitag) the delicious Hot Cross Buns (HERE)
• for Pentecost /Whitsun (Pfingsten) the fun Allgäu Bread Birds (Allgäuer Brotvögel) (HERE)
• for the beginning of the summer vacation, the lovely Sacristains (Almond & Sugar Puff Pastry Sticks) (HERE)
• for St Christopher's Day (St Christophorus), the energy-packed Müsli Power Bars (Müsli Energieriegel) (HERE)
• for Mary's Assumption Day (Mariä Himmelfahrt) my Tear & Share Herb Bread (Kräuterbrot) (HERE)
• for Mary’s Birthday (Mariä Geburt) some very pretty Mary’s Sweet Rolls (Süße Marienküchlein) (HERE)
• for Thanksgiving (Erntedankfest) a delicious and seasonal Thanksgiving Apple Tart with Frangipane (Erntedank Apfeltarte mit Mandelcreme) (HERE)
• for Halloween a Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake (Kürbis-Gewürzkuchen)
• for St Martin's Day (Martinsfest) the cheerful Sweet Dough Men (Weckmänner) (HERE)
• for St Andrew's Day (Andreastag) a classic Petticoat Tails Shortbread (HERE)
• for Christmas Day (Weihnachten) these Traditional German Gingerbread (Elisenlebkuchen) (HERE) 
• for New Year's Eve a New Year's Eve Pretzel (Neujahrsbretzel)
• for Candelmas Day (Mariä Lichtmess) some delightful Navettes de Saint Victor (HERE)
• for Carnival Season (Karneval) these lovely Carnival Doughnuts (Karnevals-Krapfen) (HERE) 
• for St Patrick's Day a traditional Irish Brown Soda Bread (Irisches Sodabrot)(HERE) 
• for St Joseph's Day a long-forgotten but thankfully re-discovered Sweet Cotton Bread (Baumwollbrot)(HERE) 
• for Palm Sunday (Palmsonntag) these very pretty Palm Pretzels (Palmbrezel) (HERE)
• for Easter Sunday (Ostersonntag) an Easter Brunch at Home with Tarte Flambée (Flammkuchen) (HERE)
• for the Month of May (Marienmonat Mai) these elegant Visitandines de Nancy (HERE) 
• for Pentecost/Whitsun these festive Beignets (Heiliggeistkrapfen) (HERE) - more delicious treats to come very soon.