Kouign-Amann I ♥ U

 Can you have a love-hate relationship with a pastry?

 Yes, if it's a kouign amann

 A pastry impossible to spell, pronounce or resist if you love caramel.

 Butter-loaded kouign amann come from Brittany as does this gent at the Salon du Chocolat.

 I even love his hand made signs/porte-etiquette...very gemutlich/homey

 I think I ate more kouign amann at the chocolate salon than I ate chocolate...

 Georges Larnicol is the maitre de kouign aman in Paris perhaps. He even makes minis called kouignettes to keep the guilt at bay in a vast multitude of flavors. To-die-for near Metro Odeon.

 I'm also a big fan of Pierre Herme's kouign amann even if he does sometimes sneak in framboise confiture in the bottom (propably a no-no if you're a die hard kouign-amann lover). It's tucked away in the viennoisserie bin, mostly overlooked by mad about macaron lovers.

 You would think kouign amann is a regional monument in Brittany. It utilizes the famous local au beurre sale. If you see the letters CBS run and get some. Caramel au beurre sale/caramel with salted butter. Abbreviations are rampant in France. This is a chocolate box at CDG to remind you of all the goodies you must eat in France 🇫🇷 
 

 A kouign amann must be lurking in one of these pastry cases. Recently a lot of vintage books have been republished like Nos Geographies de France by Daniel Picouly. A book with wonderful old school maps of where to find what to eat in France (as if we needed help).

 At the chateau Sebastien's sister made it from scatch while we all sat around, enhaled and drooled.
 

 One could say this is taking things to an extreme but it aptly expresses my fondness for Kouign amann.

The roots of the obsession started early. My dad and I used to sneak out Saturday mornings and make a run for Philadelphia Sticky buns before anyone was up. Certainly this is a distant carmelized cousin of the kouign amann Breton non?

Old habits have a way of sticking with you forever.