Canelé and kouign-amann, together at last!

Yesterday I found myself on walkabout in LIC and decided to pay Cannelle Patisserie a visit. Beautiful pastries—mille feuiles, opera, Paris-Brest, and more lined the case like gems—but ultimately I decided to forego the more sugary items in favor of two classics: a canelé and a kouign-amann.
I chose the canelé, because of its daintiness, and the kouign-amann because I’ve never seen one presented as a spiral. I started out with the canelé, which had a pleasant sponginess and a hint of vanilla, before moving on to its more formidable cousin, the kouign-amann.
The circular pastry with its amber and gold mantle was truly a study in caramelization. It tasted even better than it looked. Crunchy, sweet, and buttery with a welcome hit of salt at the end it’s my favorite kouign-amann in Queens.
“Chef, do you use salt in your kouign-amann?” I asked of Jean-Claude Perennou who I ran into on my way out. “Yes, I do put a little. I fold it into the dough because in Britanny the butter was always salty,” he said and went on to explain that originally nobody made individual kouign-amann, but rather giant pans of the flaky treat. I bet a giant kouign-amann, would be just the thing for my giant sweet-savory tooth.

Cannelle Patisserie, 5-11 47th Ave., Long Island City, 718-937-8500