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New ZealandFlavors · Lyon
Shortcrust pastry tart filled with pink pralines — almonds coated in sugar dyed red — melted into cream until they form a shiny pink filling. It is Lyon’s best-known dessert.
Traditional sweet from Lyon, Auvérnia-Ródano-Alpes
Also known as: tarte à la praline, tarte aux pralines roses, tarte à la praline lyonnaise
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Tarte aux pralines — Lyon, France
The tarte aux pralines is a sablée pastry tart — buttery and crumbly — filled with crushed pink pralines cooked into heavy cream. Once cooled, the filling sets firm, with an intense shiny pink color and almond pieces. It is very sweet and is usually served in thin slices.
The praline — an almond coated in caramelized sugar — is attributed to a cook of a Count of Plessis-Praslin in the 17th century, in Montargis; those early pralines were brown. The pink praline, dyed with a natural red coloring, appeared later in the Lyon and Savoy region; who created it and when is unknown, and the story of a Lyon pastry chef inspired by the Rhône’s rose bushes is legend.
The tart itself is recent. According to Lyon historian Yves Rouèche, the first published recipe appears in a book by chef Alain Chapel from 1980; the creation is usually placed in the 1970s. At the time, Lyon’s bouchons, famous for pork and offal, had few signature desserts, and local pastry chefs developed their versions.
Today the tart is in every pastry shop and bakery in Lyon, from individual size to large. The pink praline also appears in brioches and other regional sweets.
Lyon , Auvérnia-Ródano-Alpes
Lyonnais dessert from the 1970s, present in every pastry shop in the city.
Sablée pastry (flour, butter, sugar, egg); pink pralines (almonds coated in sugar dyed red); heavy cream.
In thin slices, as a dessert or snack, at room temperature.
All year round; it finishes meals in bouchons and is bought at pastry shops to take away.
Your questions
Because it is made with pink pralines — almonds coated in sugar dyed with a natural red coloring — melted into cream.
The first published recipe appears in a book by chef Alain Chapel from 1980, according to historian Yves Rouèche. The tart is usually placed in the 1970s, in Lyon.
It is typical of the Lyon and Savoy region, but who created it is unknown. The original brown praline is attributed to a 17th-century cook in Montargis.
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