Since my recent trip to Lille, I have been obsessed with making Merveilleux at home. These meringue and chocolate cream sandwich pastries are a famous specialty from French and Belgian Flanders and can be spotted across bakeries and pastry shops all over the city of Lille. I actually spent several minutes staring at pastry chefs crafting them through the windows of Aux Merveilleux de Fred, one of the most famous spots in the city to buy and eat Merveilleux.
So as soon as I was back in my kitchen in Canada, I started to study and compare recipes for it, recalled my memories from Lille, and developed this recipe for making easy Merveilleux at home – which includes small crisp meringue circles with the simplest chocolate cream and chocolate shavings. A simple recipe taken step-by-step to make these authentic, mouth-watering pastries from Flanders.
The story goes, the original name of this pastry was “tête-de-nègre”- meaning, in a very politically incorrect manner, “negro head”. For obvious reasons, this inappropriate name is now avoided and replaced by “Arlequin”, “Boule Choco”, or more commonly “Merveilleux” (meaning, “marvellous” in French).
Also very famous in Belgium, the typical Merveilleux is made of meringues covered in plain whipped cream, surrounded with chocolate shards and topped with a Maraschino cherry. The French variation (the one we’re doing here) is covered in chocolate cream and covered entirely with chocolate shards (and no cherry) – which makes it my personal favorite (more chocolate, and no Marashino cherry – which I am not fond of).
A Merveilleux is a flawless marriage of textures: crispy-melt-in-your-mouth meringues wrapped in fluffy chocolate cream and covered in crunchy chocolate shards.
Another thing I love about them (and why they’re so great to make at home): Merveilleux don’t need to look perfect – in fact, they should look rather rustic with a rocky surface and messy chocolate shards all over. So you don’t need to stress about your pastries being uniform and perfect. I actually think they look better when they are all unique (as long as the core components are present: two sandwiched meringues with chocolate cream).
I think they are great served in cupcake liners (they make for great hand-held desserts) or you can serve them on a plate, with a fork or a spoon. But beware, they get scrumptiously messy when eaten!
Cooking notes :
- Tips for the meringues: The use of an electric beater is strongly recommended (faster and much less tiring than by hand). Take the eggs out of the fridge at least 15 minutes before you start working with them. Make sure absolutely no egg yolk is left in the whites. Beat the whites all the way to a firm peak before you start adding the sugar.
- Tips for the chocolate shards: Use a good-quality dark or unsweetened chocolate (milk chocolate tends to melt easier and will not hold a good shape as shards). Do not rush the melting process, take it slow or the chocolate will separate.
- Tips for the whipped cream: Place the bowl and whisk(s) in the freezer 30 minutes before you start making the whipped cream.
- When all 3 of your components (meringues, chocolate shards and whipped cream) are ready to be assembled, work quickly to assemble them and place all the Merveilleux in the fridge as you go, before serving.
If you try this Merveilleux (Meringue and Chocolate Cream Sandwich Pastries) recipe, let me know! Leave a comment or share a photo on Instagram tagging @pardonyourfrench or using #pardonyourfrench. I’d love to see what you come up with.
Bon Appétit!
The base recipe for the meringues is adapted from Ricardo.
