Ina Garten's Favorite Dessert To Order While Dining In Paris

With her laid-back, approachable take on savoring all the wonderful flavors and experiences in life, Ina Garten is one person we will always eagerly accept advice from. The TV host and cookbook author feels like your best friend who just so happens to have the best taste in food, the most brilliant ideas on how to make it stress-free, and always knows the best spots in every city for dream meals. Case in point: Garten shared her favorite restaurants in Paris, a wanderlust-inspiring list. So, when she dished on what specific dessert to order when eating at one of those City-of-Light restaurants, we knew our dessert-ordering habits were forever changed. Quick, add Paris to the top of your travel list (as if it wasn't there already) so you can order Garten's favorite, profiteroles.

The Barefoot Contessa posted to her Instagram page a close-up video of a profiterole on a restaurant table with chocolate sauce being drizzled over it, captioning the mouthwatering moment, "Only dessert to eat in Paris! FRFR #profiteroles." We can imagine only having eyes for profiteroles upon gazing at this beauty, its top and bottom layers of flaky, buttery choux pastry centered with sweet ice cream and cascading with fresh whipped cream, sprinkled with crunchy nuts, and topped with rich chocolate. Garten's followers were impressed. "Please tell in detail what this sublime dessert is," requested @lindaj3612, prompting Garten's description. "Yes, I love those! Scrumptious!" agreed @coastalthymeusa.

Ina Garten's devoted fans won't be too surprised this is her favorite French dessert to order while eating out in France. After all, it's also one of her favorites in general — Garten recommends making profiteroles for Valentine's Day, for instance. It's no great mystery why, either. Rich and elegant, profiteroles are an Italian creation that originated in the 16th century and have become a staple of French cuisine since then. Profiteroles are related to cream puffs but different: While they are made with choux pastry, their filling can be not only whipped cream as with the cream puff, but custard or, as in Garten's Instagram post, ice cream.

While you can indeed make them at home with Garten's own recipe, following her lead right to a French restaurant to have profiteroles made by an expert, if you can, is perhaps an even more exciting endeavor. Taking a look at that list of Garten's favorite Parisian restaurants, you can order profiteroles at Café Varenne and Café de Flor. If you want to give French a go, you'd say, "Je voudrais les profiteroles" to order. And to complete your perfect dessert, try a wine pairing — Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise is a wine that complements profiteroles with its notes of sweet honey plus brighter tropical fruits to balance, and more simply, a glass of Champagne would cut through the dish's sweetness and richness with acidity and crisp effervescence.