Petit Four

Definition: Petit Four

February 13, 2007

petit four
A small cake (or cookie) served at the end of a multi-course meal or elaborate buffet. They're usually about 1" square and traditionally come in two varieties: Secs (dry) and Glacé (iced). The dry kind include dainty cookies, meringues, macaroons and puff pastries. The iced include little cakes covered in fondant, small eclairs and tartlets.

Oh and my favorite part, the name "petit four" means "small oven" in French.

16 Comments

2 years 51 weeks

O petit Nome, Significa Pequeno e Petit Four Significa Produtos assados em temperatura baixa.

poetess 5 years 46 weeks

I love food art. I want to go to France so baldy.

Jennifer_2sugar 5 years 46 weeks

hmmm....

OliverCakery 6 years 13 weeks

I'm going to disagree with you kiki - I had tons of fun making them and my kids helped too! We covered them not with fondant, but with a runny butter cream (place them on a rack over a cookie sheet and pour!) - it harden up a bit and they were great! My kids decorated them with candies- fun family project! (by family I'm included the hubby - he comes from a long line of catering and always seems to be able to help in a pinch!)

Leoschoice 6 years 13 weeks

In France, you can also have petits fours with the apperitif. In that case they are salted, like mini quiches, mini hot dogs. They can be a lot more elaborated like oyster candies, foie gras souffles etc. (though i never tryed to made some)

POPSUGAR Food 6 years 13 weeks

I personally don't like them that much, mostly because I end up choosing the ones with the jam fillings (not a fan of the jam center). It's sort of like boxed chocolates, it depends on who makes them, what ingredients they use and what flavor you're getting.

kscincotta 6 years 13 weeks

I always think these look so cute in magazines, but I've heard they can taste pretty dry and blah. Is that true?

cupcake17 6 years 13 weeks

awww! They're too cute!

cupcake17 6 years 13 weeks

awww! They're too cute!

mandiesoh 6 years 13 weeks

so cute. love these!

mandiesoh 6 years 13 weeks

so cute. love these!

Greentea1203 6 years 13 weeks

my great grandma sends me a box of these every Christmas

the kiki 6 years 13 weeks

All I can say is DON'T EVER TRY TO MAKE THE ICED KIND AT HOME. Seems like you'd figure this out on your own, but I was asked to make them by a family member and told that she made them all the time. Disaster in the kitchen, huge expense, overall failure. Always buy them. Always. Not worth the time, expense, and mess. Now they give me nightmares.