9 Paris Baguette Pastries, Ranked Worst To Best

Doing the legwork for this piece marked my first foray into Paris Baguette, which was slightly overwhelming and not at all what I was expecting. The bakery has hundreds of locations nationwide and serves up a whole slew of hot drinks and pastries, with enough variety that anyone can find something that suits them. I was surprised to be greeted by a cafeteria tray setup and rows upon rows of self-serve pastry cases; fortunately, I went early in the morning and my location wasn't busy, otherwise I imagine it may have been quite the hassle to get through.

To mark my debut visit to the bakery, I figured I'd try an array of nine different pastries and see how they compare. I'm a home bread and dessert baker with experience working in a pastry shop, so I'm at least a little in-the-know about what makes a good pastry. I ranked my choices based on how well-executed each element of the pastry was and how cohesive the pastry was as a whole. The disparity between my bottom and top choices is pretty wide; hopefully, this piece can give you a solid idea of where to start before you head into Paris Baguette for the first time. 

As a bit of a coffee snob, I had high expectations for Paris Baguette's Coffee Bun (which, unlike coffee cake, is dusted with a sweet coffee topping). Plus, there's the undeniable fact that it looks downright gorgeous; it has an ample dome and an even golden-brown color across the top. But at the end of the day, I don't think this bun can be enjoyed on its own. It's begging to be paired with, well, some coffee, and if you're expecting a standalone treat, I think you'll be disappointed. 

I didn't get much sweetness from the coffee topping; rather, it tasted a little bitter, and the bread itself wasn't sweet enough to balance that out. Even more, the coffee topping didn't really exude a coffee flavor. I did really like the light, airy interior of the bun, but the pastry as a whole was too plain for my liking. This pastry definitely looks better than it tastes and, unfortunately, it was an easy contender for the bottom spot on this list. 

A chocolate croissant should be a surefire top-spot pastry, right? I thought so, and in the case of a perfect chocolate croissant, I suppose that would be the case. Unfortunately, I didn't find perfection here. Admittedly, Paris Baguette's croissant looks just as impeccable, as do all the pastries nestled inside of its glass cases, and the chocolate drizzle on top brings both aesthetic and flavor into the equation. But that's where my appreciation of this croissant ended. 

If you expect anything more than a tiny, thin line of chocolate inside this croissant, you'll be disappointed. Sure, I wasn't expecting it to be as full as a pain au chocolat, but I hoped for at least a little more chocolate in the interior of the pastry. What was there was good and rich, but there wasn't nearly enough to satisfy me (or any chocolate fan, for that matter). Because I found this pastry to be a bit misleading, it was an easy contender for the second-to-last spot, though fortunately it boasted more flavor than the previous pastry did. 

Another Paris Baguette pastry I had higher expectations for was the Tiramisu Tart. Simply put, I don't think I'd have identified this as a tiramisu treat if that hadn't been spelled out for me. The coffee flavor (which is supposed to be incorporated into the cream cheese filling) was barely detectable, and no part of the pastry was creamy and smooth, like I'd expect from tiramisu. 

Instead, chocolate was the dominant flavor of this tart, with a thin layer of cream cheese making for a tart accent. I also didn't find much textural contrast throughout the pastry. Had the crust boasted some crisp with a creamy layer of coffee cream cheese filling, I could have given this more points. Instead, the filling was a little dry, and the pastry rather crumbly. It just wasn't as impressive as you'd expect from something with the "tiramisu" label, and for that, I couldn't rank it higher than seventh place. 

Okay, I have a pretty big bias here. At the last bakery I worked at, one of the pastries I oversaw was our almond croissants, and I absolutely adored them — the filling (made primarily of almond paste and almond flour) would ooze out of the center, making for a rich, gooey dessert or breakfast pastry that was simply tantalizing. I expected to find something similar here (even if not as full — I'll admit to regularly going a bit overboard on our almond croissants). Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed.

I had to fully open this pastry to find any semblance of almond cream. It was incredibly nondescript and added almost nothing texturally to the pastry — instead, the only textural contrast came from the slivered almonds on the top of the pastry. Moreover, the pastry tasted overwhelmingly of almond extract rather than paste. Still, I liked the flavors in this pastry more than in any of the previous ones, and I thought the elements were more balanced. I also had to temper my own opinion given my obvious bias. At the end of the day, I was able to give this as high as sixth place. 

My overall impression of Paris Baguette's Blueberry Cream Cheese Pastry was positive. I loved the shiny sheen the glaze gives the exterior, and the color contrast of the blueberry and cream cheese fillings adds visual appeal. I had a couple of complaints, but if its flavor sounds like your jam, grabbing one on your foray through the bakery wouldn't be a bad choice. 

My chief complaint about this pastry was that the blueberry and cream cheese fillings were each separated into their own halves. While I appreciate the aesthetic this gives the pastry, it didn't lend itself to the best eating experience. To get both flavors at once, I'd have to either take a massive bite out of the middle of the pastry or take a small bite from each side at the same time. Again, this isn't a huge deal, but it did lead to this pastry not being as cohesive an offering as my following choices, which is why I could only give it fifth place. 

I'm not sure how this qualifies as a choux pastry; it's far more similar to brioche in terms of flavor and structure. But I won't fault it for that, because ultimately, I really enjoyed this pretty simple filled bread. You'll find this in a plastic package at Paris Baguette, but that doesn't mean it tastes any less fresh. You could've fooled me into thinking it came straight out of the case.

Though it's nothing complex, I still found this pastry to be pretty impressive. I loved the half-moon crack on top that hints at the creamy interior, and the dark golden-brown color of the crust is enviable. Fortunately, the visuals of this pastry do indeed hint at the flavors within — the cream is thick and custardy, and full of flavor. Contrasted with the light, spongy bread, it really made for a delicious little breakfast pastry. Nevertheless, because it was a pretty nondescript, simple entry, I couldn't give it higher than fourth place. 

I adore pastry cream in all its iterations, which may be why three of my top five pastries from Paris Baguette feature the custardy filling. A particular favorite happens to be tiny tarts filled with pastry cream, topped with berries, and glossed over with a shiny glaze. Paris Baguette's Very Berry Pastry swapped out a tart shell for a simple pastry foundation, and though I still prefer the tart shell (after all, it lets you get more pastry cream), this wasn't at all a bad substitute. 

I was most pleasantly surprised to bite into this and find that a lemon pastry cream was utilized here. I adore lemon, so that was a fun little addition that I very much appreciated. All of the berries tasted fresh, and the pastry was sturdy and flavorful, though, being a refrigerated pastry, it was a little more stodgy than some of the others I tried. I thought this pastry was very well-balanced in all of its elements, with just the right amount of pastry cream, and the berries gave a pleasant textural pop when biting into them. Though I really liked this offering, I couldn't possibly place it above the following two. 

Well, this pastry and the Very Berry variety have some similar elements, so it shouldn't be surprising that they're ranked side by side. I did have to give slight preference to Paris Baguette's Mini Strawberry Lemon Cream Croissant, though. Can you guess why? Yeah, this pastry exploited my serious weakness: pastry cream. And it exploited that weakness very, very well.

Aside from being an absolutely adorable tiny croissant (which was absolutely as flaky in texture as one would expect), this pastry was filled to bursting with that lemony pastry cream that I so adored in the last pastry. It featured two large strawberry halves as well, which brought some textural interest into the equation and kept the pastry cream from being overwhelming. While I could see the richness of the pastry cream being too much for certain consumers, I thought it was present in just the right amount in this small pastry, and I found it particularly decadent to boot. 

My favorite pastry, though, had to be Paris Baguette's Chausson aux Pommes, aka an apple turnover. Honestly, I'm impressed even by easy apple turnovers, so this one was bound to curry favor with me. As always, the gorgeous exterior helps — its scalloped edge only adds to the appeal, while the shiny glaze makes it look too good to eat. Nevertheless, I did indeed eat it, and found it to be well worth my adoration. 

If I could have pumped this with even more apple filling than was already present, I would have, but I'm obsessed with baked apple filling, so that may just be a hot take. That aside, I loved this pastry. The structure of the actual pastry was by far the best of all the ones I tried; it was light, flaky, airy, buttery, and crispy all at once. Pure perfection. The apple filling was full of flavor and not too sweet, and though I wish there was a little more, I imagine what's there would be enough for most consumers. If you, too, adore apple bakes, go ahead and snag one of these; you'll hardly be disappointed. 

I aimed to sample a variety of Paris Baguette pastries that highlighted different elements of pastry baking — think croissants, bread, cream, fillings, and layered bakes. When ranking them, I favored pastries that balanced their various elements particularly well, while my bottom choices lacked cohesiveness. 

I ended up with a pretty mixed bag in terms of the quality of pastries I got, but overall, I would definitely go to Paris Baguette again. I'd be most likely to get a turnover or flaky croissant pastry, or one that featured pastry cream, as I found those elements to be particularly well executed.