Perfect pâtisserie recipes - Telegraph Diamonds are a girl's best friend? Not in my experience, darling. I'm not one for jewellery shops. But pâtisseries are another matter. Ambling round French villages on holiday, I will stop and press my nose against the glass that separates me from rows of glazed loveliness. 'What are you doing?' asks my partner somewhat irritably (I am slowing down our conquest of all the churches and museums within a hundred-mile radius). 'Oh, just looking at the pâtisserie,' I say, wistfully. 'But it's the same as the last pâtisserie window,' he replies. He doesn't get it. He is capable of eating just half a strawberry tart. In contrast, I feel moved, not only by the deliciousness before me, but that someone has put such effort into something that will be consumed in minutes. What is also touching is the immutability of it all. Thirty years ago, when working in Bordeaux, I did the same thing every week on my day off: I headed straight for rue Ste-Catherine and had a strawberry tart from the pâtisserie on the corner. I would always consider the apricot galette and the slightly domed lemon tart, but the strawberry tart - the most perfect balance of pastry, crème pâtissière, berries and glaze - always won. Today that shop is still there. And the pastries are the same, all garanti pur beurre, just as they should be. It would be easy to say, 'Leave it to the professionals.' But making French pâtisserie gives you the greatest 'I can't believe I did that myself' thrill. Don't for a moment think it's beyond you. Pâte sucrée, the classic pastry used for sweet tarts, is not like our shortcrust. It acts like a container and so has to be as crisp as a biscuit. The high sugar content makes it crumbly and difficult to handle, so rest it before rolling, don't roll it too thinly, and if it breaks patch it up. Chilling the lined tins is essential if you are to stop the pastry shrinking. Choux pastry sounds difficult, but only because it's the product of somewhat miraculous alchemy. If you ever doubted the wonder of eggs, try it: a rather unpromising blend of boiling water, melted butter and flour is transformed, with eggs and elbow grease, into clouds. We British are very good at an afternoon tea of scones, madeira cake and tiny little sandwiches. But a tiered cake-stand of glistening French pastries is the height of elegance - and a wonderful thing to pull off. Once you've mastered these pastries you'll make them for the rest of your life. Cupcakes and 'whoopee pies' may come and go, but French pâtisserie is a joy for ever.