Palets bretons are thick salted-butter shortbread discs, crisp at the edge and sandy at the centre, baked in a ring so they rise straight rather than spread.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
The biscuit belongs to the same family as the flatter, wider sablé breton, and the two names are used loosely across Brittany, but the palet is by convention the thicker one, at least a centimetre deep. Both descend from the region's habit of baking with salted butter in quantities that would be unusual anywhere else in France, and both were sold from the late nineteenth century onwards by the Breton biscuit factories at Pont-Aven, Quimper and Saint-Michel-Chef-Chef. The fleur de sel and the yolks are what separate a palet from a British shortbread: it is saltier, richer and shorter, and it crumbles rather than snaps.
Common allergens: Gluten, Eggs, Dairy
Tip from the editors. Without rings the dough spreads into thin biscuits. Metal poaching rings or a deep muffin tin both work if you do not have proper tart rings.
Pâtisserie Le Daniel is the Meilleur Ouvrier de France house of Laurent Le Daniel in Rennes, running since 1998 with its flagship facing the Halles Centrales.
Tip: Order before 14:00 online and collect the next day; the Rue de la Monnaie boutique by the Lices is the quieter pick-up.
Worth the queue: Kouign-amann in salted Breton butter
Maison Bouvier runs its pâtisserie and chocolaterie across Rennes, the Place Toussaints shop as flagship and a counter in the Hoche Visitation centre.
Tip: Monday afternoon and Sunday openings close in July and August; the Visitation branch keeps longer standard hours.
Worth the queue: Kouign-amann
Maison Larnicol stacks its bite-size kouignettes on Rue Le Bastard in Rennes, the Breton chocolatier founded by Meilleur Ouvrier de France Georges Larnicol.
Tip: The kouignette is the travel-size kouign-amann; the rum-raisin and salted-caramel-apple versions are the ones to mix into a bag.
Worth the queue: Kouignettes in a dozen flavours
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