The bakery aisle was never going to ignore 'pumpkin injeolmi', the chewy rice-cake snack that kept popping up on social feeds. Tous Les Jours has turned it into a castella cream bun, one of five new autumn items.
A cream bun in a castella-crumb coat
The star is the Sareureu Pumpkin Castella Cream Bread. Soft bread is coated in castella crumbs and filled with sweet pumpkin cream and dried pumpkin pieces (hobak-goji).
Castella crumbs stand in for the roasted-soybean dusting of injeolmi, and the dried pumpkin adds the chew.
The other four, in autumn colours
There is an Original Kouign-amann, baked crisp with butter and caramelised sugar, and a Black Sesame Kouign-amann that adds sesame on top.
The Honey Sweet Potato Fresh Donut is filled with sweet potato paste and finished with jocheong syrup. The Black Sesame Ganache Baguette is crisp outside, moist inside and filled with black sesame ganache.
Why pumpkin, sesame and sweet potato
CJ Foodville calls pumpkin, black sesame and sweet potato 'familiar flavours that stand for autumn' and says it wanted customers to enjoy them in Tous Les Jours' own style.
Four of the five lean on those three ingredients; the fifth is the butter kouign-amann. It is a nutty, toasty lineup.
Before you buy
The breads are sold at major Tous Les Jours stores nationwide, which is not the same as every branch. Check your nearest store or the Tous Les Jours website (tlj.co.kr) before making a trip.
The pumpkin bun sheds castella crumbs on everything, so grab a napkin first.
