Provençal Christmas Cakes

Home baking is not one of the French vices; baking, it is felt, is what bakers and pastry cooks are made for. The Provençaux carry that attitude to an extreme—and they think of pastry, moreover, as being for children; the adults eat it, for the most part, only on religious holidays, tradition having assigned a different pastry to each. Few housewives have ever prepared pompes in their kitchens, and published recipes tend to be largely folklorique galimatias. For all practical purpose