From breakfast to apéro: 10 French favourites for autumn

October has a way of putting everyone back in line. The alarm goes off before it is properly light, the heating is back on, and the long lunches of August in Provence feel like they happened to somebody else. We don't really mind. Autumn is when French food gets comforting: breakfast is taken a little more seriously, tea breaks multiply, and apéro moves from the terrace to the coffee table.

These are the ten things from our own shelves that we are reaching for at the moment, in the order they turn up during the day.

A French breakfast for dark mornings

1. Orange, grapefruit and lemon marmalade

Now that we are back in a work routine and rising early, breakfast is a French classic: confiture on a piece of toasted baguette. Our current favourite is the orange, grapefruit and lemon marmalade. The ratio of fruit to sugar is spot on, the texture is just right, and the pieces of citrus peel bring a lovely acidity. It is one of our favourite ways to start the day.

Our jams are made by Maison Octave in Gargas, just outside Apt, our hometown. The marmalade starts in a copper cauldron, where the fresh citrus is cooked and then left to macerate, and the whole process takes days. Fresh fruit and cane sugar, nothing else.

We also really like their quince jam with fresh cheese, the pink apricot on toast, and the griotte cherry and blackcurrant ones with yoghourt and granola. You will find all our jams here.

I didn't use to be a massive jam fan, but Octave converted me. Maybe it is also a sign of getting older and enjoying the breakfast my grandparents used to love.

Snacks and tea breaks

2. Mini lemon and almond financiers

The financier is a classic French cake: a small, golden bake made with egg whites, ground almonds, sugar and plenty of butter, crisp at the edges and soft in the middle. The story goes that a Parisian pâtissier near the stock exchange shaped them like little gold bars for his banker customers, hence the name.

Financiers take me straight back to childhood, baking on a Wednesday afternoon with my grandparents (Wednesdays are off school in France).

What is great about our box of mini financiers is that each one is individually wrapped and sealed, so you don't have to finish the box within a day of opening it. A handful in a coat pocket or a bag makes a far better snack on the go than a highly processed chocolate bar from the convenience store. They taste light, lemony and almondy.

If you would rather bake your own Wednesday afternoon, our lavender honey madeleines are a good place to start.

3. Croquants de Cordes

As the days get shorter and cooler, Mum finds she is enjoying more afternoon tea breaks. We are light eaters between meals in our family, so croquants are the perfect companion to a hot drink.

They are made with egg whites, a bit like a meringue, which is what makes them feather light. Sweet, crisp and nutty with almonds, they are a speciality of Cordes-sur-Ciel in the south west, baked by a family bakery, Maison Bruyère. An absolute delight, and there are more where they came from in our biscuits and sweets.

The autumn apéro

In our opinion, an autumn apéro is about comfort and indulgence. Friends are welcome, but it can just as well be a selfish treat: a platter on the coffee table, something light-hearted on television and nobody to share with. Here is our ideal line-up when the evenings get cooler.

4. Saucisson sec

Our saucissons are made by Maison Chillet, near Lyon. Simple, tasty, effective. We normally go for the wild boar saucisson.

They arrive cured, so you can enjoy them straight away. We cut ours into thin slices so it feels like it will last longer. It doesn't.

5. Cornichons with rosemary

Cornichons on a charcuterie platter are a must. Ours come from Maison Hugo, and we find them a step up from the usual French supermarket brands. They are a bit bigger, super crunchy, and the pickle juice is flavoured with rosemary. It is actually very tasty, if you are into that sort of thing.

6. Duck rillettes

Our pâté du moment is duck rillettes. Strictly speaking rillettes are not a pâté: the duck is slow-cooked in its own fat, which gives a texture closer to pulled meat, and the ingredients are just duck, duck fat, salt and pepper. Rich and full of flavour.

The tin is big enough to share between two and small enough to have on your own. It is made by Maison Lembert in the Périgord, duck farmers since 1940, who also make the classic staples of the south west: confit de canard and cassoulet. There is more on why the French take food in tins so seriously on the blog.

7. A proper paring knife

Please don't slice your saucisson with an average knife or, even worse, a serrated blade. The tool for the job is one of our La Fourmi paring knives, made near Thiers, the home of French cutlery. Our favourite is the one with the rosewood handle, and there is an olive wood version too.

8. A light white: L'Aubépine

What else do you need? A bottle of red, you might think. At this time of year we like to keep it light with a white, and our favourite from the range is L'Aubépine.

It is a Ventoux white from the Cave de Lumières in Goult, not far from Apt, made with grenache blanc, roussanne and clairette. Whites from the south can be heavy. This one isn't: white flowers on the nose, pear and clementine on the palate, and very refreshing.

That freshness is why it works so well for apéro. It cuts through the richness of the rillettes and the saucisson, and it doesn't argue with the vinegar in the cornichons the way a tannic red can. Serve it properly cold, at 8 to 10°C. And if you still think Provence only does pink, we have thoughts.

9. Or a white vermouth from Forcalquier

The alternative, and it is a delicious one, is the white vermouth from Distilleries et Domaines de Provence in Forcalquier. It starts with white wine, then come Provençal herbs, aromatic plants, spices and a touch of absinthe.

Sophisticated and complex: herbal and floral on the nose, a little sweet, with a soft bitterness at the end. That bitterness is the point. It wakes up the appetite, which is exactly what an apéritif is for, and it stands up to charcuterie without weighing the evening down. We pour it over ice with a twist of citrus peel.

If you would rather the whole thing arrived in one go, our Apéro box does the thinking for you.

And to set the mood

10. A small candle

To set the mood and relax, we light one of our new candles from 1802 Le Chatelard, made in Provence. They are small, 80g in an amber glass jar, and that suits us. We don't know about you, but we don't light candles that often, so we would rather have a small one we finish than a big one gathering dust.

Cedar and sandalwood are the warm, woody ones for this time of year. Mimosa and acacia and lavender are there if you prefer floral.

None of this is complicated, which is rather the point. A good jam, a small cake in your pocket, a platter on the coffee table and a candle that actually gets lit.

Bon apéro.

A few questions we get asked

What do you serve at a French apéro in autumn? Keep it simple and rich: a saucisson sec, cornichons, a tin of rillettes or pâté, good bread, and something light to drink such as a chilled white wine or a vermouth over ice.

What is a financier? A small French almond cake made with egg whites, ground almonds, sugar and butter. It is crisp outside, soft inside, and traditionally baked in a mould shaped like a gold bar.

What is the difference between rillettes and pâté? Rillettes are meat slow-cooked in its own fat, with a coarse, pulled texture. Pâté is minced or blended and usually smoother, often with liver.

What wine goes with saucisson and rillettes? A fresh, dry white with good acidity works better than most people expect, because it cuts through the fat. If you prefer red, choose something light and serve it slightly cool.