Craving Something Sweet

I was in the mood for something sweet, but it had to be something new and different. I didn’t have too much time so I searched the world wide web and found myself deep into the world of French pastries. I’d love to make croissant, but they’re so time consuming and if they’re not eaten within hours of baking, they begin to taste stale. There were Éclairs, Beignets and Gourgere – yum, but again, time consuming. I’d love to spend hours in the kitchen making macarons in pastel colours of pale yellow, green, pink and blue, but again, not enough time. I could make the crunchy and caramelized Palmier, I think they’d be the quickest and easiest with some frozen puff pastry.

I like searching for new recipes on Pinterest.com. It’s a site that is all about pictures and that’s where I discovered French cannelé.

A cannelé a specialty of the Bordeaux region of France. I saw them in many Parisian patisseries while there last year. Some Parisians call them “portable crème brulee” because they have a soft and tender custard centre, a dark, thick caramelized, crunchy crust and you can eat them with your hands. The recipe reads very similar to a custard batter, except for the rum. It bakes and bubbles for over an hour in a special mold, giving it the caramelized crust. The recipe was simple enough, just mix, refrigerate and bake.

On Pinterest.com, the recipes are hopefully as close as the link on the bottom of the picture and sure enough it was a link to the foodnetwork.com recipe. It sounded authentic right down to the use of beeswax. Apparently you are advised to mix some melted butter with shaved beeswax and coat the cannelé molds with this mixture so the batter doesn’t stick to the molds. I got a note from Patricia Shea of Belfast, Maine who had made them and warns against the use of beeswax. It worked well in the mold but when she ate her cannelé, the beeswax got stuck in her teeth. Beeswax was used decades ago to keep baking from sticking, but today we have many other options. Thanks for the heads up Patricia.

I don’t have cannelé molds so I used a special deep narrow muffin tin and it worked just fine. While mine might not have the beautiful shape that traditional cannelé have, the flavours are supurb! Luscious, creamy and rich in vanilla flavours on the inside with a crunchy caramel crunchy bottom, the sides are also caramelized but they’re a bit softer giving the illusion that they’re drizzled in caramel – oh yum!

Instead of rum I used icewine so there was an elegant flavour that fit beautifully with the textures and caramel. I think I’ll use rum next time just to taste the difference. French cannelé are wickedly delicious and sinfully good and they’re as easy as whipping up a liquidy batter and baking. Click here for the recipe http://on.fb.me/H9XzPw.

Thuet's hands did not touch my quiche

This morning I slept in. The Royal York Hotel is such a spectacular hotel, who wouldn’t want to take advantage of the beautiful surroundings. I snuggled under the pouffy duvet, the billowy pillow soft on my cheeks and ran my legs across the luxuriously silky sheets. Now this is heaven.

I lazily got up and went for a walk on the warm spring Sunday morning. I walked up Front, to Bay then King and decided to walk east. I had no idea where I was going but was hoping to find a great coffee house for breakfast. What I found was Petite Thuet.

It was an inviting little pâtisserie with painted concrete floors, small dark tables and soft, upholstered French chairs. Behind the pastry counter were piles of artisan bread. On the back wall were dozen of mason jars filled with preserves and other amazing ingredients.

The pastry counter was filled with dozens of mini tarts holding French custard and fruit. Everything was mini from the lemon meringue and apricot frangipane to the chocolate mirror tart and chocolate éclairs. There was succulent quiche, buttery warm croissant and many other French pastries such as millefeuille, brightly coloured meringues and Mama Thuet’s Alsatian apple and almond torte. There were Madeleines, macaroons and other things I didn’t recognize with layers of sweet cream, chocolate ganache and other sinfully delicious things.

It’s the kind of place that naturally inspires a face-plant right in the middle of it all. I’m secretly doing the face plant in my mind while trying to look like I’m still pondering my decision.

I smile at the young guy behind the counter who is trying not to look too out of place. He’s looking much more like a rough and tumble hockey player than a young preppy coffee barista. After a brief conversation with the hockey player, I opt for the quiche lorraine and – oh no, first strike, no chai latte. I ask for an herbal tea.

That’s when I notice a lone cookbook in a basket by the cash register and I recognize the face of celebrity chef Marc Thuet. It was his cookbook, French Food My Way. What’s the connection between Thuet and this pâtisserie I ask, knowing what the answer would be. I’m told this is Thuet’s pâtisserie and that he even made some of the pastries in the shop today. Wow, I thought, some of the delicious pastries I see could have actually been touched by Thuet. I ask which ones. The hockey player begins to stumble and quickly saves himself by telling me the quiche I ordered was made by Marc that morning.

Oh, yea right I thought. I took my tea that was served in a paper cup (oh, yuk) and my china plate with my microwaved quiche and a – what is this? A plastic fork! Aughhhhh. I asked if I could read the cookbook, took it to a small table and began to leaf through it while I ate my delicious breakfast. Halfway through I looked at the quiche. It was warm on the outside but stone cold on the inside. I know for certain the hockey player will only nuke the heck out of it so I eat on. I have to disagree with the hockey player, Thuet didn’t make this quiche. But someone did because it certainly wasn’t processed and it was delicious in spite of the temperature.

I watched as people came in and out buying specialty pastries. It seems brownies are the most popular; but then again this was Toronto not the Thuet Boulangerie in Alsace.

If you happen to be in Toronto, I highly recommend Petite Thuet and buy lots of pastry to bring home (I did!).