New Flavour: Salted Caramel & Hazelnut!

And this week's new flavour is... (*drumroll*)... Salted Caramel & Hazelnut! Salted Caramel is one of our pretty-much-always-in-patisserie-case flavours, and we thought we'd try giving it a nutty twist. We are reeeaaaaallly happy with this one—it's a must-try. So... come try it!! :) It's now available at all Bon Macaron Patisseries.

Salted Caramel (much like macarons!) is a tradition from France that hit global markets as a big, sudden trend... but then never went away because, really, it's just too darn wonderful and delicious to let go of. If you're curious about how salted caramel first broke into the global culinary spotlight The New York Times, God bless them, has a very in-depth article about this, and apparently macarons help pave the way:

In the case of salted caramels, the influence came directly from France. Heavily salted butter caramels are a traditional treat in Brittany. More recently, Pierre Hermé, the Parisian pastry chef known for his experimentation, invented a salted caramel macaron that inspired a small cult among American food professionals in the late 1990s.

Read the full article here!

Ginger Pineapple Macarons & Macaron Classes

Hello Friends! We have three good things to tell you. It's the weekend. We have Ginger Pineapple Macarons for you—sweet and warming little bites to make winter just a bit more bearable! 🍍🍍🍍 AND we still have a couple of last minute spots open for today's Macaron Class in Victoria!! Give us a call at (778) 265-0850 or email vic@bonmacaronpatisserie.com to join us! You can find more information about our classes here:  http://www.bonmacaronpatisserie.com/classes/ 

We'd love to see you!

2016 Bon Macaron Holiday Collection

We're very pleased to announce our 2016 Holiday Collection, featuring hand-painted traditional French macarons available in 6 exciting seasonal flavours: Mulled Wine, Rum & Eggnog, Mint Chocolate, Gingerbread, Cranberry, and Chocolate Orange, as well as candy cane flavoured Mini Snowman Macarons. Bon Macaron will also offer globe tree ornaments filled with mini seasonal macarons. Gift certificates for our popular Macaron Classes may be purchased, and make fantastic stocking stuffers!

Halloween Macarons!

Our Halloween Treats are in the house (ahem, 'patisseries') starting today! Cellophane bundles of spooky, adorable minis, in chocolate, caramel, lemon, raspberry. They're awesome for office treats, party favours, and they've been proven to fit perfectly into tiny hands!

Speaking of tiny hands, if you have some of those in your life and you're feeling ambitious... here's a pretty adorable costume you can make from Studio DIY.

And technically, there's probably no reason at all you couldn't scale this up to kidult / sophisticated and mature macaron connoisseur size.

Blackberry Cherry

We felt like it was time for another round of some luscious berries :) There are some really lovely ripe, juicy flavours in these ones! And this may be a bit of a stretch... but it seems like a great opportunity to recommend the blackberry dessert wines from Cherry Point Estate Vines in the Cowichan valley. (See what we did there??)  Both their Cowichan Blackberry and Solera Blackberry are just lovely for sipping on a cozy fall evening—and they are also pretty delish poured over some natural vanilla ice cream... with a Blackberry Cherry Macaron tucked in the side of the bowl... 

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"Solera is produced by taking our Cowichan Blackberry Dessert Wine and gently applying the special Solera aging process, giving the wine time to age in barrels, making it elegant and smooth, combining delicate wood notes and rich mellow fruit."

"This rich, sweet wine is produced from the luscious wild blackberries that abound in the estuary of the Cowichan River. This is an intense fruit wine, which reflects the warmth of the Cowichan summer. Enjoy it on its own or with a rich dessert."

Cherry Point Vineyard Owner, Xavier Bonilla - Gorgeous photo from: http://mariskarichters.com Lots more on her site!

New Flavour: Apple Cinnamon

Our latest flavour is just like a comforting mug of hot cider! If mugs of cider were small, round, really pretty and full of buttercream blended with apple compote and cinnamon...

Cinnamon is such a quintessential fall spice, and it has a very long, illustrious and colourful history! Here are a few fun and interesting cinnamon facts for your enjoyment:

1.    Cinnamon comes from the bark of the cinnamon tree.
2.    The cinnamon tree can grow up to 60 feet.
3.    Cinnamon sticks are also called quills.
4.    Ancient Egyptians used cinnamon medicinally and as a flavouring in food and beverages.
5.    Cinnamon was used on funeral pyres in Ancient Rome. In 65 AD, Nero burned a year’s supply of cinnamon at his second wife Poppaea Sabina’s funeral in order to show the depth of his grief.
6.    Cinnamon is a powerful antioxidant that aids in controlling blood sugar.
7.    In the Middle Ages, cinnamon was only affordable by the wealthy elite of society. A person’s social rank could be determined by the number of spices they could afford.
8.    Cinnamon compliments both sweet and salty dishes (and drinks).
9.    And this last one is a doozy, but is pretty fun: There was an ancient belief in a Cinnamon Bird that supposedly lived in Arabia, and used cinnamon to build its nests. Herodotus wrote that these birds flew to an unknown land to collect the cinnamon and took it back with them to Arabia. The Arabians ostensibly got cinnamon from the birds by tempting them with large chunks of raw meat—the birds took the heavy pieces of meat back to their nests, which caused the nests to fall and the cinnamon to rain down so it could be collected by the people.

Macaron Classes for January 2016

We have a new round of Macaron Classes in January, and they include dates in Vancouver! We’ve also got a special offer on: book and pay by Dec 31st and save the tax! More details here.

Classes in Vancouver

January 15th at 5pm
January 16 at 2pm
January 29th at 5pm
January 30th at 2pm

Classes in Victoria

January 8th at 5pm
January 9th at 2pm
January 22nd at 5pm
January 23rd at 2pm

New Flavour: Gingerbread

Ok, we know it's not quite December yet, but... Gingerbread!! This is a little teaser for our 2015 Holiday Collection—gingerbread is now available in all the shops!  And to be fair, it is kind of feeling wintery out there these days. 

According to our friends at wikipedia, Gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992 by the Armenian monk Gregory of Nicopolis. By the 15th century, Germany had its very own Gingerbread Guild, and by the 17th century Nuremberg was known as the "Gingerbread Capital of the World" for the works of edible art it was creating with the spiced bread! If you'd like to try your hand at this illustrious foodstuff—and the even more glorious (we think) tradition of shaping it into adorable houses—Martha Stewart, as always has some good tips for you.

Martha Stewart's Swedish Gingerbread House How-To >>

New Flavour: Peach Cardamom

We thought you could use something extra pretty to keep your spirits up on this classically cloud-filled West Coast weekend. So… our latest flavour is Peach Cardamom. We took the sweet juiciness of peach and delicately laced it with earthy, comforting cardamom. There are apparently references to cardamom in the Spice Tablets found in the House of Sphinxes in Mycenae, and it currently happens to be the most expensive spice in the world after saffron and vanilla, so these truly are little bites of luxury ;) Also, the family of plants that cardamom seeds belong to (Elettaria and Amomum) have such lovely flowers—pink, like these macarons!

Thanksgiving! Turkey & Cranberry Macarons

These were such a hit last year we had to bring them back :) Our  Turkey & Cranberry Macarons! Delicious AND decorative—they look realllly good on a table and are currently available in all 3 of our locations in Victoria and Vancouver. Even a small dish of these cranberry red beauties can add some real vibrance to a festive dinner table. Or... you could always go all out with a Macaron Pyramid in fall-ish shades:

Flavour Profile: Carrot Cake

"First he ate some lettuces and some French beans; and then he ate some radishes." And THEN he ate some Carrot Cake Macarons!

Doesn’t this fall-ish air smell wonderful?? We’re kicking off root vegetable season with some Carrot Cake Macarons. As with the cake we’ve used real bits of carrot throughout, and we’ve whipped up a cream cheese frosting filling. We think even Peter Rabbit would approve! The mischievous bunny is well over 100 years old now—he was created in 1893 by Beatrix Potter, in a letter she wrote to cheer up a young boy who was ill. So sweet! Peter Rabbit has since made an appearance on everything from spoons to television specials, but the little book itself will never lose its magic.

A Few of Our Classics

We’re always excited to let you know about our new flavours. But today we wanted to shine the spotlight on some of the flavours that have been in our macaron cases from day one (or close to!), and which are pretty much guaranteed to always be there. People come back for these time and time again, and we have to admit we're pretty partial to them ourselves! Read on to learn more about what goes into these Bon Macaron classics.

Nutella: This is one of our most popular—everybody knows and loves Nutella. We use Nutella and buttercream, and then we roast hazelnuts to sprinkle on top.

Rose: We use the roses from Happy Valley Lavender and Herb Farm as a decoration, and the filling is butter cream with rose syrup, and a little bit of rose jam.

Salted Caramel: The caramel sauce is our own simple recipe: salted butter, sugar, and whipping cream. And we have the sauce available to be purchased in jars!

Bacon Cream Cheese: This one is cream cheese, of course, with real bacon that we cook ourselves and grind into tiny little bacon bits.

White Truffle and Sea Salt: We use cream cheese for this one, too, and we get our truffle oil from Olive the Senses at Victoria Public Market.

Lavender: Like the rose petals, the lavender is from Happy Valley, and we simply grind it up and mix it with the butter cream.

Goat Cheese and Fig: Another really simple one. These are made with chevre that we mix with some fig spread. It’s a good one for people who can’t tolerate cow’s milk!

Pistachio: This one is butter cream whipped with pistachio paste—a real French classic!

And there you have it! A few of our all time favourites :)

Flavour Profile: Taro Blueberry

We've got some beautiful, new marbled Taro and Blueberry Macarons for you! What is taro, some might ask? It's a root crop (like yams!) that is grown in loads of different, often tropical countries around the world. It tastes a lot like vanilla and one of its most common uses 'round these parts is as a bubble tea flavour. These would look amazing on any table. Or on a picnic blanket. Or in your hand for the 10 seconds they last after you take them out of the box to eat them ;) We were also thinking it's been a while since we posted a recipe, and it sorrrt of feels like it might be a cozy, pancakes kind of weekend (must be the rain and that ever so slightly fall-ish feel) so we tracked down what looks like an excellent "Oven-Baked Blueberry Pancake" recipe on good old MarthaStewart.com.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt 3/4 cup whole milk 1 large egg, room temperature 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus 1 tablespoon for pan 1 cup blueberries (about 5 ounces) Confectioners' sugar, for serving Maple syrup, for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees with rack in upper third. Place a 10-inch cast-iron skillet (or other nonstick ovenproof pan) in oven. Whisk together flour, 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together milk, egg, and melted butter in another bowl. Whisk milk mixture into flour mixture until just combined.
2. Remove skillet from oven and add remaining 1 tablespoon butter, swirling to coat. Pour in batter and smooth top with an offset spatula. Sprinkle evenly with blueberries and remaining 1 teaspoon granulated sugar.
3. Bake until golden brown and cooked through, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool 5 minutes before dusting with confectioners' sugar and serving with syrup.

Art & Macarons

The Moss Street TD Art Gallery Paint-In is happening today! All that art takes us back to last fall, when this Mona Lisa macaron masterpiece graced our Broad St. patisserie window.

Macarons really are a very creative medium! There are the endless flavours, of course, but there are also endless possibilities for colour and embellishment. Decorating is always a really popular part of our Macaron Classes. The student below is painting a crimson detail on Peanut Butter and Jam Macarons—that she just finished making!

On that note, we seriously have to commend the blog Sugar & Cloth—founder Ashley Rose from Houston Texas does some amazing things with macarons, many of which involve edible food colour pens. Take, for example, these DIY Abstract Art Macarons, made with said pens. What a cool project to do with kids... or with any group friends... or on one's own with some good music and a glass of wine or two...  Our Vanilla Macarons would make the perfect blank canvas :)

Enjoy the art today! And if you're passing through downtown, pop in and see us for some edible creativity.

Flavour Profile: Key Lime

Great news everyone—our latest flavour is Key Lime! Rumour (aka Wikipedia) has it that key lime pies actually originated just off the Florida Keys on the boats of sponge fishermen, early in the 20th century. On the sea for days, the fishermen would typically have supplies like condensed milk, key limes, and eggs. But they didn't have ovens, and the neat thing about key lime pie is that it technically doesn't need cooking because of a reaction between the acidity in lime juice and condensed milk. Most versions today are cooked, though, as are our Key Lime Macarons!

Father's Day

Dads like delicious things too. This is a fact. So we've created a few awesome, sporty treats for all the fathers and grandfathers: Whiskey & Chocolate Footballs, Bourbon & Caramel Baseballs, and Rum & Coke Hockey Pucks. You don't even have to choose because they all come together in one handy, gift-wrappable package!

This also seems like an excellent opportunity to revisit a French Canadian children's classic: Roch Carrier's The Hockey Sweater—or, in French, Le Chandail de hockey. 

The official Library and Archives of Canada have included this iconic children's tale on their resources site, describing:

"In its earlier days, the National Hockey League had only a few teams worthy of attention  --  many would say only one: the Montréal Canadiens. The brightest star, and most popular player, in the Canadiens' line-up was Number 9: Maurice Richard. It is easy to understand the distress of the young narrator in this story when, one day in the winter of 1946, he must exchange his red hockey sweater, which looks just like Maurice Richard's, for a new, blue Toronto Maple Leafs sweater!!! A medley of emotions  --  disappointment, bitterness, humour, and tenderness  --  is richly explored in Sheldon Cohen's full-page illustrations which perfectly complement the poignancy and playfulness of the text."

From a kid's point of view, Dad reading to you is just the best thing ever :)

Flavour Profile: Pomegranate Orange

This week’s flavour is very simple and completely gorgeous. Pomegranates and oranges are so lovely they’ve long been inspiration for not only the culinary arts, but for generations of still life painters. So here's an orange and pomegranate laden canvas from the Dutch Golden Age Painting. Basically what we’re saying is these macarons are edible art! (nbd.)

Flavour Profile: Mocha

Your weekend just got sooo much more delicious. :) Our latest flavour is rich and gorgeous and wonderful. That's probably because it’s made from two of the most satisfying, addictive things out there: coffee and chocolate. And we thought we’d try something a little different this week… we’re pairing these macarons with music! “Caffe Mocha” is a Kenyan radio show hosted by Jack Rooster that hits the airwaves every Sunday, with beautiful, soulful house. Check out this episode archived on mixcloud!

Celebrate Mother's Day with Raspberry-Rose, Strawberry-Rhubarb & Champagne!

Mother's Day is Sunday! And we have a really special treat for Victoria's wonderful mothers: Very pretty gift packages that include an "I love you, Mom" Champagne Macaron, a "Rose" Raspberry-Rose Macaron, and a great big Strawberry Rhubarb flower-shaped Macaron! (If you happen to be one of Victoria's wonderful mothers, you can simply send the link for this post to your loved ones for handy gift-finding reference.  ;) )

Flavour Profile: Rooibos Chai

Our latest flavour is Rooibos Chai: light, sweet and spiced, all at the same time! The rooibos bush is native to South Africa's Fynbos biome, a belt of incredibly bio-diverse heathland. Out of the 9000 plants that grow there, 6200 of them—including Rooibos—grow nowhere else in the world. It's a stunningly beautiful region, as demonstrated below, and has produced miraculous flowers like South Africa's national bloom, the king protea. So it's no surprise that it's also home to such wonderful red tea. The handpicked variety we use comes to us via our friends at JagaSilk. And rooibos is meant to be very good for you, so these macarons are extra guilt-free!