Macarondonnée

Wednesday was the first day of Spring, and while the weather wasn't very spring-like, that didn't stop me from taking part in my third Jour du Macaron! Two years ago, only Nadège participated, but last year more bakeries got on board and I did a little tour. You know, for Science. Oh, and Charity.

I planned a slightly different bike tour this year. 10 bakeries, mostly different ones from before, including a few I tried but failed to hit the last time. All of the bakeries except Nadège were again donating 25% of the proceeds to the Red Door Shelter. The 20 degree drop from last year's temperature might did not daunt me, and I actually managed to follow the Google maps instructions without putting myself in peril. I did plan to buy three macarons (plus the free one) at each bakery, but as you will see that plan fell apart early on. On the whole...



42 macarons in all. 42? Are macarons the ultimate answer? Maybe...

First up, although not on the map, was Daniel et Daniel. Because they are so close to school, I decided to visit during lunch.

Their free macaron was red velvet -- it's sort of cheating to call it that because really it was just a red cookie with a sweet cream cheese centre. Tasty, nonetheless. The lime was not tart enough for my taste and the raspberry was a bit too sweet. The pistachio had a lovely flavour, but was a bit chewy. Didn't stop me from scarfing them all down before class started.

After school, I bundled up and biked up Yonge to the Patachou-Petite Thuet-Nadège trifecta. I parked partway between Patachou and Petite Thuet and started there. I think they learned from last year's early sell-out and made extras. They had a buy-four-get-five deal, so my "buy only three plus the free one" plan broke early.

These are larger macarons, and look how *thick* that filling is. I was worried they were going to be too hard to eat, but the cookies and filling were light; no chewiness at all. Putting so much filling in a big dollop in the centre tended to make it ooze out the other side, though. The flavours were delicate, but not too delicate. The chocolate-mint was a wonderful discovery. I'm really wary of chocolate in macarons, because it tends to be a heavy ganache, but this was a moussy chocolate with just the slightest hint of mint. Awesome texture -- so perfect for a macaron. Take note, patissiers! Too bad the cookie crumbled almost completely by the time I got it home. I still need to work on that macaron transportation system.

Next I went across the street to Nadège. They were doing Jour du Macaron when no one else in Toronto was and do not play with the others. They've chosen a different charity every year; this year 50% of the proceeds went to Meal Exchange.

You can count on them for "interesting" flavours. Last year they had sold out of the nifty stuff by the time I got there, but this time I was in luck. With so many to choose from, I couldn't cut it down to only three. Ahem. I'm glad I got to try the Guinness and gruyere flavours, but I don't think I'll go for them again. The maple syrup-bacon was good, but it lingered. For a while. The red wine was really nice, the olive oil was light, and the earl grey was delightful.

Sadly, I seem to have lost my lovely ear-warmers somewhere around here. The sacrifices I make.

Last in the trifecta is Patachou. As last year, they didn't have a lot of selection, but I seem to have arrived early enough that I could choose pistachio as my free macaron.

The classics are always good. And the mocha wasn't too heavy, for once.

Then I was off up Yonge to La Bamboche. Last year, the patio was packed and the bakery full. This year, not so much. It's wild how a little wee 20 degree drop in temperature keeps people inside. Although it might have been that I got there about an hour earlier than the year before.

These poor guys don't seem to have a lot of luck in being transported; they weren't completely smashed like last year, but the free macaron was already a bit crushed when I moved it from my purse to my panier. The ride home completely did it in. I wonder if it's the larger size? At any rate, they always do well with the flavours and texture. So yummy.

Next I climbed up and up Yonge to Ruelo. They have different prices depending on which macaron you buy, which I've never seen before. They had run out of their free macarons by the time I got there. I decided against their signature macaron due to ganache. The rose-lychee was really interesting, but the caramel was too sweet, if you can believe it. I don't know why I went for the lavender-chocolate; ganache again. It wasn't too heavy, but still.


I ran into R and M who were being ladies of leisure, quaffing tea and munching macarons.

I had no time to join them, though, because I still had four more bakeries to visit.

Next up was Butter Avenue all the way north of Lawrence. More hills to climb, until I got to the corner of Yonge and... Yonge. Truly. I locked my bike to an arty bike post; another one of those things where I don't think they consulted an actual cyclist during the design process.


Butter Avenue had devoted the entire store to macarons for the day. They rivalled Nadège for unusual flavours, although I missed out on the black truffle.

With so many choices, the three-macaron limit once again flew out the window. They were all really good, although the popcorn was too delicate. The lavender had no chocolate in it, for a delightful change. I think this place is just as good as Nadège for taste and texture. I'll have to come back and do a rose-salted caramel-pistachio taste test. With many, many trials. For Science.

Then it was off back downtown. Before I could go downtown again, I had to go back up. Yay, escarpment! However, the sheer joy that is biking down Russell Hill more than made up for it.

It turns out I have no proof that I was at the corner of Yonge and Yonge or any of the hills, for all the pictures I took between Butter Avenue and Le Dolci have disappeared from my card; sadly, this includes the lovely mural outside Frangipane at Madison & Dupont. The bakery was more or less empty when I got there, but the woman behind the counter said they'd had a steady stream all day. In fact, several people told her that they'd taken off work to visit every single bakery. Some day...

The free one was pistachio - I had a choice but I have learned to leave passion fruit alone. The raspberry-hibiscous (I think?) tasted very flowery and was really nice. The chocolate-mint was more minty than chocolate but also not a heavy ganache and I liked it. Salted caramel was delightful.

Into the home stretch, literally; Le Dolci has moved to a storefront near my apartment since I took their macaron class two years ago^*

Very little selection, but their cafe is a side-business to the catering and classes, so that's to be expected. Sadly, I found the vanilla was really bland (as vanilla tends to be), and I don't remember what flavour the yellow one was supposed to be (lemon? caramel?) because it tasted exactly the same. Very disappointing. The honey-lemon was nice, but a bit too delicate in flavour.

However, I love this place. First of all, there are adorable cupcakes...

...and wouldn't a cupcake-decorating class be a fun thing for the Cupcake Ride? Also, there was mead to taste!

Mead from Ontario! This is excellent news. And pretty good mead, too.

My last stop for the day was The Wedding Cake Shoppe. Last year, I was confused about whether they were supposed to be open or not, but no such confusion this year.

I pass this shop every day and I always love looking at the cakes in their window. They didn't have much of a macaron selection (and they had stopped doing the give-away about 20 minutes before I got there), but what they had was amazing. The red velvet was just a cream-cheese filling again, but really yummy. The strawberry was really lovely. And the vanilla! As I have said, I usually find vanilla macarons too bland, but this actually tasted like vanilla!

So, 10 bakeries, 42 macarons, 24.75 km. I managed, somehow, to not eat all the macarons that evening, but they didn't last long. The next few days were absolutely delightful. Can't wait until next year!


^*I note that I haven't actually gotten around to making macarons^** myself yet. I must get on that!

^**Either kind...