Very nice chocolate caramel nut cookie at Bakery Pompette. Their Kouign Amann seemed very dense but caramelization was good. Nice apple turnover.
I picked up a financier at Bricolage but have not tried it yet. I did enjoy the red bean ball at Bricolage today. Also, I like their savoury fried pork curry bun and savoury Laugen Pretzel bun.
Coco’s Coffee Shop on College St has a great Cookie Box right now. They sell out fast. So far, I’ve tried the Imperial/ Diplomat / Empire biscuit ( with the icing and cherry) and the oatmeal crystallized ginger cookie. They are also selling Cassata and Princess Cake.
With the accolades here & elsewhere, I took a detour last Fall to Circle & Square after driving my wife to cancer charity event. It was around 7 am when they opened. I was 2nd in line and everything seemed fresh.
I asked the salesperson what should I order, what is your specialty, your best? She pointed to their “award winning” butter tarts. So I ordered 2 to go.
One was named after a chocolate bar, I recall either Mars or Snickers. First thought was these were big and heavy tarts, like if I threw it, it could hurt someone! The texture was gooey (good) but flowing too much on the liquid side (not good) almost like maple syrup. Trying to pick one up and eat made a mess as the the liquid filling immediately flowed onto my hands upon first bite. But what was even more noticeable was it was SUPER sweet! Short of eating pure sugar, I don’t ever recall anything sweeter!
The 2nd was the normal pecan butter tart which apparently won the award. This one wasn’t as sweet but just as large. The thing with it being large is that when you’re biting at the middle, all you’re really eating is the filling. The texture was also less liquidy which was good.
Overall, I’ve had better. Maybe I caught them on a bad day but I wouldn’t know because I haven’t been back since.
I think the pecan butter tart from Annex Espresso Bar is from Circle and Squares. The butter tarts ($5) at Krave Espresso on St Clair W are from Circle and Squares. I understand Circle and Squares are telling all the coffee shops who stock their tarts, that their butter tarts are the best in Ontario or Canada. Hard sell from the barista. I told him maybe best in Toronto right now. Maid’s Cottage used to tell the coffee shops they supplied that they had the best butter tarts in Toronto.
They’re good tarts, but so are BaNoi, Andrea’s, Gerrard Street, Dough’s, etc. Of course, rural butter tarts in Grey County, and in Muskoka, and in Orangeville, and elsewhere in Ontario, are great, too.
I tried the pecan butter tart from Annex Espresso Bar yesterday. It’s fine. I like BaNoi and Maid’s Cottage butter tarts more.
Better pastry and filling at BaNoi. BaNoi’s tart is maybe a little closer to a salted caramel taste than Grandma’s butter tart would have been.
I don’t know where or when the clumsy thick-crusted quarter pound butter tart trend began. I like my butter tarts to be smaller with a delicate flakey crust.
I found the crust too heavy and thick in this pecan butter tart, which I believe is sourced from Circle and Squares.
Last night was an impromptu visit to Cafe Boulud impressed the guests with
Grapefruit Givre and the souffle while the pecan was impressive to look at I think the other two are better
Finally made it to the new location of Bakerbots as was having a meal nearby. Don’t venture into this area much but this spot might change that. Had a scoop of burnt toffee. Didn’t indulge in other items.
Also delivery from Laduree during the week for a get together kudos to the downtown location team for remembering a mess up from a prior delivery and making up for it.