Three years ago, my good friend and coworker Mitch invited me to visit his new favorite bakery, Sweet Celebrations Patisserie located very close to where I work in Hamilton. He told me that it was owned by a Canadian woman who trained in Paris France.
Well, it didn’t take much arm-twisting to get me to agree to go.
About a month earlier he had brought in a copious assortment of macarons into work to share with his friends.
(Not to be confused with coconut macaroons.)
For those of you unfortunate souls who have never had the pleasure to try these tasty tidbits yet, WIKI describes macarons like this:
__________________
A macaron (/ˌmɑːkəˈroʊn/ mah-kə-rohn; French pronunciation: [makaʁɔ̃] is a French sweet meringue-based confection made with egg white, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food colouring. The macaron is commonly filled with ganache, buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two biscuits (cookies). The name is derived from the Italian word macarone, maccarone or maccherone, the Italianmeringue.
The intricate confection is characterised by smooth, squared top, ruffled circumference (referred to as the “foot” or “pied”), and a flat base. It is mildly moist and easily melts in the mouth. Macarons can be found in a wide variety of flavors that range from the traditional (raspberry, chocolate) to the new (foie gras, matcha).
__________________
Personally, I found that not only were they delicious but they came in an eclectic array of flavors. Mitch told me that the store owner, Charlene, challenges customers to bring in their ideas for new flavors to add to her macaron repertoire.
There were champagne macarons, basil macarons, beer and pistachio macarons. All were delicately flavored and incredibly delicious.
A few days later after we finished our work shift, Mitch and I made the journey several blocks down the road from work to visit Sweet Celebrations Patisserie in Stoney Creek Ontario.
The store owner Charlene, is a lovely young woman, bright and friendly. Her beautiful little goodie shop is a testament to her love for fine baking.
I found the store shelves filled with an incredible array of macarons as well as wedding cakes, muffins, cookies and many other treats.
After purchasing two cakes, half a dozen muffins, and a dozen macarons later, (all for less than forty dollars) I walked out of the store with my arms full.
My family was going to love me. I had just supplied them with desserts that would last them a week.
Indeed, it did not take long until the little bakery boxes were empty save for a few crumbs.
Now, fast forward if you will three years…
Two months ago when it came time to decide which bakery I would choose to make my daughter’s wedding cake, the answer was as obvious as the Eiffel Tower in Paris on a sparkling spring day.
This decision would prove to be no doubt, the easiest decision I would have to make for this particular wedding.
Only another two hundred or so more decisions left to go.
Like…
What flavour of wedding cake we would choose.
That in itself, is whole different story which I will leave for another day.
❤
