Paul Croteau Confections

Paul Croteau Confections

Oakridge Shopping Centre, kiosk near Atrium Entrance

650 41st.  Avenue West, Vancouver, BC

It has a crisp, crunchy top, a chewy center and little feet. What is it? The perfect, pretty and delicate French macaron. I finally tried the macarons from Paul Croteau Confections (PC Confections) after much hype from the local foodie scene, and boy, did these little colourful sandwich cookies ever live up to the hype. Aside from being one of the most attractive cookies, macarons are also flavour-packed little bites of sophisticated texture and taste, indicative of French cuisine. The macarons at PC Confections are slightly larger than macarons that I’ve tasted at traditional French bakeries-I love this though, since my favourite part of a macaron is the chewy meringue. I still have no idea how the flavours are so intricately infused into the egg white in each macaron but I am thoroughly impressed with the swirls of delicate and subtle flavours that swish along my tongue with each chewy nibble of the cookie.

My personal favourite is the lemon cream: its angelic white cookie sprinkled with fresh lemon peel and the sweet and tangy lemon curd sandwiched in-between. This macaron was tasty and refreshing on an unbelievably hot summer day. There has been a lot of buzz though about the local fave, the salted caramel flavour. The best part about the salted caramel macaron is the surprising kick of sea salt near the end, when you’ve almost finished the cookie and are about to swallow. Out of nowhere, a little pocket of pleasant saltiness will hit your taste buds briefly but memorably.

The other flavours that I tried were the double chocolate, coffee and vanilla pistachio. The double chocolate reminds me so much of devil’s food cake in texture, taste and colour that it was as if Chef Paul Croteau had literally taken a slice of the rich and moist cake and squished it into a compact sandwich cookie. And the subtle, gentle waves of coffee flavour in the coffee macaron offer the perfect shades of coffee nuttiness and round notes that can be appreciated by both coffee lovers and non-coffee drinkers. I would definitely visit Paul Croteau Confections again and I look forward to more delectable macaron flavours!
Paul Croteau Confections also offers homemade marshmallows, pâtes de fruits and other delicious French sweets. They can be found at a kiosk near the Atrium Entrance at Oakridge Centre in Vancouver, B.C.