OUR FAVOURITE HOLIDAY DESSERTS
Holidays are approaching, and desserts are everywhere! From family classics to the spectacular desserts of our renowned pastry chefs, it can be hard to choose one. Here are our favourite cookbooks that will help you pick the perfect dessert for your holiday celebrations—and that will no doubt inspire you to get your hands dirty.
If you don’t feel like cooking, don’t worry! We will recommend four scrumptious options to buy in Montreal at the end of this article.
Our favourite dessert books
Trois fois par jour's dessert book
Trois fois par jour’s third volume is entirely dedicated to desserts: cookies, muffins, frozen sweets, pies, cakes and sweets with hidden vegetables and legumes … there is something for everyone! This book even offers several nut-free, gluten-free, egg-free and lactose-free options as well as vegan options.
Parcours sucré by Patrice Demers
In his fourth book, Patrice Demers shares many sweet and savoury recipes that showcase local products such as berries, mushrooms, honey and flowers. This pastry chef’s parcours sucré even allows us to meet inspiring chefs and artisans like Jean-François Archambault from La Tablée des Chefs, beekeeper Anicet Desrochers and pickers Gérard Mathar and Catherine Jacob. Note that Patrice also offers some exceptional dessert ingredients in his shop. What a beautiful way to share his art!
Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi
In his book Sweet, Anglo-Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi offers recipes for pastries, desserts and sweets that are totally decadent, but easy to make. Mouthwatering ingredients like figs, rose petals, orange blossoms, pistachios, almonds, saffron, star anise, cardamom and cinnamon make for delicious desserts that will impress your guests without a doubt.
Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller
Bakery and pastry lovers, this book is for you! In Bouchon Bakery, Thomas Keller shares American and French recipes, including several French classics such as baguettes, macaroons, mille-feuilles and fruit pies. At Cuisines Steam, this book is a must for both beginner bakers and the more experienced!
4 places to buy festive desserts in Montreal
Pâtisserie Rhubarbe’s Christmas specialties
To celebrate the holidays, Pâtisserie Rhubarbe offers several desserts that look AMAZING, including a chocolate hazelnut and pear log, a citrus and gingerbread log, a raspberry, pistachio and sweet clover roll and a maple and whipped cream Christmas tree.
We highly recommend this pastry shop which is, in our opinion, one of the best in Montreal.
Patrice Pâtissier’s Yule logs
Patrice Pâtissier’s pastry shop, located on Notre-Dame West, offers you the possibility of reserving your Yule log in two sizes and three flavours:
Hazelnut praline and Saint-Henri coffee log;
Chocolate, cranberry and sesame log;
Lemon and sweet clover log (this vanilla-flavoured flower can be found right here in Quebec).
Chocolate, cranberry and sesame log. Photo credit: Patrice Pâtissier.
Le Mélèze’s extraordinary fruit cake
Forget green cherries! Le Mélèze’s fruit cake is a fruit cake unlike any other. Prepared “according to the laws of art,” it contains delicious dried fruits like cranberries, raisins, sour cherries, dates, wild blueberries and figs. Each cake is topped with nuts and wrapped in a brandy-soaked cheese cotton.
Photo credit: Le Mélèze
Le Havre-aux-Glaces’ frozen logs
Craving something cold? Le Havre-aux-Glaces offers 5 frozen log flavours—including a new log with honey ice cream and fig jam—as well as 24 flavours of sherbet and ice cream. You will therefore be able to find the perfect ice cream to accompany your grandmother’s recipe!
So, will you choose a homemade dessert or a ready-to-serve dessert? If you know of any other must-see places in Montreal or its surroundings, do not hesitate to share them with us in the comments; the Steam team will be more than happy to try them! ;-)
