Au Pain Doré

Bakery: Au pain doré
Address: 1415 rue Peel, Montreal QC 
Website: http://aupaindore.com/
Style: French
Price: $$ 

 Another stop in Montreal. :)

Mmm.. I love Au pain doré! *-* Even before the Cake Tour, I would regularly stop in here during my trips to Montreal for a chausson aux pommes or another one of their absolutely delectable, buttery baked goods. And their cakes look even more heavenly! In the beginning, I never noticed the name and thought that this place and Première Moisson (another Montreal must-visit) were one and the same. Both are chains (with these guys having three locations, PM having more) and both succeed in proving to you that French baking and pastries are indeed freakin' amazing. ;)

Ahem, despite the somewhat cramped (rather, always crowded) Peel store, they have so much selection in all things sweet (breads and sandwiches as well, but who cares about that? :P): fruit tarts, macarons, elaborate pastries, croissants -- you name it. Actually, out of the five bakery visits this time around, this was the only place where I was unsure of what to pick, simply because so much stuffed looked so good! And that was at 5pm, a deadly time elsewhere. Nonetheless, let's just get right to the purchases:

This time around, I picked out two items (photographed with absolutely horrendous lighting x_x): the first thing I had here, the chausson aux pommes (apple turnover; $2-something), a thick pocket of flaky buttery dough folded over and filled almost to bursting with apple sauce. This is really good, especially the dough.

The next purchase was a breton (around $2), a sort of cookie made with almond paste. The description in store resembling that of a gâteau basque (oh the wonderful memories) made me grab it (the last one!) immediately and indeed, the texture is quite similar with that rich, semi-moist denseness that has to be almonds, although, as the description indicated, it was more of a cookie than a cake, but this is not a bad thing. I mean, imagine if cookies were all like this! I'd be a happy girl. :P Slightly dry/burnt along the edge, but other than that, another great find. Nothing from this place has ever disappointed, that's for sure!

Rating: ***1/2