As we waited for the tortes to finish baking, we learned teqniques in tempering chocolate, creating chocolate ganache, and decorating with chocolate.  We would all leave with new skills to make professional desserts at home.

What we love so much about Victoria is not only her generosity in sharing her special tips and tricks but also her enthusiasm for getting us all into the kitchen!  Her hope is not even that we’d all return to Piñon for one of her desserts or for a full meal, but that we’d get back into our kitchens at home and try out some of these recipes!  I think it’s that same passion and care that keeps her customers returning year after year (Piñon has been open for 18 years!).  She is not just generous with special groups like ours but she is generous with ever customer that comes in, taking time to talk to everyone and catch up with those that come in regularly.  Piñon is the perfect combination of tasty fresh cooked foods and local personality.

After the evening was over, I was ready to step back into my kitchen to create something new and delicious. Victoria’s enthusiasm had definitely caught on for me and I’m sure for others also.

Special thanks to Victoria Tropham at Piñon Market and Ruth Kendrick from Chocolot.  We all took home cookies, brownies, and a box of chocolates to help make Valentine’s Day last as long as possible.  To gift your Valentine some of these treats visit Piñon Market or Les Madeleines for Chocolot confections.

Les Madeleines is a small unique bakery in the heart of Salt Lake. I had heard delicious rumors about all of their baked goods and had the pleasure of experiencing them myself recently. My first visit was with group of foodies who met up weekend brunch and we tried much of their fare, deciding that their wasn’t a bad choice on the menu. Since then, I’ve been back and tried a few more tasty treats from their menu.

Le Madeleines is most known for their kouing aman pastry, which is layers of buttery, flaky pastry with a crusty sweet exterior. It is beyond description but I will tell you that people order them in advance and they sell them by the box full. We saw rows of them freshly baked and lined up to be sold the or boxed for pre-orders. The Bakery’s website describes the pastry as “A study in opposites: sweet and salty, gooey and crunchy.”

I first tried the Sesame Chicken Salad Wrap, which came wrapped in butter lettuce and a rice wrapper served with a miso dressing and edamame. Sometime I get food envy by checking out what others ordered but in this case I was completly satisfied with my choice. No food envy this trip. Although, I will say that everyone’s food looked tasty.

On my second visit Josh and I split the egg and cheese sandwich, which was also delicious. A fried egg topped with sharp cheddar cheese on whole wheat toast.

From their pastry case I’ve tried the Financier, a brown butter tart with quince fruit. I have recently learned about the beautiful aroma and flavor of browned butter through a Madeleine recipe I found. I enjoyed the tart and will continue to look for recipes and bakeries serving items with brown butter. Their lemon tart was beautiful and a delicious choice as well.

I was also tempted by their chocolate croissants which I noticed were made with Valhorona chocolate, which is now my favorite chocolate, thanks to all of the chocolate learning I’ve been doing recently. I made chocolate souffles with this specialty chocolate and hope to do some more experimental baking with it soon!

In addition, this fun bakery was recently awarded Best Bakery in Salt Lake City by Salt Lake Magazine!

Photos by professional photographer and my beautiful friend Amy Lashelle You can read her blog post about Les Madeleines here.

Le Madeleines Bakery
216 East 500 South
Tuesday thru Friday- 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday- 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday and Monday- Closed
twitter: @lesmadeleines