The crookies are here! The crookies are here! 'What is a crookie' you might ask? Well, it’s a brilliant idea that came out of France last year. An evolution from the cronut and the cruffin before it, the crookie combines a croissant and a cookie.
Recently, I visited a new bakery in Millverton called Gourmandise. This has been the talk of the town for a while, so I needed to check it out for myself to see what all the hype was about. Like many before me, I learned that you have to get there early, because they sell out fast. Since they opened in October 2023, people have been driving there from Stratford and Listowel, and as they say, 'the early bird gets the croissant.'
As soon as we arrived, I sunk my teeth into the most incredible pain au chocolat ever. What makes it incredible? First of all, they use Belgian chocolate, so right there, you’re starting with really good quality. Second, I can see that there are so many more layers than there usually are in a regular croissant, and that makes this so much more crunchy! It had more weight to it too; it didn’t feel hollow. I wasn’t expecting that. It was buttery, but not at all greasy. It had the perfect balance of crunch and thickness.
Chef and co-owner, Aurelie, tells me that she doesn’t like a croissant that has too much air inside, so she cuts the sections of dough bigger and doubles their folds when she laminates them. This is how she likes them, and I agree with her.
Aurelie is from France, and she is a trained and talented patisserie, so her shop is like stepping into Europe. There is a treasure of colourful macarons, tarts and éclairs, and it all looks beautiful. Her partner, Silvio, is her taster. If he likes it too, then they sell it.
Originally, their plan was to open a kitchen here, and then a location in St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market, but they had no idea how quickly people would start coming from all over to try their French bakery.
The tarts are Aurelie’s favourite products because she loves to make them, for example the almond and pear with chocolate crust or the apricot and pistachio. They’re not too sweet, and there is a balance of acidity and sugar. The éclair of chocolate mousse with hazelnuts is absolutely dreamy. She creates five different kinds of croissants and ten different kinds of pastries each day. And she makes everything by hand.
One of the croissants we tasted was the raspberry pistachio chocolate croissant. There were so many different notes from the tartness of the raspberry to the sweetness of the chocolate, and the smoothness of the pistachio paste to the crunch of the croissant. Aurelie likes the classics, but when I asked her if she had ever heard of the crookie-craze, she said, “yes, I’ve got some in the oven right now.” I couldn’t believe it. Like so many of her regular customers, I needed to come back—the very next day.
It's nine o'clock Sunday morning. This time, we’re the first customers of the day. And there, behind the glass is my golden crookie. On the outside it looks like a regular croissant, but I can see a lining of cookie around it coming from the inside. Within the warm layers of croissant dough is a beautiful layer of chocolatey cookie dough. I have to sit down when I eat this, because it’s just so good.
When I ask Aurelie what makes her croissants so different, she says, “love,” and that she likes to make people happy. “I like when people like it,” she smiles.
