dessert – Page 37 – Michael Eats

Tarte au Citron at Bang Bang

Published on June 25, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 93a Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://bangbangicecream.com/

I think this is going to be the shortest post I’ve ever written. The tarte au citron flavour at Bang Bang is basically like the best lemon meringue pie you’ve ever had, but as an ice cream.

Lemon meringue pie? Delicious. Bang Bang? Delicious. Cram those two things together? Yeah, it’s delicious. Of course it’s delicious. That’s just math.

The ice cream is creamy and pleasantly tart, with a great lemony flavour. It’s got silky meringue swirled in for some additional creaminess and to help cut the tartness of the ice cream. And then there are buttery, delicious chunks of pie crust.

It’s all just as good as you’d hope it would be.

Burnt Marshmallow at Ed’s Real Scoop

Published on June 21, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 189 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.edsrealscoop.com/

I’ve mentioned before that the ice cream at Ed’s Real Scoop can be a bit hit and miss. One of their more consistent flavours, however, is the burnt marshmallow. It’s pretty much always delicious.

I mean, how could it not be delicious? It’s basically sweet cream, which is clearly the best flavour at Ed’s, with a rich, deeply flavourful caramel sauce swirled in. It only just barely tastes like burnt marshmallow (it tastes more like creme caramel to me), but more importantly, it tastes delicious.

And the ice cream itself is nice and creamy, though like all of the ice cream at Ed’s in the last few years, it has a slightly gummy texture that I find marginally off-putting. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s there and it’s unfortunate (I will concede that in this particular case, the gumminess could be attributed to the fact that this is a marshmallow flavour. But it’s there in all of their flavours, sadly).

Carrot Cake Doughnut at Dipped Donuts

Published on June 19, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 161 Baldwin Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.dippeddonuts.ca/

Dipped Donuts: still great. I tried the blueberry basil doughnut from this place last year, and it was seriously tasty.

The one I just had — the carrot cake — might have been even better. It’s outstanding.

It’s a raised doughnut topped with cream cheese frosting, carrot cake chunks, candied walnuts and ginger, and a caramel drizzle.

It’s definitely sweeter than the last doughnut I tried, but it was just right. The frosting was gooey and satisfying, and the chunks of cake were seriously tasty. The nuts and the ginger amps up the flavour, and the caramel? Come on. It’s indulgent and amazing.

And of course, the doughnut itself was just as good as I remembered, with a nicely substantial texture and a great flavour. It’s a top-shelf doughnut.

Delicious Butter Tarts at Abbey’s Bakehouse

Published on June 17, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 100 City Centre Drive, Mississauga (inside Square One)
Website: http://www.sircorp.com/abbeys-bakehouse/

I love butter tarts, but they’re one of those things that I’m sometimes wary to order; when they’re tasty they’re very tasty, but they can easily be throat-burningly sweet.

But I had specifically heard that the tarts at Abbey’s are quite good, so it seemed like a safe enough bet.

They’re not just good. They’re great. I’m not sure if they’re quite on the level of the Maids’ Cottage in Newmarket, which serves my favourite butter tarts in the GTA, but they’re clearly way above average.

The filling is sweet but not too sweet, with a rich caramelized flavour and a nice gooey consistency. The crust is great too — it’s buttery and shortbready, and compliments the sweet filling perfectly.

The crust-to-filling ratio is also on point. This can easily trip up a lesser butter tart, but here the balance is just right — there’s enough crust to offset the sweet filling, but not so much that it dominates. It’s delicious.

Nanaimo Bar McFlurry at McDonald’s

Published on June 12, 2019June 12, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 30 Courtneypark Drive East, Mississauga
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

This is kind of old news at this point, but McDonald’s currently has a Great Canadian Tastes promotion going (until the 17th of June, so don’t dilly dally if you want to sample it and haven’t yet), which includes fish and chips and a Nanaimo Bar McFlurry.

I’ve only tried the McFlurry so far, and it’s not bad. I don’t think I would have guessed that it was supposed to taste like a Nanaimo bar, but it’s decent enough for what it is.

It’s intensely sweet — but then a Nanaimo bar is also super sweet, so on that level at least, it resembles what it’s supposed to be.

The easiest way to make this would have been to just mix Nanaimo bar chunks into ice cream, but instead, this features coconut graham crumbs, cocoa, chocolate chips, and hot fudge sauce.

Chocolate is clearly the dominant flavour here, with lots of sauce and a healthy amount of graham cracker bits. The bits have a mild coconut and chocolate flavour, and add a satisfying amount of crunchiness.

There’s also a vague underlying toffee flavour, but for the most part, this thing is just chocolatey and sweet. It’s tasty enough, but if you’re craving that distinctive Nanaimo bar flavour, you’re probably going to be disappointed.