peanut butter – Michael Eats

Quick Bites: Emmer, Dear Grain, Craque de Creme

Published on May 13, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Peanut Butter Miso Cookie from Emmer

Toronto Life recently called the peanut butter miso cookie from Emmer one of the best new cookies in the city, so obviously I needed to try it. And yeah, it’s fantastic, with a really addictive crispy/chewy contrast and a deep savouriness from the miso and the generous amount of salt on top. The level of sweetness here is very, very restrained, which seems like it maybe shouldn’t work, but it absolutely does.

Blueberry Scone from Dear Grain

I feel like I can’t bring up Dear Grain without grumbling about their refusal to slice most of their (very delicious!) bread (unless you buy it frozen), so: what’s the deal with that?? With that out of the way, I’ll say that their blueberry scone is absolutely fantastic. Seriously, seriously good. The exterior is nice and crispy, it’s sweet without being too sweet, it’s got a nice blueberry punch, and the texture of the scone itself is perfect. It also comes with a little cup of tasty lemon curd, and its pleasant tartness really takes things over the top. It’s so good.

Canele from Craque de Creme

Speaking of tasty pastries, the canele from Craque de Creme is thoroughly tasty, with a rich custardy flavour and a restrained sweetness that I found to be quite delightful. The overly crunchy exterior does hold it back from canele perfection, however. I love a nice crisp, caramelized exterior on a canele, but this one takes a step or two (or three, or four) too far. The rock hard exterior here kinda shredded the inside of my mouth.

Delicious Butter Tarts at Circles and Squares

Published on August 23, 2024August 23, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 197 Bartley Drive, North York
Website: https://www.circlesandsquares.ca/

After hearing that Circles and Squares had been awarded first prize at Ontario’s Best Butter Tart Festival last year, my first thought was — wait, there’s a butter tart festival? My second thought was that I’ve gotta try those tarts.

Circles and Squares actually won two awards: first place in the best traditional butter tart category, and second place in the best “wild-style” butter tart category (for their Snickers butter tart, which features chocolate and peanut butter).

I tried the traditional butter tart both with and without pecans, the Snickers butter tart, and the double chocolate butter tart.

They were all very good, but the traditional ones were the clear winners. I can see why they won first place — they’re gooey but not too gooey, the flavour is rich and sweet without being cloying, and the crust is fantastic. It’s a top notch butter tart.

The other two were tasty, but all the stuff took away from their butter tartiness. They tasted more like little chocolate pies that were slightly too sweet. They were still delicious, mind you, but they couldn’t help but be a bit disappointing next to the amazing traditional tarts.

Decent Ice Cream Sandwiches at Ernie’s Icebox

Published on October 27, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 403 Jane Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.erniesicebox.com/

Fact: there is no such thing as a bad ice cream sandwich. Cookies + ice cream = delicious. That’s just science.

Which is to say that Ernie’s Icebox specializes in ice cream sandwiches, and they are, of course, good.

Unlike a place like Bang Bang that makes everything to order, the sandwiches are pre-made and kept frozen. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but holy moly do they ever freeze the hell out of these things. When they serve it to you, it’s the most frozen thing you’ve ever seen. It’s an impenetrable brick; basically impossible to eat.

I let it stand for about 15 minutes, and it was still rock hard. So I waited yet another 15 minutes, which was probably five to ten minutes too long; it was a bit drippy.

I ordered the peanut butter and jam, which features raspberry (I think?) jam-infused ice cream with chewy peanut butter cookies.

And again, it was good — scientifically, it was an inevitability — but I can’t say anything about it jumped out at me. The ice cream was a bit thin, and nothing about the PB and J combo particularly popped. It was tasty, but both the peanut butter and jam flavours were a bit too muted.

Decent Gelato at Hotel Gelato

Published on April 2, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 532 Eglinton Avenue West, Toronto
Website: http://www.hotelgelato.com/

Hotel Gelato is pretty good. I’ve had worse gelato in the city, and I’ve had better. Can that be the whole post? It’s gelato! It’s good! I don’t know.

I should write a bit more? Okay, fine.

Despite the name, Hotel Gelato is actually not just a gelato shop, but a full cafe with a menu featuring salads, sandwiches, and brunch classics. If you walk to the back of the restaurant, however, you’ll find their namesake gelato.

I tried a couple of flavours: peanut butter and vanilla sponge toffee. They were both perfectly tasty; they could have been richer and creamier, and neither of the flavours particularly blew me away, but it wasn’t exactly a chore to eat. Again: it’s gelato. It’s good. I probably wouldn’t go out of my way for it, but if you’re in the area, I don’t think you’ll be mad that you checked the place out.

Decent Ice Cream at West End Waffles and Scoops

Published on August 1, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 499 Runnymede Road, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/westendwafflesandscoops/

I generally don’t pay much attention to ice cream shops that don’t make their own ice cream, but I figured I’d give West End Waffles and Scoops a shot. They serve Shaw’s Ice Cream, an Ontario-based company that seemed like it might be a bit more interesting than the usual Kawartha or Nestle.

Outside of the ice cream, I think West End Waffles and Scoops makes pretty much everything else from scratch, including waffles, sauces, cookies, and cones. I went pretty simple, however, and just got a scoop of Grammy’s Cupboard, which features a vanilla base with brownie pieces, cookie dough chunks, and peanut butter swirled throughout.

It’s not bad. It’s not on the level of the better places in the GTA, but the ice cream is nice and creamy with plenty of tasty mix-ins, and a clear step up from something you’d find in a supermarket freezer.