I first found Tartine Bread & Pies (website) when I was enjoying the #cookiechallenge in April 2018. I went there for the interesting cookie they were offering, but once I visited and saw their pies, I had to try more than that ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ cookie. Seriously, that cookie had everything and you can find the link to the #cookiechallenge article below.
Sure Tartine make breads but they are also a pie shop. And man do they know how to create some amazing pies. The first one I saw on my very first visit was the Lavender Raspberry. It was purple on top and was also about three or more inches high. I don’t understand how anyone could pass up something made to look that appealing. Because of that pie I ended up visiting several more times because I absolutely had to find out what their other products tasted like.
There are two different locations in Vancouver but I have repeatedly only visited the Davie Street one. It’s small but very busy. They have so many different pies & Friday is even pie day so you can enjoy a piece of pie with a coffee or tea for a special price.
2018 Cookie Challenge – Mystery Cookie
Tartine went full-on outside the comfort zone for their #cookiechallenge offering with the Mystery Cookie. It was sweet, salty, crunchy, and soft, with such a wonderful assortment of textures and flavours. I honestly have no idea what exactly was in this cookie, even after eating it.
It was a tasty cookie and here are some ingredients or what are guesses of mine. Nuts, chocolate, potato chips, cereal?, coconut?, coffee?, black pepper?. I might not know all the ingredients used but I know it was a constant, surprising treat for my taste buds.
Raspberry and Lavender Pie
The only pie I normally eat is apple pie. I’ve tried a few different pies but other than strawberry, I’ve eaten no other more than once. Until this one. The raspberry and lavender pie has a pie crust with a vanilla cream filling and fresh raspberries. It’s then topped off with a lavender flavoured whipped cream. I hate cream pies. But this one sounded & looked so amazing I had to try it. I’m so happy I did too because I wasn’t disappointed. It was amazing.
The lavender and raspberry flavours worked so well together, they had a great mix of the two. The lavender was a subtler flavour, then there would be a bolt of fresh sweetness when I had a raspberry in my mouth. Tartine found the greatest mix of flavours in this pie and that’s coming from a person who normally would have hated this cream pie.
Carmel Apple Pie
Other than being very sweet, I never would have known this wasn’t a regular apple pie. The caramel flavour was not there, or it was subtle. The crust is a very good flaky one but without being overly buttery. And the apples were chunky and crunchy.
I enjoyed this pie quite a lot, but it disappointed me because it didn’t have more of a caramel flavour. As a plain apple pie, it was delicious but a little too sweet.
Salted Caramel White Chocolate Brownie
Again, this caramel treat also didn’t taste overly caramel-y. It was a delicious brownie though with chunks of white chocolate inside and salted caramel sauce on the top. While it didn’t have a strong caramel taste, I found the brownie was quite salty. It might have been from the salted caramel sauce layered on top creating a pretty pattern of what looked like maybe a leaf. But I’m not sure. I probably should have licked the sauce off separately to test my theory.
While the caramel aspect of the choices I made at Tartine Bread & Pies wasn’t a winner with me, I will keep trying more of their pies and other baked goods. I’ve enjoyed several of their cookies so far. I only wish I had taken a picture and remembered which cookies so I could tell you about them. Instead, I just shovelled the sweet treats in my mouth to enjoy myself.
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