Snack Review: Trader Joe’s Canneles de Bordeaux
I bought these because everyone should sometimes eat a snack that they can’t pronounce.
No, really, it was that I was suckered in again by the romantic foreignness of it. Look at that little crown-shaped, brown, sort of shiny thing in the picture on the box. Doesn’t it look so terribly European and traditional?
And the text on the back was just the sort of thing that I can’t resist. It’s “a specialty pastry of Bordeaux on the southwestern coast of France.” Not all over France, mind you, in every highway convenience store - no, a regional delicacy! Something grandma made, only if you came from just the right neighborhood!
Then, it says “the outside of the shapely little cake is caramelized and chewy, but get inside and you encounter a velvety, custard-like interior with a pronounced vanilla flavor. The oh-so simple ingredients belie a deliciously complex taste and texture.”
Intrigued, I skipped down to the list of ingredients: just milk, sugar, egg, flour, butter, vanilla, and rum. Real food, real ingredients like made from scratch. Nothing multisyllabic. I don’t mind if the title of my snack is unpronounceable, but I prefer if the ingredients are not, you know?
So, I popped it in the cart and took it home. Without reading the rest of the box. Which is why I was in the middle of contentedly munching one, thinking happily how nice and custard-y it was, when I got to this part:
“Creating these beauties is a painstaking, time-consuming endeavor that follows an ancient recipe” - so far, so entirely appealing - “in which each individual copper pan is coated with a thin film of beeswax - ”
EEEEH. Beeswax? My chewing became less enthusiastic. I examined the remains of the authentic delicacy that I still held. I could see now the “characteristic crust” and how yes, it did look unusual, and kind of uniquely… waxy.
They always tell you that you are supposed to read a recipe all the way through before you start cooking. I guess this is a good idea with such an elaborately texted snack box too. Really, beeswax is a very charming substance. It makes lovely candles. Lovely honey is contained in it. I love the way it smells.
But. I don’t like to eat candles. And it’s basically, like, bee sweat, or worse, you know?
Really, there is probably hardly any wax on the thing. But I was surprised and, um, not thrilled. I finished the one I was holding. It did have an interesting texture, although it was darker than the one in the picture and, I think, very close to the ‘overbaked’ line. And it did have a nice custard-y inside and I do love custard.
And I was interested in also trying it warmed in the microwave as the box suggests. But, somehow, the rest of the box remains untouched in the freezer.
From now on, I read ALL the fine print.
7 Comments
teqjack on September 20th, 2008
What, no wax? No old Halloween memories of
wax lips, wax fangs, wax bottles with colored
sugar water inside?
Just as well, they were horrible.
Linda on September 21st, 2008
Weren’t you just supposed to chew the wax lips like gum, not swallow
them? Or maybe that’s just how I did it.
I tried another one heated up in the microwave finally, but I couldn’t
bring myself to eat the crust, I just dug the insides out.
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Sena Havasy on May 20th, 2009
I was delighted to read that I could get authentic canneles from Trader Joes with the molds lightly coated with bees wax. I went on the web to look for just such a recipe but how much easier to get from good old Trader Joe’s!
Bees wax and honey are completely natural and edible ingredients created by bees from the nectar of flowers.
Laura Stec, in her book ‘Cool Cuisine’, “Beeswax is also used to make the French dessert canneles, which is nicknamed “the walking creme brulee. The wax serves as a liner for the cake mold and is an edible crust that complements the soft custardlike center.”
Very interesting book, by the way.
nagaden on March 1st, 2010
What a baby.
ButterflyKyss on September 19th, 2008
I would rather have beeswax in my desserts than carnuba wax in my
candy
All that aside, there are recipes for these to make yourself, and from
what I’ve heard, done properly they’re amazing.