Here are a few suggestions for Montreal-made sweet stocking stuffers that showcase this city’s recent gastronomic history.
Plateau chocolate stop: I like to walk down pretty Duluth Street when it’s snowing, so my first stop is Les Chocolats de Chloé, a chocolaterie that, as far as I’m concerned, should already be famous for their grilled-almond and Fleur-de-sel bars. Chloé’s boutique was sweetly decorated with felt owls and chocolate Santa lollipops with especially exuberant expressions. Their advent calendars houses fantastic filled housemade chocolates behind each numbered door.
Hot chocolate, cool balls: La Maison Cakao (Cocoa House) on Fabre Street is an awesome little shop whose unassuming façade belies the wild creativity inside. The sign on the street carries a straightforward message: Y Fait frette, which is Quebec slang for “it’s cold outside”. Hence: Hot chocolate. And sure enough, when you walk through the door, there’s a hot vat of it heating in an urn with an automated paddle.
They really pull out all the stops for Christmas, with specially baked fruitcake filled with homemade delicacies: cranberries dried after being marinatedin dark Cuban rum, pinapples confitted in maple syrup, as well as candied oranges, lemons, dates and apricots (they make great brown paper-wrapped gifts because they keep for two months after the holidays.) As far as stocking stuffers are concerned, their filled praline-chocolate pinecones are darling, and the jewel-red chocolate Christmas-ornament chocolates make a unique, elegant gift.
Also: Special holiday breads: The bakeries of the city are going full-steam throughout the holidays, and many of them actually bake special loaves for the holidays. Mamie Clafoutis on Van Horne Avenue makes the Marronnier, small, sweet loaf by stuffed with both ground and candied chestnuts. Believe it or not, this bread is fabricated especially to be a carrier of another French Christmas tradition: Foie Gras.
In Mile-End, the energetic bakers at Boulangerie Guillaume bake up the Couronne Lyonnaise, basically a round Baguette, especially for Christmas. That one’s great with some unsalted organic butter, fresh from their prodigious ovens.

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The Toqué! Creators of a new Quebec gastronomy story starts with the dream team of chef owner Normand Laprise, co-owner Christine Lamarche and chef de cuisine Charles-Antoine Crête. The three work in perfect harmony to bring us the uniquely creative and elegant cuisine we have come to love. Chef Laprise was a proponent of using local ingredients unique to the land before it was fashionable to do so. He has built special relationships with his purveyors and they have all been key components in propelling Toqué! to the top.

Although both Laprise and Crête don’t seem to think so, some of the book’s recipes might be too complex for the amateur home cook. However, this is so much more than a cookbook. It is a voyage from the Toqué! kitchen in Old Montreal to the fields, forests, lakes and shores across this great province of ours. We are led on a discovery of some of Toqué!’s favourite producers who are beautifully portrayed throughout the 450-page volume. Each one of these unique individuals, from deer breeders to artisanal fishermen to foragers, has a special connection to the restaurant and its team.

I asked chef Laprise what his favourite recipe in the book was, the one he would recommend to someone if they could only make one thing. He turned to a recipe that started with “Kill the pig and wait a few minutes to make sure it’s dead”. I don’t think I’ll be trying that one anytime soon but it all goes back to Laprise’s philosophy of knowing where your food comes from and the journey it makes before it gets to your plate.

It would be a shame to talk about the book without mentioning Dominique Malaterre’s breathtaking photos, whether on site at the restaurant or criss-crossing the province in search of the perfect shot. She has managed to beautifully capture the Toqué! spirit. For a behind-the-scenes, sneak peak of this stunning book, take a look at this video:

THE DETAILS

Toqué! Creators of a new Quebec gastronomy, is available in all good bookstores as of November 28, 2012

Restaurant Toqué!, 900 Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle, (514) 499-2084

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