A surprising find from my drive from Montebello to Ottawa was Black Walnut Bakery. This bakery is very charming as it’s a large house painted in a sunny yellow and outfitted with a porch. It makes me think I will be entering my Southern grandmother’s home when I walked up the porch and through the white wooden door. As you walk down the hallway, there’s a door opened to a kitchen that was wrapping up the day’s work but not too far is the room where the display counter and small seating area lined up with locals waiting for their turn to order. Given that my friends and I were there around 2:00 PM, a large number of their baked goods were getting sold out.
We’ve managed to get several pastries and refreshing iced hibiscus tea and homemade lemonade since it was during one of those intense heat wave days when we were in Canada. (Believe it or not, the temperatures rose to around 100°F or 37°C plus high humidity so it’s brutal!) Some of the highlights we had were the savory croissants like the ham and cheese and the seasonal zucchini croissants. These croissants were flaky, buttery and it wasn’t skimpy on the flavorful filling. The ham was piled high and stuffed with what tasted like gruyere and the zucchini has the innate vegetal sweetness with the just salty enough cheese. The plain croissant was very good too. It almost transported me to Paris.
The apple turnover was delicious as it has a flaky crust like the croissants. The apple filling was wonderful as the apples’ flavors were sweet and slightly tart enough to balance the butter and sweetness.
For a very Canadian treat, one should have a butter tart. At Black Walnut, they make these tarts filled with either walnuts or raisins. I opted for walnuts and it was very tasty. The buttery, flaky tart base meld with the semi-firm, maple filling that wasn’t too sweet. I understand why these pastries are a favorite and same for this bakery. It feels like eating at a friend’s home (who bakes incredibly well) and the staff there treated me like a friend even though I was there for the first time.
To view more photos of this visit, please view the gallery below or CLICK HERE for the photo set:
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Information:
Black Walnut Bakery
Official Website
979 Cameron St.
Cumberland, Ontario K4C 1A1
Phone: +1 613-884-6976
