Few foods make you feel that everything is right with the world like cookies. Fresh from the oven, melting chocolate and sweet crunch, gobbled down with an oversized glass of milk. It’s the ultimate comfort food (and certainly saw me through more than one hardship) and certainly the most versatile. Of American imports to France, this is the only one that I feel has longevity. Cupcakes and macarons waver in popularity but are especially in vogue when times are grim and people search for aesthetic pick-me-ups (the ‘cute’ effect, as I call it) but cookies are a cultural mainstay; as reliable a fixture of snack-time as any pastry case, bake sale or holiday gathering. And just like an éclair or a gleaning slice of tarte au citron for the French, a well-baked cookie has tremendous nostalgic currency for Americans.
In Paris, the high-quality varieties haven’t always been easy to source. In fact, up until recently, the only baker churning out batches that could rival those I grew up with was Eric Kayser and they’re still among my favorite in town. That glaring absence in a city that has come to thrive on American staples was what motivated me and a friend to create a cookie business back in 2012. Lola’s Cookies was our answer to a gap in the market, a solution to the overpriced garbage that chain fast food joints and restaurants were peddling. And it was truly a fun adventure – we managed to show hundreds of Parisians what an American cookie was meant to look, taste and feel like and nothing can substitute the immense joy we felt when. For a whole number of reasons, Lola’s has taken a backseat to the rest of my life but my love for cookies remains unchanged. In fact, it has probably grown stronger since I’m no longer toiling in the kitchen preparing orders!
Fortunately, I know where to source a batch when the craving hits. For over seven years, American-Taiwanese expat Jean Hwang Carrant was baking gourmet cookies for restaurants in her neighborhood, for parties and large-scale events. Each cookie, she has said, are like little jewels that must be perfect throughout the entire process and that means using top-shelf ingredients and rolling the dough into perfectly measured balls. This is Jean’s form of ‘zen’ and after years of baking in the kitchen, my feelings echo her own. I had a chance to try her cookies last year, long before the boutique project had taken shape, and knew she was poised to take those babies beyond the confines of her little kitchen. Each cookie has the perfect balance of crunchy:chewy and flavors that instantly transport me to childhood. I can’t say that of many of the other cookies (impostors) I’ve tried here.
As of last week, Jean took a big, ambitious step to give her seriously sumptuous cookies even greater reach by opening her first brick and mortar shop! And with a location just around the corner from rue du Nil, also known as Frenchie street*, she can be confident that epicureans are never far away. I’m so proud of Jean and cannot wait to see how she grows from here.
Jean Hwang Carrant: Simply Extraordinary Cookies
84 rue d’Aboukir, 75002
Metro: Sentier or Bonne Nouvelle
Follow Jean and her cookies on Instagram HERE.
*Gregory Marchand has already gotten a taste of Jean’s cookies. See the proof!
*Other sweet reading: I was on a tasting panel to name the top 5 Paris-Brest in Paris for Paris By Mouth. Click this link to see the results!
