Every year we design the Mother's Day box around a different grandmother. This year, Aline's Mémé got a box delivered to Lyon. The story behind the 2025 collection, the design notes for each of the four bonbons, and a recipe for the cardamom cream that was inspired by her pastry.
The tradition
We've been doing the Mother's Day "grandmother" box since 2021. The idea is that the collection is a tribute — each bonbon is named after a real grandmother on the team or in the family, and the design is meant to evoke something specific about her. In 2021 it was Aline's maternal grandmother, who taught her to make pastry in a kitchen in Lyon with a single window. In 2022 it was my grandmother, who ran a bakery in Tehran until 1979. In 2023 we did my mother, who kept a small confectionery shop in Markham for 11 years. In 2024 it was Cam's grandmother, who used to send Christmas boxes with homemade marshmallows that arrived at our door in Vancouver looking like they'd been through a war zone (they had). This year, 2025, we circled back to Aline's Mémé — the same one from 2021, but four years on.
The reason we went back: Aline's Mémé turned 89 in March, and we wanted to do something specific for her birthday. The Mother's Day box became the vehicle. The same woman, the same kitchen window, the same cardamom that her mother brought back from the spice market in Lyon when Aline was a child. But four years of bonbon-making between then and now — and the recipe is the best version we've ever made of that flavour.
The 2025 collection — design notes
Four bonbons in the 9-piece Mother's Day box, each named for a memory of the grandmother:
Mémé (Cardamom white chocolate, 2 pieces) — A soft white chocolate shell filled with a cardamom-infused ganache, finished with a single whole green cardamom pod pressed into the surface before the shell sets. The cardamom is from the same Guérande supplier we use year-round, but for this box we cracked and ground it the morning of production day — the difference is enormous, and the same trick Aline's Mémé used with her morning pastries. The shell is hand-painted with a thin stripe of gold cocoa butter, the colour of a Lyon kitchen at sunset.
La Fenêtre (Hazelnut praline, 2 pieces) — Named for the kitchen window in Aline's grandmother's apartment. The window faced east, got the morning light, and had a specific smell of hazelnut coffee every Saturday morning. The bonbon is a 38% milk chocolate shell, filled with a Piedmont hazelnut praline that's been roasted and ground in-house. We press a single hazelnut into the top of each one. The chocolate is a deeper brown than the rest of the line — the colour of coffee with a lot of milk in it.
Le Quai (Salted caramel, 3 pieces) — Named for the quay on the Saône where Aline used to walk with her Mémé on Sunday afternoons. The quay smelled like salt and warm stone and, sometimes, caramel from the chocolate shop on the corner. This is the same salted caramel that's been our best seller since 2019, but for the Mother's Day box we hand-painted each one with a tiny wave pattern in white cocoa butter. The salt is the same fine Halifax flake we use year-round. We thought about making a special "Lyon" version of the caramel, with a different salt, but Aline decided: no. The recipe is the recipe. The memory is the memory.
Le Printemps (Raspberry rose, 2 pieces) — "Le Printemps" means both "spring" and "the spring" (the season). It was Aline's grandmother's word for the month of May, when the roses came out and the kitchen window would be thrown open in the morning. The bonbon is a 65% dark chocolate shell, filled with a raspberry ganache made from BC raspberries reduced with a touch of rose water. Finished with a single dried raspberry-petal fragment pressed into the surface. The petal is decorative and flavourless — it's there for the memory, not the taste.
What we sent to Lyon
The box we sent to Aline's Mémé was the same 9-piece box, hand-packed, with a hand-written note from Aline on the card. The shipping to Lyon was the most expensive shipping we've ever paid for — about $180, with all the temperature-controlled packing and the express courier. It arrived on a Tuesday afternoon. The neighbour, Madame Fournier, signed for it. Aline's Mémé opened it that evening, had two of the cardamom ones, and called Aline the next day. She said the cardamom was "almost like home, but better." Aline cried. The call lasted an hour.
For the rest of the 2025 Mother's Day boxes, the same recipe but the standard packaging. The Lyon delivery was a one-off — Aline's Mémé is the only customer who's ever had a single 9-piece box shipped to France. We don't ship internationally as a rule, but this one we made an exception for.
The cardamom cream — recipe
This is the recipe for the cardamom ganache we use in the Mémé bonbon, scaled up to a small jar. It's the closest thing to the bonbon filling you can make at home without a melanger and a marble slab.
Ingredients:
- 200g white chocolate (we use Valrhona Ivoire 35%, but any 30-35% white works)
- 100g heavy cream (35% MF)
- 30g unsalted butter
- 8-10 whole green cardamom pods (about 1.5g of seeds once cracked)
- 20g honey (any mild honey — we use local wildflower)
- Pinch of salt
Method:
- Crack the cardamom pods with the back of a heavy knife. Peel away the husks. Grind the small black seeds in a mortar and pestle until you have a coarse powder.
- Heat the cream and the cardamom powder together in a small saucepan over low heat until just barely simmering. Take off the heat. Cover and let steep for 20 minutes. The longer you steep, the stronger the cardamom. 20 minutes is a good balance.
- Strain the cream through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan. Press the cardamom solids to extract as much cream as possible, then discard the solids.
- Re-warm the cream to just simmering. Add the white chocolate (chopped), the butter, the honey, and the salt. Whisk gently until everything is melted and smooth.
- Pour into a small jar. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. The cream will set in the fridge but become spreadable at room temperature.
How to use it: spread on warm toast, fill a layer cake, or eat by the spoonful (this is what we do at the studio). It keeps in the fridge for 10 days. It will not last 10 days.
Happy Mother's Day to every grandmother who taught someone how to make something with their hands. The recipes outlive us. That's the whole point.