Gingerbread Caramels

Butter caramel with gingerbread spice for the Christmas season

La Maison d'Armorine's Caramels au Pain d'Epices are soft gingerbread-spiced butter caramels from Quiberon, packaged in a small wooden veneer box. Salty Breton butter, cane sugar, and the warmth of cinnamon, ginger, and clove – a caramel just for the Advent season.

Caramels au Pain d'Epices from La Maison d'Armorine are the soft, spicy caramel candies for Christmas: butter caramel from Brittany, refined with gingerbread spice and packaged in a 40-gram wooden veneer box. Pain d'épices is the French word for gingerbread, and its warming spice is exactly what coats the salty-sweet Salidou here.

Cinnamon, ginger, and clove over soft caramel

With the first candy, you taste the familiar butter caramel, creamy and soft, then the gingerbread spice kicks in with cinnamon, ginger, and a hint of clove.

The spice doesn't overpower; it wraps around the sweetness like a scarf. First comes the butter, then the caramel, and finally the Christmas spices and the Fleur de Sel de Guérande, which brings the long finish together. A candy that tastes like baking cookies and the first candles of the year. You don't eat a caramel like this quickly; it makes the afternoon a little more festive.

The little wooden veneer box for Advent

The nostalgic wooden veneer box is barely larger than a palm and makes the 40 grams of Caramels au Pain d'Epices a ready-made little gift that just needs to be handed over. The printed lid and light wood make the box a little Christmas piece in itself.

Tucked into a Christmas card, hidden in an Advent calendar, or served with coffee, the little box always finds an occasion. If you prefer your caramels without spices, opt for the plain butter caramel in the Christmas box; if you snack on them all year round, you will find the Caramels au beurre salé in a bag.

A Christmas greeting from Quiberon

Since 1946, La Maison d'Armorine in Quiberon has been cooking its Salidou—salted butter caramel—by hand in copper cauldrons. For the Advent season, the family seasons the classic recipe with gingerbread spice, one of the many ideas the house is known for. The spice is added to the cauldron only at the end so it doesn't mask the butter but merely accompanies it, and the caramels remain as soft as they are all year round.

Founded by Raymond and Yvonne Audebert and now run by their grandson Alain, the confectionery is one of the last family-run businesses on the Breton coast. The Christmas spice is a deliberate exception, says Alain Audebert; the base recipe remains that of his grandparents. The Breton caramel kitchen has long been part of the region's culinary heritage.

The small house is famous for its Niniche lollipops, which now come in around 50 varieties, each handmade just like the Salidou. You can find more of these among the specialties from La Maison d'Armorine.

With mulled wine in the afternoon

With mulled wine, coffee, or tea in the afternoon, these spicy caramels are a fine companion, one after another. Chopped up, they give gingerbread tiramisu or rice pudding a festive touch. And once the box is empty, it can hold a Secret Santa gift or a rolled-up note. Stored in a cool, dry place, they stay soft; in a warm room, they quickly soften up and stick together. The pretty wooden veneer box is too nice to throw away afterwards.