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Atascadero
Kendall Farms
Their rich, creamy crème fraîche was the only one Thomas Keller used in his restaurants, including Bouchon Bakery, and it became one of Nicholas’s favorites, too.
Ingredient
Crème fraîche
California Impressions
California’s bounty, expressed in fifteen distinct bonbons
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California Impressions is Head Chocolatier Nicholas’ most personal work yet. Fifteen distinct bonbons capture the flavors and scents that inspired him most after he moved from New York City to the Bay Area. Among them were the sweet Albion strawberries at the farmers’ market, heirloom apricots from K&J Orchards, and fragrant bay laurel trees he passed while jogging in Tilden Park.
This is a collection of fifteen distinct bonbons built from those moments: five creamy ganaches, five fruit-layered bonbons, and five nutty pralinés, each tied to the places and growers that made the greatest impression on Nicholas.
Included in this set
This set includes 15 distinctive Bonbons, one of each flavor:
Ganaches
Río Samaria, México
Mexican Hot Chocolate
Crème Fraîche
Bay Laurel
Osmanthus
Seasonal Fruits
Meyer Lemon
Strawberry
Apricot
Fig
Verjus
Nut Pralinés
Walnut
Fritz Almond
Nonpareil Almond
Pistachio
Pecan
Ingredients & Allergens
Ingredients: 70% House Blend chocolate (cocoa beans, organic cane sugar), 70% chocolate (cocoa beans from Río Samaria, Mexico; organic cane sugar), organic heavy cream, organic butter, invert sugar, glucose sugar, organic cane sugar, Meyer lemons, organic Albion strawberries, Blenheim apricots, figs, red verjus, crème fraîche, organic Fritz almonds, pistachios, organic non-pareil almonds, Paso Robles walnuts, organic pecans, cocoa butter (cocoa beans from Camino Verde, Ecuador), sorbitol, organic whole-milk powder, apple pectin, citric acid, fleur de sel, Saigon cinnamon, Mexican vanilla beans, bay laurel leaves, osmanthus blossoms
Contains: milk, tree nuts (almonds, pistachios, walnuts, pecans).
Weight & Dimensions
6.3 oz. | 180 g
45 mm wide × 165 mm deep × 36 mm high
California Impressions
Our most ambitious collection ever
15 Distinct Bonbons
5 ganaches
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ganaches
Río Samaria, México
70% Río Samaria ganache with tobacco-leaf and toasted-corn notes.
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ganaches
Mexican Hot Chocolate
Vanilla bean and Saigon cinnamon cream in an earthy Río Samaria ganache.
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ganaches
Crème Fraîche
from Kendall Farms in Atascadero
Kendall Farms crème fraîche adds tangy, savory depth to a rich ganache.
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ganaches
Bay Laurel
Fresh California bay laurel steeped in cream, accenting woody cocoa notes.
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ganaches
Osmanthus
Delicate osmanthus blossoms lend a subtle, tea-like herbal note to ganache.
5 seasonal fruits
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seasonal fruits
Meyer Lemon
Tart Meyer lemon caramel layered over creamy Río Samaria ganache.
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seasonal fruits
Strawberry
from Dirty Girl Produce in Santa Cruz County
Fragrant organic Albion strawberry jelly over fruity Río Samaria ganache.
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seasonal fruits
Apricot
from K&J Orchards in Winters
Slow-cooked Blenheim apricot jelly over jammy, plummy Río Samaria ganache.
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seasonal fruits
Fig
from K&J Orchards in Winters and Jacobson Orchards in Yountville
Honeyed Mission, Marseille, and Panachée fig jelly over velvety ganache.
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seasonal fruits
Verjus
Bright, tart Cabernet Sauvignon verjus caramel over a rich ganache.
5 nut pralinés
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nut pralinés
Walnut
from Manzanita Manor Organics in Paso Robles
Paso Robles walnuts, roasted and caramelized into a crunchy, toasty praliné.
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nut pralinés
Fritz Almond
from Capay Hills Orchard in Esparto
Fritz almonds for a smooth praliné with bittersweet marzipan notes.
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nut pralinés
Nonpareil Almond
from Braga Organic Farms in San Joaquin Valley
Deeply toasted, caramelized almonds with fleur de sel in a crunchy praliné.
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nut pralinés
Pistachio
from Braga Organic Farms in San Joaquin Valley
Creamy California pistachios in an extra-smooth, salty-sweet praliné.
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nut pralinés
Pecan
from Handy Farms in Corning
Caramelized organic pecans in a buttery praliné reminiscent of pecan pie.
Sourced in California
The Growers
Tap a pin to meet the farm.
Santa Cruz County
Dirty Girl Produce
They grow fragrant, organic Albion strawberries on a forty-acre family farm, and those berries go into our bright Strawberry jelly.
Ingredient
Albion strawberries
Winters
K&J Orchards
Nicholas first got to know them at Bouchon Bakery. Today their heirloom Blenheim apricots and figs fill our Apricot and Fig Bonbons.
Ingredients
Apricots, Figs
Yountville
Jacobson Orchards
This one-and-a-half-acre plot supplies the Napa Valley's best-known restaurants, and its figs go into the honeyed, colorful jelly in our Fig Bonbon.
Ingredient
Figs
Paso Robles
Manzanita Manor Organics
A California native on our team recommended their walnuts, and one bite convinced Nicholas they were the best he'd ever tasted. They became the base of our Walnut praliné.
Ingredient
Walnuts
Esparto
Capay Hills Orchard
Their small, hard organic Fritz almonds won repeated blind tastings against Italian, Iranian, and Spanish varieties, and their marzipan-like bitterness drives our Fritz Almond praliné.
Ingredient
Fritz almonds
San Joaquin Valley
Braga Organic Farms
This nearby farm grows the sweet Nonpareil almonds and the large, creamy pistachios behind two of this Collection's pralinés.
Ingredients
Nonpareil almonds, Pistachios
Corning
Handy Farms
This family-run farm grows organic pecans regeneratively, and their deep, nutty flavor gives our Pecan praliné its pecan pie character.
Ingredient
Pecans
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“At the heart of this Collection is a unique creative opportunity — and gift: the ability to capture a flavor like a memory, a kind of recording of a moment in time. You can taste what I taste, and experience it with me. Being a confectioner is my vocation, but it is also my pleasure to capture, for you, the essence of what makes California so special to me.”
— Nicholas