Precisely this time last year we were sitting by the Seine spoiling ourselves on macarons and cups of café crème. Saving us from sulking about no plane ticket to Paris this year is Paul Croteau Confections.

The dessert doctor behind the likes of Lumiere, Boneta and currently Campagnolo and Refuel, patissier Croteau now makes creations to take home. His kiosk of confections inside Oakridge Centre sells six macaron flavours to savour ($1.50 each, $4.50 for 3), plus other sweets like soft salted caramel, biscotti and nougatine.

If not Paris, we’ll always have macarons.

Paul Croteau Confections, Oakridge Centre, 650 41st Ave. W. (atrium entrance), Vancouver, www.pcconfections.com

If choosing wine to bring to a dinner party takes up half your weekend, try something a little sweeter.

Pick up a batch of authentic Italian cannolis from the gelato shop (your foodie friends will be so jealous you beat them to the pastry punch). Available only on weekends and in limited supply, the cinnamon-tinted shells are filled with a light cream made of ricotta cheese, sugar, chocolate chips and a touch of liquor, and topped with roasted almonds and a light dusting of icing sugar.

Oh and you can tell everyone they are handmade—they don’t need to know not by you.

$14 for 6. Available Friday-Sunday only at La Casa Gelato, 1033 Venables St., Vancouver, 604-251-3211, www.lacasagelato.com

In a world where most branded chocolate has more hype than Hardcopy, simplicity suddenly has an haute appeal.

Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France makes its confections using pure French chocolate (known to be less sugary and fatty than Swiss or Belgian) sold by the cocoa’s single origin (Ghana, Venezuela or Mexico).

In sticks or elegant squares, chocolates are flavoured with fleur de sel, lavender, chilies or almonds, and each pretty white box is sealed with a red wax fleur-de-lis.    

Now that’s what we call no logo cocoa.

Prices by weight (our 14 chocolates were $10). Open Wednesday-Sunday, Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France, 198 E. 21st Ave. (at Main St.), Vancouver, 604-566-1065, www.chocolaterienouvellefrance.ca

We’ve outgrown the Easter egg hunt, but getting hopped up on chocolate we’re never too old for. Rather than gorge on sickly sweet creme eggs, we’re treating ourselves to Thomas Haas.

A recent inductee into the BC Restaurant Hall of Fame, the patissier is a master at making whimsical cocoa creations like flower pots, roadsters with caramel wheels and eggs painted with leopard spots.

We suggest throwing your name in the hat to win one of his enormous edible creations (pictured) or for a guaranteed fix, take home a nest of egg truffles filled with blackberry honey-infused milk chocolate, passion fruit-tinged white chocolate and lavender lychee-flavoured dark chocolate ($5.50).

It’s the kind nest egg you don’t sit on.

Thomas Haas, 128-998 Harbourside Dr., North Vancouver, 604-924-1847, www.thomashaas.com

Pinkberry fiends, have we got a scoop for you.

Sweet shop Froyo Swirl opened this week to give Vancouverites their very own gourmet frozen yogurt fix. A fiver gets you a generous portion of the all natural good stuff and your choice of tasty toppings like fresh fruit, granola, gummy bears, chocolate-covered peanuts, even Cap’n Crunch.

Decked in mod white Panton chairs, bright red walls and dark wood booths, the jiggy joint is just as yummy as the tantalizingly tart yogurt it serves.

The cold treat is low fat, low sugar and low calorie, this place won’t be on the down low for long.

Froyo Swirl, 820 Homer St. (at Robson), Vancouver, 604-682-6116, www.froyoswirl.com