Last summer I was tickled to discover the sweetest macaron shop at the local farmers’ market. I began going every Saturday just for a taste of their delicacies, which made me feel like I was at home with close proximity to sweet patisseries. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one with a predilection towards French cookies! What started out as a booth at the farmers’ market for Sweet Caribou quickly turned into a booth at the mall and now– hooray!– their very own brick and mortar shop. The Sweet Caribou bakery opened this past summer, located on 36th and Arctic. They’ve grown from making artisan macarons and gourmet desserts to now serving delicious lunch bowls as well. Every time I visit the amazing owners, James and Miranda Strong, I am smitten with their hospitality.

I love a good “how’d you get here?” story and the beginnings of Sweet Caribou is definitely a good one. In a nutshell, James was working on his dissertation in fishery studies and taking care of their two small boys while Miranda worked as a lawyer when Sweet Caribou was born. Needless to say, the business was exactly what Alaskans were aching for and soon all of his time went to baking macarons and traveling to Paris to learn new techniques and gather ingredients. It’s a true family affair with help from James’ wife, Miranda, and their sister who contributed the first few flavor recipes and actually introduced James to a macaron.

I had the pleasure to spend time with James, Miranda, and the pastry chefs at Sweet Caribou to learn the art of making these delectable little treats. It certainly isn’t for the faint of heart and requires the utmost patience and precision– something I definitely lack when baking! The head pastry chef, Sam, creates a multitude of flavors and demonstrated how macarons are made. She even made a Pearls On A String flavor and it is incredible! Vanilla cookies with a Nutella + white chocolate + Frangelico (hazelnut licqueur) filling and an extra dab of Nutella. I cannot even tell you how amazing these macarons are! They are my new favorite thing in life. Sam is truly a master at her craft and apparently knows me very well. I had the opportunity to make some as well. Let’s just say they are more difficult than expected and it took a few dozen until I had the hang of it.

The new menu includes delicious lunch bowls, which I crave now on a weekly basis. They are made daily and all ingredients are sourced locally when possible. The dressings are made from scratch right there in their kitchen. The best part: they deliver on weekdays! It makes eating a healthy lunch so convenient. Waverley and I love to pop in so I can grab a salad and she can choose from the plethora of brightly colored macarons. My favorite is the Kenai Kale Quinoa bowl filled with quinoa, kale, golden raisins, feta, toasted pine nuts, lemon vinaigrette, sea salt & pepper chicken. It is so filling it can definitely last for two meals. I also love the Talkeetna Ginger Sesame Bowl because I am a sucker for anything with crunchy chow mein noodles on it. It’s hard to choose! There’s a sweet surprise in each lunch bowl, too: a mini macaron to satiate the sweet tooth but not ruin the healthy lunch just consumed.

If you’re local or in town visiting, you must stop by for a salad and treats. Or, you know, just treats because I would never judge that. I highly recommend a giant mountain of their macarons– especially if you are headed to someone’s house for the holidays and want to bring in treats to work. Don’t forget to snap a picture in their cute corner with the hashtag #SweetCaribouFTW! They often host contests and giveaways on Instagram for free t-shirts and macarons. Yes, please!

Thanks so much to everyone at Sweet Caribou for having me and letting me play around in the kitchen. I had so much fun and am pretty obsessed with my Pearls On A String flavor! Don’t you think it should become a regular? Sweet Caribou also generously donated lunch and macarons to a recent fundraiser for The Magic Yarn Project— thank you James and Miranda!