Classic Treats Meet Exotic Flavors at Honey & Butter
Honey & Butter offers an array of deliciously-flavored macarons made in Irvine. Photo credit Honey & Butter
Looking inside the colorful cases of delectable treats at Honey & Butter is an exercise in indecision. Which creative flavor combination of classic French macaron should you try? There is no bad choice here. We reached out to co-owner Pawel Pietrasinki to find out more.
The Vine: What inspired you to launch Honey & Butter?
Pietrasinski: My wife, Leanne, was fascinated by macarons. She baked them from time to time, even sold a few batches to local tea shops. They were always a hit. Unfortunately, she was never able to become a full time baker, until she met me. I was happy to share her dream and passion, and we decided to make our own bakery.
Honey & Butter is a reflection of our personalities. We love everything Kawaii, Manga, Anime, and delicious food, of course. Kawaii is a word from the Japanese language and represents all cute and adorable things. Manga is a very traditional Japanese comic book or graphic novel. Anime is the Japanese-style of animation and in many cases it is based on Manga. All of those are amazing sources of inspiration for our creations at Honey & Butter.
The Vine: How did you and your wife, co-owner Leanne Pietrasinski, meet?
Pietrasinski: I was born in Poland and my wife was born in Vietnam. Leanne and I met over the internet, and more precisely, playing the same MMORPG game, called Neverwinter Online. We were in the same guild, fighting monsters, looting dungeons, and chatting over Teamspeak. It was a lot of fun, even though we were thousands of miles away from each other. Finally, she flew to Poland to visit me and that is when we started dating. She has been living in the U.S. since she was ten years old. I came here six years ago to visit Leanne and stayed until this day. It is quite whimsical, how life can suddenly change and take a completely new course.
The Vine: How did you develop your recipes?
Pietrasinski: A lot of recipes that we currently have were developed through experimentation. We have been inspired by different cuisines, especially Vietnamese, and also from travel experiences. Many times we had tasted some interesting drinks, ice cream, or other dessert and we wanted to translate it into our cookies. Macarons are fantastic when it comes to flavor possibilities and they give you a lot of room to play with.
Photo credit Honey & Butter
The Vine: Why did you decide to open a store in the Irvine Spectrum?
Pietrasinski: We were looking for a good place for our first brick-and-mortar location and Irvine Spectrum felt like the right choice. It is a very safe, clean, and popular open mall, with many interesting shops and restaurants. We were very lucky and humbled to have this great opportunity to open our bakery there.
The Vine: What’s your favorite item on the menu?
Pietrasinski: Leanne loves Milk & Honey - our signature flavor with a light, almost whipped cream-like filling. I love Pistachio and Nutella Hazelnut, mostly because I prefer nutty and rich flavors. Our customers' favorites are undeniably Fruity Pebbles and Oreo. Those have to always be on the menu, because they are extremely popular. We bake our macarons on a daily basis and we sell them fresh. We don't age our cookies.
The Vine: Are there some bakeries that do age their macarons? If so, why?
Pietrasinski: Yes, it is a common practice to age the macarons for 24-48 hours before selling. The reason for that is the flavors from the filling have more time to penetrate the shells, which is supposed to be better for the overall tasting experience. We do not need to do that because our cookies are already packed with flavors and since they are sold the same day, they taste very fresh. You can definitely taste the difference between our macaron and the aged macaron.
The Vine: What are your plans for Honey & Butter?
Pietrasinski: We are thinking and dreaming of opening a bakery in Japan. The quality of Japanese ingredients and Japanese culture is a great motivation for us to make even better cookies, with many more exciting flavors to come. We can't stop thinking of how amazing the Hokkaido milk is, and how many fun flavors we could make with it!
The Vine: What do you want us to know about you and about your store?
Pietrasinski: Our menu changes almost every week, so there is always something new for you to try. We are very grateful for all the customers who supported us in those tough times and helped us continue doing what we love.
Visit Honey & Butter at Irvine Spectrum
633 Spectrum Center Drive
Thursday through Monday, 11 am - 8 pm
info@hnbmacarons.com