One “n” or two?

You see “cannelé both ways. Which one is correct? Technically they both are. The modern cannelé has been around in Bordeaux since about the 1920’s. By the 1980’s they became so popular they spread to the pastry shops of Paris, where enterprising pastry chefs flavored them not only with rum, but with citrus, chocolate and other non-traditional additives. Uppity city folks are like that. This alarming development did not go unnoticed by the cannelé bakers of Bordeaux, who decided they’d better do something before they lost exclusive rights to their regional delicacy. So they formed a society, subtracted an “n” and voilà, a brand was born. Today in France you can only use the single “n” if you make cannelés according to traditional recipes within the region of Bordeaux. So there!