Magnolia’s magnetism

This place is amazing. Not only do swarms of tittering girls and midwestern families line up inside for cupcakes and banana pudding, but they’re pressed to the window in joyful awe and anticipation.

Magnolia Bakery has become a tourist destination, just like Bloomingdales’ fragrance department or Canal Street.

It’s like its own Christmas Spectacular.

1240 Sixth Ave at 49th Street
212.767.1123

He saved room for dessert

NYC Food Guy is no slouch. He covers more ground, eats more meals, and shares more mouth watering reviews and photos than any gastro-New Yorker you know. In other words, he knows his stuff.

So how does he like to top off a great meal?

1) Tuck Shop's Lamingtons & Vanilla Slice - Tuck Shop is the best and only Australian bake shop I know. Lamingtons are two pieces of sponge cake with jam in between, rolled in chocolate and rolled in coconut. Think a gourmet Hostess snowball minus the marshmallow and overwhelming sweetness. When these are fresh, they're awesome.


Vanilla Slice may look like slop but it also may be the best dessert I've ever had. Dense and creamy vanilla custard is sandwiched between two pastry puffs and topped with vanilla icing. It lives in the fridge so the icing ends up resembling that of a black and white cookie. If you like Vanilla, this is your heaven.
Read NYCFoodGuy's full review, packed with photos.


2) Houston's Warm 5-Nut Brownie Sundae - I know, it's a chain restaurant. But this brownie sundae has never disappointed me. Not once. A decadent and fudgey warm brownie is studded with peanuts, cashews, macadamia nuts, walnuts and pecans and laid over a pool of champagne custard. A hearty scoop of Sedutto vanilla ice cream on top is then drizzled with caramel espresso sauce. Drag each bite of the sundae through the custard and "marvel at the knee-buckling harmony of flavors making your palate sing."



3) Levain Bakery's Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie - There are a lot of great chocolate chip cookies in this city, but I always come back to Levain. Undercooked just the right amount, these hulking $3.75 cookies embody all that is good in the world of cookies. They're buttery and fresh. They're firm on the outside and chewy on the inside. They're studded with copious amounts of melty semi-sweet chocolate chips and chopped walnuts, and they taste like they were made by Mom. When warm, I don't see how anyone can physically prevent eating this cookie in its entirety.


Get more deliciousness.


4) Sugar Sweet Sunshine's Banana Pudding - Wow, just wow. If I'm ever on the Lower East Side, not eating at Sugar Sweet Sunshine is just not a possibility. Huge bowls of rich, creamy vanilla pudding are crammed with crushed shards of Nilla wafer and hearty slices of ripe banana. It's really the perfect dessert, sweet but not overly so, with a natural, home cooked flavor. The first five times I ate this, my knees got weak. I've since built up a tolerance. (If only it was the same way with Tequila.) Not only is the tiny bakery filled with cozy couches, but the help—particularly the co-owner, Deb—may be sweeter than the desserts.

Check out the NYCFoodGuy review, featuring a great place for a $20 Rib Platter beforehand.


5) Veniero's Italian Bakery Pignoli Nut Cookies - If you like almond paste (also known as marzipan) and also known as the ingredient that makes those little chocolate-rainbow-jelly brownie type things delicious, then you'll love these cookies. The sweet, chewy marzipan inside these light, airy cookies provides most of the flavor but the crisp, buttery pignoli nuts on top balance things out. I could probably sit down and eat about 10 of them. Take them home and pair them with some vanilla ice cream. You'll thank me later.


Here's the NYCFoodGuy review.

Thanks, Lawrence!

Kindred spirits

Anyone who loves food and booze and caffeine and sweets is ace in my book. And anyone devoted enough to photograph burgers on dates and wax poetic about the versatility of Nutella is soooper ace.

I'm talking about Blondie and Brownie.

Here, Blondie's 5 favorite NYC sweets:

1) Glaser's Black and White Cookies - This is the apex of black and white cookies, in my opinion. The cakey cookie is golden, airy, and moist, while the frosting has a thin skin on the top, but is moist and creamy underneath. The cookies are, of course, baked on site and are incredibly fresh.

2) Sugar Sweet Sunshine's Cupcakes - All of them. I think I've tried every regular flavor combination (we've had a lot of SSS deliveries to the office) and each is moist and delicious. I tend to find buttercreams too greasy and buttery, but their frosting is perhaps the only buttercream in the city that I like and enjoy.



3) Sugar Sweet Sunshine's Banana Pudding - Every time I'd gone to SSS, I've immediately headed for the cupcakes, disregarding the other items on the menu, but recently, I was tipped off to try their puddings. I love bananas (eat one every morning) and 'Nilla wafers, and this is the perfect marriage of the two. There are chunks of bananas, the pudding is thick and creamy, and filling. I hope to one day try the other puddings, but that means passing on the banana and cupcakes.

4) Mexican Chocolate Brownie from Treats Truck - This was the very first item I ever had from the Treats Truck, and it's still my absolute favorite. It's moist and fudgey without being greasy or oily, and I still haven't figured out how Kim bakes the cinnamon flavor into the crust.



5) Nutella Turnover at La Dolce Italia (Astoria) - Yes, there is a turnover with Nutella baked into the middle. I have a severe addiction to Nutella. The dough is a little thick, but the ample amount of Nutella deliciousness baked into the middle more than makes up for it. It's even better warmed up a bit.

No, we didn't forget about Brownie. She dishes soon...