Cream-filled at Doughnut Plant

We're coming up on tax season. Which has a silver lining for me: my accountant is a few doors down from the original Doughnut Plant. 

Doughnut Plant. Home of beautiful cake and yeast and cream-filled creations that are so naughty and so good. 

They're cranking out more and more "small" doughnuts, which means you can sample multiple flavors with less guilt.

Pistachio.

Chocolate hazelnut.

Cashew orange blossom.

I love tax season.

Piles of pancakes in the dead of winter

This is what greets you at Clinton Street Baking Company.

But this is what awaits.

I’m talking about the pistachio frangipane pancakes with burgundy cherries.

It’s Pancake Month at Clinton Street Baking Company.

 So naturally Bennie and I got the special pancakes.

But we also got some French toast.

You know, just to balance out the carbs.

 

Pancake month at Clinton Street Baking Company

Ten years later, I finally see what all the fuss is about. I’ve tried going to this homey restaurant for their famous pancakes a few times but I always refuse to stand in line.

But being as it is Pancake Month, and having chose to meet there for Breakfast Club on the day crunchy banana with cinnamon-chili-chocolate sauce pancakes were being served, Bennie and I sucked it up. We waited in line.

Thank god.

Yes, the special crunchy banana (read: fried banana) pancakes were divine. Especially with the cinnamon-chili-chocolate sauce.

But the good old pancakes with wild Maine blueberries were out of this world.

Light and fluffy, moist and buttery. They were perfect.

Mission accomplished.

Is there one best chocolate chip cookie in New York?

It’s almost embarrassing how many great chocolate chip cookies there are in Manhattan. When you go to other towns and cities, bakery cookies are often hard and crunchy and lack imagination and strong flavor. Here in New York, there are infinite delicious options. I’ve always been torn between three top contenders:

City Bakery

Levain

And Momofuku

How does one make a choice between these three?

City Bakery’s lovely, dreamy, crunchy, creamy, soft and sugary saucer-sized beauties have it all: crispy edges, melty middles, and a buttery-gritty texture that’s balanced by giant hunks of smooth dark chocolate. They have just a hint of caramel flavor. They’re real cookie monsters.


Levain’s are six-ounce mounds of cakey, chocolate-studded, slightly undercooked heaven, with savory toasted walnuts mixed in. If City Bakery’s are cookie monsters, Levain’s are cookie monsters on potent steroids.


And Momofuku’s cornflake-marshmallow-chocolate chip cookie is sticky, chewy and crunchy; sweet and chocolaty; the bottom side rimmed in caramelized beauty.


I’ve always found it difficult to decide which I love most. So I put the test to a few willing guinea pigs. Guess what?

One went for City Bakery.

One for Levain.

And one for Momofuku.

What's your favorite chocolate chip cookie in the city?

Valentine’s at Roni-Sue

Valentine’s Day is supposed to make you feel good, right? All the love and friendship… all the big hearts and dark chocolate…

Well, you can really, really feel good getting treats from Roni-Sue. Every Valentine’s Day, she creates her edible rose truffles: one, a hand rolled and dipped dark chocolate ganache truffle, topped with a fresh-dried rose petal, and the other, a rose-shaped bonbon, filled with white chocolate-rose ganache. Buy a box of 12, and a portion of the sale goes to the Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

New York’s best sweets by neighborhood

When you analyze the sweet life in a city like New York, you have to think holistically. There are so many ridiculously delicious spots, it’s just not a matter of picking what is the best in any given neighborhood. You have to consider the whole landscape: the balance of cookies to chocolates to cupcakes. You might have four favorite cupcake cafes, but that doesn’t mean they’re better than your favorite chocolatier. Balance, my friends, balance.

It’s with this very serious and incredibly scientific approach that I have developed the following list—New York’s best sweets by neighborhood.

East Village
My love for Momofuku cookies is no secret. But given the number of cookies on my list, the best sweet in the East Village goes to Bespoke Chocolates’ insanely fresh, rich and inventive chocolate bonbons.

West Village
I’m getting a lot of important croissant-sampling experience over here in Paris. It only reaffirms my belief in Patisserie Claude having the best croissant in the city.

Lower East Side
I’m going with the Ooey Gooey cupcake from Sugar Sweet Sunshine over Doughnut Plant. Doughnuts don’t have frosting.

Soho
Kee’s. Though whether for the heady homemade chocolates or the wonderfully flavorful macaroons, I’m not sure.

Flatiron
Peanut butter cookie at City Bakery. It’s that easy.

Chelsea
When I met Sandra Palmer and Kiyomi Toda-BurkeI from Three Tarts, I became a convert. This was reinforced with every subsequent visit for a mini parfait or bite-sized bread pudding.

Midtown
I’m really not a phyllo dough girl. I generally like my sweets made with lots of flour, sugar and dairy and topped with more sugar and/or chocolate (how do I not have diabetes??). But Poseidon Bakery’s baklava is so heavy and sweet with honey and nuts, it’s a must-have.

Upper East Side
I’m going with the mille crepes cake at Lady M, based on texture alone. Otherworldly.

Upper West Side
Eight ounces of cookie heaven: the walnut chocolate chip cookie from Levain.

Top 10 baked goods in Manhattan

I was asked a couple times recently about my to very favorite baked goods in New York. Obviously this is no easy task: it depends on the neighborhood, the time of day, the season, my mood, and if I’m wearing an elastic waistband. But, then again, let’s be honest: there’s always room for baked goods.

Here’s my top 10 countdown*:

10. Blackout cake doughnut at Doughnut Plant.
9. Baklava at Poseidon Bakery.
8. Almond croissant at Café Margot.
7. Ooey gooey cupcake at Sugar Sweet Sunshine.
6. Chocolate bread pudding from the Dessert Truck.
5. Peanut butter cookie at City Bakery.
4. Walnut chocolate chip cookie at Levain.
3. Banana cupcake with cream cheese frosting at Butter Lane.
2. Pain au chocolat at Patisserie Claude.
And, if I could eat just one beautiful, chewy, chocolatey, earth-moving thing every day for the rest of my life…
1. Cornflake marshmallow chocolate chip cookie at Momofuku Milk Bar.

* As difficult as this list was to create, it was made easier by not including chocolate or gelato. Or frozen custard. And sadly, it was a wee bit easier because Batch and Amai are no longer around (though I expect I’ll have to revamp after Pichet’s return later this year!).

More, more, more!

There can never be enough chocolate in the world. Nor too many cupcakes.

Chocolate Bar is now open (again) in the West Village.

Billy’s Bakery is sending its banana cake goodness downtown to Tribeca.

And stay tuned for even more truffles with Roni-Sue’s expansion in the Essex Street Market next month.

Muffins from the baking company

Of course the real draw of Clinton Street Baking Company is the pancakes. But then again, the word "baking" is in the name; there are some damn good bakers at this restaurant.

Shrugging off the Kitchen Confidential quote that muffins are for people without the nads to order cake for breakfast, I got the banana chocolate chunk muffin (the blueberry crumble looked heavenly—it reminded me of Momofuku's blueberry cream cookie—but I've been on a banana kick lately).

The name fulfills on its promise: these are not chips, but chunks of rich chocolate. There are also big hunks of banana. It's uber moist, banana-y and chocolaty, and the top is caked with crumbly bits of butter and sugar, plus other big chunks of chocolate.

I better be careful or I'm going to get my very own set of muffin tops.

4 Clinton Street south of Houston
646.602.6263

V-Day countdown: Roni-Sue

Rhonda Kave has been dreaming up wonderful homemade truffle flavors on the Lower East Side for a couple years now, and she has a seemingly infinite supply of creativity. And good taste.

Last year for Valentine's, she created red and white rose truffles. At their centers, they both have a beautifully blended ganache of rose liqueur, fresh-dried rose petals, rose-hip marmalade, rose petal jam and rose syrup. The ganache for the red rose truffles is made with dark chocolate, while the white rose uses, you guessed it, white chocolate. Buy a dozen of either (they're both wonderfully sweet), and $5 goes to the Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Essex Street Market, Essex Street at Delancey
212.260.0421

5 gifts you can stuff my stocking with

Not literally. Well, only if you want. But here are brilliant stocking stuffers for any sweet freak on your list. Yes, you can shop online!

Peruvian dark chocolate bar with wild cherries from Soma:
This is from my new love, the Toronto "chocolate bar, boutique & laboratory." Their truffles are divine, but delicate—the dark chocolate bar with cherries is safer for the stocking.

Papabubble suckers:
The bright and cheery lollies and hard candies sure are festive. And the packaging is so cool.

Bittersweet tiles from Poco Dolce:
My friend Connie turned me onto these amazing little squares of bittersweet chocolate topped with grey sea salt. An assorted box contains burnt caramel, almond, ginger and Aztec chile flavors. Amazing.

Joseph Schmidt truffles:
Mr. Z sent me a box of these from San Francisco last year, and I still dream about them. Each truffle, in flavors like double latte and peanut butter, takes about six bites to conquer. These bad boys are a true guilty pleasure.

Dried pineapple from Manhattan Fruit Exchange:
Just because I'm a freak and can't get enough of this stuff.

5 best vegan treats

I could never be a vegan. I love cheese too much. And then there are baked goods, which I obviously all but live on.

But that doesn't mean you can't find some killer vegan treats around town. Done right, you never know what you're missing.

Hot fudge sundae at Lulu's Sweet Apothecary:
Splurge on a dairy-free sundae and—why not?—throw on some gluten-free marshmallow and gummies.

Warm miso chocolate cake at Kyotofu:
The stellar dessert bar's chocolate cake is, simply put, to die for.

Cupcake from This Chick Bakes:
Jennifer Houston rocks all of her baked goods, but I liked the vegan cupcake even better than the egg- and butter-loaded cookies.

Brownie from BabyCakes:
Not only are these little fudgy bites adorable, but they're a perfect fix when you need a spot of chocolate. Or cake. Or just when you want a brownie. A gluten-, soy- and dairy-free brownie.

Hot soy steamer at Soy Luck Club:
I love the savories at this Willage café and could drink the day away there. A white chocolate hot soy steamer? Yes, please.

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!

Sugar sweet omigoodness sunshine

I've heard so much about Sugar Sweet Sunshine. Everybody loves Sugar Sweet Sunshine. How is it that I only just went for the first time?

The cupcakes are sublime. Moist cake. Not-too-sweet frosting. Delicious flavors. The frosting-to-cake ratio errs just slightly on the ridiculous side. And at a $1.50 a pop, they're one of the city's best bargains.


Alex got the Pumpkin Spice. True to form, I got the “Ooey Gooey,” chocolate cake with chocolate almond buttercream frosting. Uh-mazing.

Alex loves their cupcakes.



Pigeons love their cupcakes. (What don’t they like, though.)



Labs, too. This one’s name was “Chowder.”



Now I understand why everyone loves Sugar Sweet's cupcakes.

126 Rivington at Essex
212.995.1960