502 Sixth Avenue (Between 12th and 13th Streets)
NY, NY 10011
212-691-1363
www.barsixny.com
It’s apple season! And what better way to celebrate than with an apple pie! While dining at Bar Six, I finished my meal off with their “Special Dessert” for the evening: Apple Cobbler with vanilla ice cream. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “What’s so special about an apple cobbler?” Well, first of all, you can never go wrong with an apple cobbler and ice cream. Second, this isn’t your normal idea of the dessert. It was literally a mini apple pie. Yes, with the traditional pie crust top and everything! The only difference from a pie though was that there was no bottom crust, therefore putting it in the cobbler category. WOW. Seriously, the top was light and flaky and the apples were fresh and perfectly cooked. It was served in a mini pie pan right out of the oven. The ice cream had slightly melted on top, making it the perfect creaminess. And by the way, they know the the right amount of ice cream to use as well. I hate when there isn’t enough to finish off the dessert. I never ran out with this one! If you want a fabulous and traditional fall dessert, go check out Bar Six! xoxoBrownie
248 Broome St
New York, NY 10002
(212) 677-5047
www.babycakesnyc.com
On an extremely rainy day (and NYC has had a lot of them lately), I had the pleasure of stopping in this adorable little bakery on Broome Street. With the cute decor and fun music playing, I immediately forgot about the rain. Now, I have to say I wasn’t excited about trying some vegan and gluten-free sweets, since I’ve not had many, if any, gluten-free foods. I didn’t have my hopes high for amazing taste. Wow, was I impressed! Between my friend and I, we tried their gluten-free chocolate chip cookie icing sandwich, their gluten-free bite-sized brownie, their gluten-free chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing, and their “spelt” carrot cupcake with vanilla icing. Spelt, I learned, is a relative of wheat and folks with a wheat allergy may be able to handle it in their tummies. BabyCakes also never uses white sugar in their recipes. First, I must say, the icing was incredible! I mean it was so light and sweet, I couldn’t believe it was gluten-free! My favorite treat was the cookie sandwich. The cookies were soft and crisp at the same time, and the icing amount was generous inside. The brownie was moist, chewy, and delicious. The chocolate cupcake was “OK” in my book. I’m a definite fan of the icing, but the cake was a bit harsh in sharp cocoa taste for me (some may like that). Being such a cupcake fan, it was a hard transition from traditional chocolate cupcakes, but my overall opinion was that it was pretty darn good for gluten-free. The carrot cupcake was fantastic! It was moist and you could taste the spices. The employees were dressed in cute pink dresses and were very friendly. It was definitely an enjoyable stop. For a dessert fanatic, I must say that I would definitely go there again for more. That says a lot since I could go anywhere in NYC for the same things but with regular ingredients. I’m so glad to know that there is a place in NYC that makes such yummy sweets for gluten-free and vegan peeps! Yay, it makes me happy to know that everyone can enjoy desserts without repercussions. On last note, this place was packed with people stopping in for a quick treat, even with the crazy rain! BabyCakes is doing something right! xoxoBrownie
The Cocoa Bar
21 Clinton Street
New York, NY 100002
212.677.7417
www.cocoabarnyc.com
One of my favorite things to do in NYC is walk around the lower east side. I feel like there are always new restaurants, shops, and places to explore. My newest find was the Cocoa Bar on Clinton Street. The adorable bar serves chocolates, coffee, and wine…what else do you need in life? My husband and I strolled in and ordered an Elvis Moo Chocolate and a Butternut Toffee along with a chocolate and a banana nut latte!! My latte, the banana nut, had the bold coffee flavor with a great nutty bite and a touch of sweetness from the banana. It all blended so well in the mug and was a perfect concoction. The Chocolate is a blend of milk and dark chocolate melted into steamed milk. This was the real deal, no chocolate syrup here! They use real chocolate chip shavings!! It’s a beautiful thing!
The Elvis Moo is a “HUNKA HUNKA BURNING LOVE” in your mouth! The thick Belgian dark chocolate coating cracks right away when you bite into it. You actually hear the cracking sound, yet the candy stays together. Inside is natural banana, marshmallow fluff, and chunky peanut butter all layered on top of each other. The Belgian chocolate was SO GOOD! It wasn’t bitter like some dark chocolate, just sweet and smooth. The marshmallow layer was so fluffy and paired with the banana was a creative treat!
Toffee isn’t one of my favorite things, but my husband wanted to try it so I did not protest. Well, it is one of my favorite things now because Cocoa Bar does it right! It’s about 3/4″ thick and coated in almonds with a milk chocolate layer. Inside is the most buttery toffee center that lingers in your mouth after each bite. Having a sip of my latte after this toffee sweetened each sip even more. It was a perfect pairing. I LOVED the almond coating and the milk chocolate layer surrounding the buttery toffee. It wasn’t hard at all, just the right texture!
The Cocoa Bar is a great spot. They have tables or a bar where you can sit and enjoy your treats and a coffee or glass of wine. It is a must stop if you are in the LES! xoxo Blondie
Butter Lane
123 East 7th Street
New York, NY 10009
(212) 677-2880
www.butterlane.com
Cupcakes from Butter Lane (From left to right) Vanilla w/french vanilla buttercream, banana w/cream cheese buttercream, and chocolate with french chocolate buttercream
Butter Lane…the better cupcake was suggested to me by a friend of mine. She said that I MUST try her favorite cupcake, the banana cupcake with cream cheese frosting. Since I was in the area for dinner, I headed down to 7th Street to try Butter Lane. Called the “better cupcake” because of using pure, organic ingredients, Butter Lane thinks itself as “Cupcakes for grownups.” The little shop is adorable and I enjoyed seeing my cupcakes being frosted as ordered! Another sensational surprise was the frosting tasting at the counter. Coffee stirrers are set out by the tray of “frostings of the day” so you are able to taste test what flavor you may enjoy most. What a thoughtful idea for those frosting lovers, like myself, who choose a cupcake based on the frosting! The cream cheese flavor was my favorite so I did not hesitate to order what had been recommended to me. The banana cake had an intense flavor and was very moist. It was light, not dense, and reminded me of the breakfast bread. The cream cheese buttercream enhanced the banana flavor in the cake and was the perfect compliment. It was thick, sugary, and had just the right amount of cream cheese. I also tried the french chocolate buttercream and classic American chocolate cupcake, but it did not hold a candle to the classic banana. I strongly suggest stopping by Butter Lane for the banana cupcake and while you are there sample the other frostings of the day!!!
The frosting tasting
Candy Bar Pie
Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar
207 2nd Ave. (at 13th Street)
www.momofuku.com
If you are a desserts lover, you MUST head downtown to Momofuku. They are creating treats here that blew my mind. Momofuku bakery brings your inner child out and turns it into the most delicious thing to put in your mouth. They are NOT kidding around here! I could eat here everyday and always enjoy myself. To make things better, the extremely helpful staff bent over backwords with generosity to make me a happy customer when my cake was served frozen. I had to change my order, but she gave me a slice to go so I could enjoy it once it thawed out a little. So, here is what I did try…
The Candy Bar Pie
The candy bar pie had a chocolate espresso cookie crust that was then covered in a layer of caramel. Added to that was a layer of homemade nougat, a layer of PB or toffee (it was hard to tell), and covered in chocolate with pretzels in it. This pie was very rich and because of that, the perfect size. I loved the caramel layer, it was thick, smooth and creamy.
Cornflake cookie, Compost cookie, and the PB cookie
The COOKIES!
The Compost Cookie consists of chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, potato chips, coffee grounds, and pretzels. I may even be missing an ingredient. Basically, they put a whole lot of stuff into dough and baked it. The end result…AMAZING! What works with this cookie is the texture. There is so much butter that the bottom and edges are a little greasy, but taste incredible. The butter makes you come back for more. I really enjoyed taking each bite, trying to taste all the ingredients.
The Cornflake Marshmallow cookie consists of cornflakes, chocolate chips, and marshmallow. The cornflakes really stood out with this cookie and added a sweet, sugary crunch. The marshmallow was my favorite part because it reminded me of a rice crispy treat. I enjoyed breaking pieces off this cookie to see the marshmallow pull apart!! It also had the overwhelming butter bottom and edges. This was my favorite cookie!
The Chocolate Peanut Butter was very thick and tasted like cookie dough. Extremely peanut buttery with bits of actual peanuts, this cookie was really hard to stop eating. I liked the texture of this cookie because it was crispy on the outside, but really soft and chewy on the inside. WOW!
I CANNOT WAIT to go back! I still want to try the soft serve and of course the famous cereal milk. So stay tuned for more to come. But, if you want some AMAZING cookies…don’t waste a minute and go to MOMOFUKU!!
Smores Cupcake and Chocolate Chip Cookie
Dessert Club at Chickalicious
203 E. 10th Street
NY, NY 10003
www.chickalicious.com
Smores Cupcake
Across the street from Chickalicious is the to-go version, Dessert Club. On the menu are many treats: cupcakes, cookies, soft serve, cakes, and puddings to name a few. The smores cupcake sounded too good to be true and with a marshmallow top, it was love at first sight! The cupcake in size was smaller than expected but big on taste. The cake was gingerbread with a chocolate ganache filling in the center. I am glad that the chocolate was there because the cupcake could have been boring without it. The cake itself was extremely moist and tasted like your mom’s homemade kind. The frosting was all mallow, roasted, maybe by a mini blowtorch. I really liked the “all mallow” topping because it brought out the smores campfire idea.
Dessert Club also serves up some amazing chocolate chip cookies. With a 3″ diameter, these chocolate chips were crunchy on the outside and completely chewy on the inside. It is a thin cookie with chocolate abounding…not chips but chunks. Thin slate chunks, if you can imagine. This cookie is perfect for dunking in milk and you get three for just $1.95!!!
After conversing with the owner, Don, I am determined to get back to Dessert Club to try the vanilla soft serve. I have learned that the soft serve is cheaper than most soft serves in the city and twice the size. It is served with real vanilla beans as a topping. Because of these luxuries there are no samples allowed. Clearly this soft serve is no Tasti-D! I will be back Dessert Club!
photos by Todd Kloots
Sugar Sweet Sunshine
126 Rivington Street
NY, NY 10002
(212) 995-1960
Tucked away in the lower east side of Manhattan is this little bakery with mighty treats. My fiancé and I had a hard time deciding what to order so we tried a few things. I ordered the traditional vanilla cupcake with butter cream icing. He had a chocolate/chocolate cupcake and we both split the banana pudding. The cupcakes were delicious. The cake was extremely moist and fluffy paired with a generous amount of sugary frosting. The chocolate cupcake was just as good and very rich. My favorite sweet here would be the banana pudding. Banana pudding consists of, you guessed it, banana flavored pudding, mashed vanilla wafers, and sliced bananas. It truly is heaven in a cup! We both were very happy that we decided to share this extra treat. The pudding is very creamy, sweet, and full of chunks from the wafers and bananas. You definitely need to try the banana pudding when you visit this adorable bakery.
