Second helpings

There's nothing like prolonging dessert. Here are Brownie's 5 Favorite NYC Sweets:


1) Chocolate Fondue from The Chocolate Room in Park Slope — I love the Chocolate Room. It's my go-to romantic dessert place. Everything on their menu is chock-full o' chocolate-y goodness and their chocolate fondue is absolutely terrific. You get a plate of fresh fruit usually strawberries, pineapple and bananas, little pieces of light and buttery pound cake, a couple homemade marshmallows and a nice sized pot of fondue made from 60% Belgian chocolate. At $14, it's the priciest thing on the menu, but it's ample to share with a date.



2) Liege Wafel with Belgian Chocolate Sauce and Whipped Cream from Wafels and Dinges — I've always loved waffles but Wafels and Dinges introduced me to what a real Belgian waffle could be. Slightly dense and chewy with little bursts of crystallized sugar in every bite their Liege Wafels are a must for me. And what goes better on a Liege Wafel than a generous helping of dark Belgian chocolate fudge and whipped cream?

3) Plain Fro-yo from Forty Carrots at Bloomingdales — I like my fro-yo to be tart and fresh, not overly sweet or processed tasting. I've tried all the heavy hitters and not so heavy hitters in the fro-yo leagues and plain Frogurt reins supreme. Once confined only to Bloomies and Café Lalo on the Upper West Side, Frogurt is beginning to pop up in more places throughout the city. But if you have a Frogurt problem like, um…me, you might want to join the Forty Carrots Yogurt Club. After 7 fro-yos, you get a free one with one topping.

4) Lemon Lemon Lemon Cupcake from Batch — I love all sorts of cupcakes from the low end fresh from the box Funfetti to the higher end confections you get now get at some of New York's most chichi restaurants. Pichet Ong's new bakery, Batch, makes a Lemon Lemon Lemon cupcake that's I've recently become very fond of. The cupcake itself is moist and almost as light as an angel food cake. The frosting was sweet and the lemon filling was nice and tangy. The Lemon Lemon Lemon Cupcake is a bit smaller and pricier than its neighbors at Magnolia, but in terms of quality it's worlds apart and well worth it.

5) Red Velvet Custard from Shake Shack — I've been a big fan of the Shack for a long time. I used to tend to get their concretes (shakes with lots of delicious mix-ins), but lately their special custards have been too good to pass up. Last month they made a Red Velvet Custard that was to die for. Oh man, the custard was a tangy vanilla base reminiscent of traditional Red Velvet cream cheese frosting and it didn't just have little Red Velvet crumbles, oh no, there were serious chunks of Red Velvet cake. I don't know when it will return to the custard rotation, but I'm hoping it will be soon.