Sweet Freak©

A little piece of Paris

2012-01-30T22:10:00.016-05:00

Macarons, macarons…

Does the beautiful, speckled passion fruit specimen look familiar?

It should. Bosie Tea Parlor’s pastry chef, Damien Herrgott, worked at Pierre Hermé for four years. And you can sample his masterful baking skills in our fair city.

While Herrgott has been in New York for seven years, Bosie’s only been open for about eight months. A peek inside their pastry display, and you’d swear you were back in Paris.

Éclairs and the mighty Ispahan…

Darjeeling tartes and citron tartes…

Pear walnut tartes and, voila, the Paris Brest.

I finally got a taste of Bosie when I had lunch and sweets with one of my favorite pastry chefs, Pichet Ong.

Pichet let me pick, so of course I got two of the richest desserts available.

The eclipse: a heavenly mix of chocolate sabayon, chocolate ganache and salted white chocolate atop a dark chocolate cookie with fleur de sel.

And the Paris Brest: choux pastry piped full of thick, rich hazelnut cream.

Some days are just more heavenly than others.

Super tarte tatin

2012-01-26T23:52:00.007-05:00

Because I really do love Buvette so, so much, I thought it worth double-blogging about it. Especially the tarte tatin.

It's a feat, really. So dense, a titch gooey, and yet seemingly healthy.

Balanced between sweet and savory just so.

Created on the lighted bed of pastry dough. And topped with a dollop of fresh crème anglaise.

I mean, really, what's not to love??

Breakfast club at Locande Verde

2012-01-21T15:19:00.014-05:00

I love breakfasting with Ben. We eat so well together.

After our stellar pastry basket at Morandi, there was no way we weren't getting the "pastry mista" at Locande Verde.

From display of such delights as orange chocolate chip scones, cranberry spice bread, apple cider doughnuts and more, we made our selection of three.

Olive oil cake. Still warm. Moist with a beautiful nutty-sweet crust.

A polenta blueberry muffin. Savory and light with bright berries.

And the rich and lovely chocolate cinnamon roll. Every bit as delicious as it looks.

All gone too quickly.

Who does this kid think he is?

2012-01-14T11:02:00.005-05:00

Just 24-years-old and Shaineal Shah is running his own chocolate boutique, Xocolatti.

He handcrafts his truffles up north—in Westchester County, where he’s from.

But he’s playing with the big wigs (he had the audacity to open not even two blocks away from Kee’s—which just so happen to be his mom’s favorite chocolates).

From elegant and classic…

… to playful and punchy…

...the truffle flavors are seductive and the designs, gorgeous.

So is the boutique. Working out of a closet-sized space, Shah cleverly designed the walls to incorporate les ballotins (the boxes).

I’ve been lamenting how thin the chocolate scene in New York is. Hopefully Shah will become a choco-superstar and others aren’t far behind…

Lovely little cakes

2011-12-23T09:02:00.009-05:00

Bien sur, the chocolates in Brussels were divine. But so were the cakes—at least the ones I had from Saint-Aulaye.

The very charming owner of this French patisserie in Ixelles, Jean-Louis Barré, was proud of his offerings. Not only the chocolates created in-house by Belgian Chocolate Master Ryan Stevenson, but the traditional tarts and gateaux as well.

With good reason.

He boasted that the bakery uses more butter in their croissants than any other bakery in Brussels. As I was there in the afternoon, I didn’t sample any veinnoiserie. But I took home (and shamelessly annihilated) a few cakes, including…

The Mikado: Chocolate mousse with roasted pecan nuts, on a thick chocolate brownie layer with Guérande rock salt.

And The Vegas: Dark chocolate mousse with caramel cream and roasted hazelnut biscuit.

I think the case for visiting Brussels is pretty clear, n'est-ce pas??

Cupcakes in San Francisco

2011-12-21T08:22:00.012-05:00

Sure enough, cupcakeries have also taken over San Francisco.

SusieCakes was the most like Magnolia and Billy’s.

Uber sweet frosting, slathered on generously and dusted with sprinkles or other sugary bits.

American Cupcake had its own things going on, with a poppy sensibility, perfectly formed frosting toppers and fun flavors.

And then there’s darling Miette.

Cute and perfect.

When I'm back in the spring, I'm hitting up Cako Bakery and Kara's Cupcakes.

Christopher Elbow

2011-12-12T22:44:00.009-05:00

Unless you’re from Kansas City or a devout chocoholic, chances are you don’t know Christopher Elbow’s chocolates. Pity.

The young Midwesterner transitioned from pastry chef to full-time chocolatier when demand for his exquisite bonbons ballooned and he opened a flagship boutique in KC in 2007. A year later, he debuted in my old ‘hood, Hayes Valley, and I was all too happy to give him a try (after my scoop of Smitten ice cream, naturally).

Elbow is known for his well-balanced flavors, none of which are too standard. Whiskey walnut, brown butter and molasses, cinnamon and black tea... Even with the ridiculous amount of bonbons I’ve consumed these past few months, I haven’t seen such great flavors.

(So pretty, too.)

But ever a creature of habit, I chose a favorite standby: a creamy peanut butter patty.

Sure enough, it was creamy. Chocolaty. And deliciously dotted with sea salt.

Santa, don’t be afraid to stuff my stocking with more of these otherworldly samples…

Smitten with Smitten ice cream

2011-12-09T01:27:00.008-05:00

On a beautiful day in San Francisco, filled with California sunshine, what else should one indulge in besides ice cream? Delicious, homemade, artisanal ice cream.

After hitting the streets with a Radio Flyer wagon, Smitten’s conceptrice, Robyn Sue Goldman, opened her ice cream haven in the hipper and hipper Hayes Valley (maybe I never would have left San Francisco if Smitten, Miette and Christopher Elbow were all in the ‘hood when I lived there…). A little red wagon is cute, but this outpost is plenty fun, too.

First, you order your flavor. Vanilla and chocolate (made with local, delicious Tcho chocolate) are always on the menu. Two other flavors—this week, quince and horchata—rotate. Naturally, I chose chocolate.

They start with all-natural ice cream base and add the flavor’s ingredients. No emulsifiers or unnecessary additives.

Pour them in the one-of-a-kind machines named “Kelvin” and—boom—the liquid nitrogen comes in…

… and the ice cream is created there, in about a minute, right in front of you.

Fun and gimmicky? Maybe.

But it doesn’t matter because the ice cream is brilliant.

The ice crystals are smaller with the liquid nitrogen so the ice cream’s texture is 10 times smoother.

Creamy, velvety.

I could have eaten a large bowl, but did myself a favor and ordered a kiddie size—because I knew Christopher Elbow is right around the corner…

Around the world in San Francisco

2011-12-07T12:06:00.012-05:00

Cocoa Bella is a wonderful chocolatier. In case you don’t have the time or funds to travel the world for your chocolates, you can get them all in Cow Hollow.

From Italy and Switzerland…

…to my beloved French Michel Cluizel and Belgian Mary.

Stateside, Cocoa Bella pulls some of the best artisanal chocolatiers you’ve never heard of.

Like Christopher Elbow from Kansas City, Missouri and Norman Love from Florida.

My trip around the world began, logically enough, back in Brussels. Cocoa Bella is the only U.S. carrier of Mary’s chocolates and the vanilla cream cookie bonbon was fantastique.

Michael Recchuiti’s sesame bonbon was lovely with an unexpected lightness, while Lillie Belle Farm’s blue cheese truffle, which I’ve wanted to try for years, just isn’t for me (but if you love blue cheese, the marriage with chocolate is as smooth as you could hope for).

Now that my 12 bonbons have been demolished (oops)...

...I might have to go back to score more chocolate loot.

Mission Beach Cafe

2011-12-04T14:19:00.002-05:00

It's on, people.

Lavender infused french toast with blueberries, marscpaone and bourbon syrup from Mission Beach Cafe.

Cupcakes from Brussels

2011-11-23T05:44:00.009-05:00

Maybe the world needs to take its cupcake cues from Brussels?

Have you ever seen such beautiful confections?

Or witnessed such creative concoctions?

Lilicup's Stracciatella: vanilla cake with vanilla icing, hiding a chocolate ganache center, as teased by the shards of chocolate shavings…

Lovely carrot cake, and simple vanilla.

Naturally, I got Le Parrain. It had me at “Nutella.”

But the creamy vanilla frosting and chocolaty rice krispie topping sealed the deal.

I can tell you very few cupcakes from New York or Paris stack up…

The chocolate was awesome, but I dream about these cupcakes.

A sampling from Dominique Ansel

2011-11-19T12:56:00.012-05:00

I held out three long weeks before sampling the newest kouign amann in the city.

Friday morning was Breakfast Club with Bennie. We had heard about the perfectly petite egg sandwiches at Soho newcomer Dominique Ansel, which was enough to get us to eschew Peels or Morandi.

And while I wouldn’t turn my nose up at this billowy sandwich smothered in melted Gruyère...

...it clearly took a back seat to the sweets.

Ansel is a former pastry chef at Daniel and Fauchon. Though extremely pricey, his viennoiseries are to die for.

Dominique's Kouign Amanns (DKAs), for example, are the most buttery baked bits you will ever put in your mouth, made chewy and sweet from caramelized sugar.

And the almond croissants are heavy hitters, laden with marzipan and dusted with slabs of sugary crumble and almond slivers.

A brilliant way to begin the day. And clearly...

... the place where I’ll go to pretend I’m in Paris once in awhile.

Breakfast club at Morandi

2011-10-15T10:36:00.000-04:00

It had been awhile since Bennie and I Breakfast Clubbed. We hopped back in action, with full appetite and a real winner in Morandi.

I hadn’t eaten there in years. And I’d never been for breakfast. But I think I could have eaten everything on the menu (except a breakfast pizza with pancetta).

Bennie is such a good partner in crime. Whenever there is a bread basket, we split it.

Morandi’s was beyond. First, you get a nice little display of the goodies when you enter the restaurant.

And the basket is the perfect size for two.

Sugary-sweet bombolini and bitter chocolate brioche…

A delightful sour cherry muffin…

… a tender cinnamon raisin pastry, and sweet but savory pistachio bread…

…and what was perhaps my favorite: the moist and eggy ricotta fritter.

Only the Italian croissant escaped our appetites.

Apparently six (half) pastries was our limit.

More Franglais baked goods surface in Paris

2011-10-12T04:59:00.001-04:00

Rose, Merce, Merci… there’s a new kid in town. Another cute, clean, contemporary café that serves upscale, Anglocentric bits and bobs.

Meet Claus. He quietly opened on rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau back in August.

Behold, poundcakes and carrot cake!

Scones, madeleines and muffins—er, financiers!

And cookies looking oh-so-American (and delicious).

Breads and viennoiserie come from Eric Kayser.

But the sit-down menu, including everything from scrambled eggs and muesli to tomato mozzarella salad and club sandwiches, is deliciously housemade.

Doughboy is one week old!

2011-10-09T08:23:00.011-04:00

I’ve long been a fan of Alison Nelson’s. But my respect went up a notch when she added to her chocolate franchise a West Village bakery. And named it Doughboy.

Open since last Sunday it’s a bright and cheerful spot on Hudson with a welcome selection of the homeiest treats.

Cookies, muffins and brownies…

…cupcakes galore…

…and breads and cakes…

Torn between a pumpkin cupcake (’tis the season!) and the last slice of the peanut butter poundcake, the lovelies behind the counter didn’t deliberate for even a second. The poundcake, they directed.

I imagined the moistness of poundcake and the moistness of peanut butter would mean a doubly rich and savory cake.

But in reality, it was ethereally light. Almost angel foodcake light. With mere hints of peanut butter.

Good. But I think I’ll be going back for the pumpkin cupcake.

My all-time favorite pralinés

2011-10-03T22:01:00.012-04:00

On my recent chocolate tour of Brussels, one divine chocolatier almost escaped me: Laurent Gerbaud.

Thank goodness a lovely woman—a stylish spirit and fellow chocoholic—I met while shopping in one of Ixelle’s boutiques tipped me off to her favorite chocolatier in the city, sending me tout de suite to see what she was clamoring about.

Laurent Gerbaud has been practicing chocolate-making since 2001 but it was only two years ago that he opened his Ravenstein boutique. Like his sensibilities, it’s quiet, clean and modern, but warm and friendly. There’s an austerity to the shop as well as his chocolates, which he makes right there.

Laurent’s strength is taking the best ingredients in the world and letting them sing. “In terms of technique, there’s no secret,” he claims. I don’t necessarily agree. I’ve eaten plenty of poor chocolates, owing to technique. But I can’t argue with his belief that quality ingredients trumps almost everything. “Sometimes I find a good product, but it’s not good enough,” Laurent says.

Indeed. Figs from Izmir, ginger from Guilin, prunes from Corsica…

Cape pears, Persian crandberries, Japanese yuzu…

All simply, elegantly displayed. Admittedly, it can seem a bit boring after the bright lights and hot pink down on the Grand Sablon. But all you have to do is sample one of his chocolates and you fall deep in love.

I became obsessed with his Gare aux Noisettes, the house praliné.

Rich, savory, nutty and gritty, these little bonbons are a blend of roasted, caramelized Piedmont hazelnuts (again, the best in the world), roasted, salted cashews and just a bit of organic sugar, enrobed in a dark (or milk) chocolate shell.

Unlike other pralines where the nuts are ground very finely and consistently, there are larger bits of nuts in Laurent’s, creating a surprising, rich and deep experience. It’s like tasting real peanut butter after a lifetime of eating Jif.

It's like heaven.

The world-renowned Ispahan croissant

2011-10-01T15:26:00.006-04:00

Because I’d heard so much about Pierre Hermé’s celebrated Ispahan flavor but had only ever sampled it in a macaron form, never the croissant or cake, I had to cross at least one off the list when I was in Paris.

The croissant it was! And a seriously delicious croissant at that. Crisp on the outside, soft and doughy on the inside.

A fine, sweet glacage and bits of candied berries.

(Just look at those lovely layers.)

Inside, rose-flavored almond paste and raspberry-litchi gelée.

It was all over much too quickly.

Dessert tasting with Johnny Iuzzini

2011-09-21T23:25:00.011-04:00

It’s not every day you’re invited to a dessert tasting. Much less a gum tasting. So when the folks from Extra gum invited me to test-sample three new flavors—root beer float, lemon square and bananas foster—I opened wide.

For it wasn’t just chewing some gum that was on the menu. Johnny Iuzzini was too.

And before sticking a new flavor of gum in our mouths, we sampled the actual desserts that inspired them.

The idea is to pick a favorite of the three, and the winning flavor goes to market. You can weigh in by going to their Facebook page.

Their whole line of Dessert Delights launched last year. Already on the menu are strawberry shortcake, mint chocolate chip, apple pie, orange crème popand key lime pie. And, yes, we got to sample those inspiring desserts, too.

So. Eight desserts in one afternoon.

My personal favorites? Well, I wouldn’t want to sway the voting. But anything with bananas gets my vote.

Algerian pastries: the unsung heroes of Paris

2011-09-16T16:23:00.013-04:00

With all the beautiful gateaux, sweet macarons and dreamy viennoiserie here in Paris, it’s easy to get lost in the neighborhood patisseries, never imagining that some other delicacies could seduce you. But last year, right before I moved back to New York, my friend Ana gave me a box of pastries from La Bague de Kenza. I had photographed their amazing heaps of petite pastries before, but never had I indulged.

Mon dieu.

If you like nuts, honey, dates, figs, marzipan, orange blossom, rosewater, phyllo dough or any combination thereof, you must visit this small chain of patisseries Algériennes.

There are so many beautifully crafted pastries. Half the fun is looking at the teetering towers of sweets and deciding which lucky ones get to come home with you.

With the four I chose, I tried for as much variety as possible, both with their ingredients and how they looked.

I got a piece of classic baklava, bien sur.

Another rainbow bar layered with marzipan and infused with orange blossom.

One sweet green pocket filled with finely ground pistachios…

… and another humble bar with almonds.

It was a lovely array of flavors, my small feast. But next time I come to Paris, I’m going to be sure to find a chaise longue where I can sprawl like a goddess and pluck many more Algerian pastries from their perfectly packed boite.

Afternoon tartes at Gontran Cherrier

2011-09-15T02:56:00.007-04:00

When I read about the “sexy French baker” Gontran Cherrier on I Heart Paris, naturally I had to go. It’s taken me six months to have the opportunity but my eyes, and belly, were not disappointed.

The Montmartre space is clean, comfortable and modern, sitting on a corner and getting light from two sides. It’s perfect for the display of true artisanal baking.

The rustic breads…

many layered vienoisserie…

…the beautiful tartes…

and, well, bagels!

My Italian plum tarte was indeed tart.

But sweet too.

Simply. Delicious.

A fine day for Mary

2011-09-10T05:47:00.009-04:00

Even though it was Jean Neuhaus who invented the praliné 99 years ago and, therefore, stands to define Belgian chocolate, the first stop on a Brussels chocolate tour should be Mary.

The 92-year-old chocolatier has its own history and pedigree, supplying bonbons to the royal family for decades. Their rue Royale boutique, the one Sarah, Jo and I visited last year, is undergoing renovations. So I visited their new boutique in the Galerie de la Reine for this year’s fix.

Les vendeuses at Mary are lovely. “If you need anything, just ask. We are here to inform you,” is how the one girl responded to my appreciation, after having asked her about 100 questions about the chocolates.

But from the caramels and marzipan fillings to the chocolate mousse, ganache and creams, plus the truffles and pralines, I needed some guidance in choosing my bonbons.

In the end, I decided to try something a little different: a raspberry teacake.

It’s a fresh cream filling flavored with raspberry (other varieties include mocha, vanilla or chocolate mousse), topped with a walnut, and then coated in sugar icing.

Sweet is an understatement.

Sweet and pretty cakes

2011-09-08T17:08:00.012-04:00

Remember this lovely patisserie from last year?

I couldn't ever forget Debailleul. I had to go back, though it was strictly a "just looking" visit...

Some girls sigh and blush over lacy lingerie and snakeskin handbags.

Moi? I just can't get enough of pretty little cakes.

Pierre takes on Pierre

2011-09-06T17:52:00.007-04:00

I’ve been a fan of Pierre Marcolini’s chocolates for many years.

But, clearly, I need to get my hands on some of his cakes.

Is it just me?

(Or are you also thinking of our other Pierre, Pierre Hermé?)

A little teaser...

2011-09-04T14:13:00.004-04:00

I'm going to be eating a lot of chocolate in Brussels this week.

And this chocolate cafe in the Amsterdam airport at which you just grab a hunk of chocolate as big as your appetite gave a nice little prelude to what's in my dietary future.

Ready or not...

Nope, ready; always ready.

Is there one best chocolate chip cookie in New York?

2011-08-14T18:17:00.006-04:00

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?

Summer sweets in New York City

2011-08-10T07:32:00.007-04:00

I haven’t been posting much lately. I’ve been too busy eating.

Banana bread with chocolate chips and candied ginger from Peels.

Along with bircher museli and pancakes with cherry compote.

A vegan doughnut from Cowgirl Baking.

A blueberry bar at Think Coffee. Berries + oats = super healthy, no??

Chocolate brioche bread pudding at Union Square Café. Sigh.

Giant, crumbly, banana-y s’mores bars from Baked.

The chocolate white chocolate cookie from City Bakery is next.

A wee sweet spot in Hell's Kitchen

2011-07-25T19:45:00.009-04:00

It’s true. I’ve been a little obsessed with Ben & Jerry’s this summer. I’ve never even been a huge ice cream person but for some reason, I can’t get enough. So far, I’ve sampled:

Mission to Marzipan
Clusterfluff
Karamel Sutra
Oatmeal Cookie Chunk
Peach Cobbler
Maple Blondie
And, as of this past weekend, Cinnamon Buns.

So consumed I am by Ben & Jerry’s that when I buy a pint, I eat the whole thing. I literally can’t stop. It’s bad, very bad. Because it’s so damn good.

And now there’s a new threat in my world. It’s a sweet little shop in the middle of nowhere—i.e. right around the corner from my office. It’s called je & jo.

Similar to Ben & Jerry’s, je & jo was started by two ice cream fanatics who have excellent principles and even better taste. And a love for cookie dough in their ice cream.

Everything at je & jo is made by hand in their little Hell’s Kitchen spot and then peddled around town on tricycles. They use fresh ingredients, as locally sourced as possible. They even use wind power for their kitchen and package the ice cream in compostable sugarcane fiber cups.

But at the end of the day, it’s all about the ice cream. je & jo do not disappoint.

As with Ben & Jerry’s, I am quite sure I will make my way through their roster of flavors: Coffee ice cream with spicy chocolate cookie dough… cardamom ice cream with snickerdoodle cookie dough… lemon ice cream with ginger molasses cookie dough…. Peanut butter ice cream with peanut butter cookie dough…

But I had to start somewhere. So I started with cinnamon ice cream with oatmeal raisin cookie dough.

The top was creamy and melty.

The first bites, spicy and sweet…

And then, woah, what’s this?

It’s the cookie dough. Buried like treasure.

Good to the last lick.

As this new obsession inevitably continues to run its course this summer, I'll keep you posted on the other flavors...

The heavenly pretzel croissant

2011-07-21T10:24:00.000-04:00

What is wrong with me? Ten years in this city without so much as a bite of City Bakery’s pretzel croissant? I obviously didn’t know what I was missing.

Last week, I met my agent at City Bakery for lunch. Which posed the dilemma: do we actually eat lunch, or go straight for the sweets?

Luckily my agent gets it. We had salad bar for appearance’s sake but indulged in two sweets. The peanut butter cookies, which I knew I loved. And a pretzel croissant, which opened a whole new world to me.

It’s salty and buttery and doughy and chewy. It’s crisp and delicious and I think I have a new addiction.

Peanut butter cookie sighting at City Bakery!

2011-07-19T08:48:00.003-04:00

For some reason, peanut butter cookies aren’t always on the menu at City Bakery.

But for years, they’ve been one of my favorite sweets in the city.

Even though there are all kinds of other delicious specimens…

…a rich, moist, savory peanut butter cookie can’t be beat.

And they're back.

“Bite me, vegans”

2011-07-10T20:50:00.007-04:00

I didn’t say it. It was the headline for an ad for Life Thyme Market in the West Village.

In fact, I’m all for vegan baked goods lately. Between Cowgirl Bakery, Babycakes, Tu-Lu’s and now Life Thyme, I could easily do biscuits and baked goods without eggs and butter (wellll… maybe).

It’s tempting though. Just look at these chocolate chip blondies.

And cakes and cupcakes.

And cookies: peanut butter, oatmeal, ginger lemon and Life Thyme’s signature Tollbooth cookies.

Ever a sucker for the chocolate-raspberry combo, I took home a raspberry Tollbooth cookie. I was not disappointed.

Chewy. Sweet. And full of chocolaty and berry bits.

Bite me, indeed.

One lump, or two?

2011-07-07T22:27:00.007-04:00

It’s a funny thing, this relationship between the French and Japanese. Their cultures and aesthetics are quite different, but there’s a mutual admiration. There’s an equal love for all things refined and fancy. A higher degree of precision and a shared devotion to details. Pierre Hermé and Jean-Paul Hévin launched their careers in Tokyo. Sadaharu Aoki rocks the éclair and croissant in Paris. Franco-Japanese mélanges totally work.

So it makes perfect sense that there is a Japanese company with a French name that’s soon to be found in New York: Chambre de Sucre.

They’ve taken the humble little sugar cube and turned it into a work of art.

Did you know the French invented the sugar cube? C’est vrai.

And Chambre de Sucre has created little bits of artistry…

… made to charm…

… before they magically disappear in a fine cup of tea.

Dolci, dolci at Bottega Falai

2011-07-01T09:12:00.011-04:00

I love Bottega Falai’s chic Italian design, including its wall of fresh breads.

I was in awe of its cakes, which reminded me a bit of Paris.

Especially this otherworldly crepe cake. It’s like a cloud straight from heaven, no?

But what really got me were the pastries. No, not the bombolini, though they looked pretty divine.

But the beautiful array of croissants.

Heaven.

A French patisserie in the heart of New York

2011-06-28T08:37:00.013-04:00

Have you noticed? New Yorkers are being seduced by the French (bien sur—it happens!).

Financier Patisserie is everywhere (just ask Carol). Macarons are everywhere. And the latest Franco-bakery: Olivier Dessyn’s Mille-Feuille on Laguardia Street.

I had the good fortune of meeting fellow Sweet Freak Kathy YL Chan there for an afternoon gouter. She had already sampled many of the patisserie’s French classics—crème brulée, vienoisserie, madeleines and more—so she chose the fromage blanc with raspberry jam. Feeling both piggish and greedy, I selected a sampling of two macarons—pistachio and vanilla—and a financier.

Dessyn, who worked with Pierre Hermé in Paris, definitely has the meringue to ganache ratio down on his macarons. And their size is just right. These two essential ingredients make for a more satisfying macaron than most anywhere in Manhattan.

And I like that you can buy vanilla pods…

…but I like that you can taste them in the sweets even better.

The financier, about the size of a playing card, probably had a half a stick of butter in it, judging by the wonderfully chewy-gritty texture.

Throw in a couple of bits of chocolate and call it a day.

The patisserie devotes most of its space to the open kitchen, which is cool to see, leaving a modest amount of counter space for noshing. But the space is welcoming and the sweets are the real deal.

Next time: the signature millefeuille, which comes in vanilla, pistachio or praliné, and the praliné stuffed brownie—the perfect merging of Franco-Anglo heaven if I ever saw one.

Dylan, meet Dewey

2011-06-25T16:35:00.008-04:00

Think Dylan’s is the only Technicolor candy parlor in town? Think again. Granted, Dewey’s is a slip of a shop, hiding under the Manhattan Bridge in DUMBO, but it’s chockfull of fantastic sweets.

Walls of gummies and jellies and chocolates by the ounce.

Bins of old school favorites like jawbreakers and gold coins.

Retro candy bars. (When was the last time you had a Charleston Chew??)

And trendy chocolate bars.

Brooklyn really is the new New York.

Ta-dah! Tu-Lu’s gluten-free cupcakes

2011-06-21T08:44:00.012-04:00

The last thing I need is another cupcake stop in the neighborhood. But Tu-Lu’s, on 11th Street, has been on my radar for months and I finally stumbled upon the gumdrop-sized spot this weekend. Naturally, cupcakes were consumed.

What makes Tu-Lu’s different is it’s a 100% gluten-free bakery. Thank god I don’t have any wheat allergies, but I’m becoming more and more of a fan of vegan baked goods, which Tu-Lu’s also has.

They have vegan cookies…

And also cookies made with dairy…

Chocolate, vanilla and red velvet cupcakes…

And mini cupcakes…

Seeing as I wanted to sample more than one flavor, but unwilling to spend $6 or $9 for an afternoon sugar fix, I opted for three minis (pretty, no?).

The vanilla on vanilla was good, but my least favorite. It lacked at special umph.

Red velvet, the bakery’s most popular flavor, was moist and creamy. Three quick bites of dreaminess.

My favorite, however, was the chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting. It shared the same perfect balance of moistness and creaminess, but had better contrasting flavors.

I definitely don’t need more sweets on my radar. But three wee cupcakes is like one regular-sized one—pas mal, right??

Breakfast club: Jeffrey's Grocery

2011-06-17T09:03:00.003-04:00

I walked into Jeffrey’s Grocery and was greeted by cookies.

Oatmeal

Peanut butter

Chocolate chip

But 8:30 a.m. was too early for cookies. And what Bennie and I really came for was the chocolate coffee cake—totally appropriate for breakfast.

Curses! They had no chocolate coffee cake.

We could have opted for a berry muffin, pockmarked as they were with beautiful, plump berries.

But we got the carrot muffin instead.

And we were rewarded for it.

Deep in the heart of the carrot muffin, it was still warm from the oven.

And sugary sweet delicious.

The magic of Christina Tosi

2011-06-12T11:11:00.004-04:00

Thank heaven for little girls. For once in a while, they grow up to be like Christina Tosi.

“Of course, I wanted a bakery when I grew up,” Ms. Tosi said. “It’s the other little-girl dream besides being a princess.”

Momofuku Milk Bar, right in my backyard, is where she dreamed up crack pie and compost cookies.

It’s where you can get towering cakes with sugary frosting and crunchy bits that send you into orbit.

Or, a bit more modest but no less ridiculously delicious, her cake truffles.

Dusty and crumbly on the outside.

Sweet and doughy on the inside.

And rainbow sprinkles that, to a girl like me, are part of the better-than-a-princess dream.

This is what peace and happiness tastes like

2011-06-07T06:00:00.007-04:00

Squired away, upstairs at Thé Adoré...

...a lovely little breakfast of sencha tea and an apple-walnut scone.

Modest, moist...

... with lovely apple bits.

(And, for later, homemade French tarts.)

Cupcake break

2011-05-25T08:39:00.005-04:00

As I wax poetic about the gateaux, macarons and viennoiserie of Paris, I mustn't forget the beauty of New York sweets. Especially when they bear Pichet Ong's stamp. Look at these lovelies from The Spot...

Vanilla almond coconut cupcakes...

Berry berry chocolate cupcakes...

Chocolate green tea with fruit jam...

Mocha with caramel and malden sea salt...

... and vanilla yuzu lemon...

Oui, gorgeous.

This. Is. Big.

2011-05-21T08:56:00.006-04:00

Ladurée is coming to New York, mes amis! In two months’ time, I will be able to have a salted caramel macaron on a whim.

I wonder if they’ll also have the Religeuse, the Savarin Chantilly, or the luscious Saint-Honoré?

Viennoiserie?

Or just…

…lovely, lovely macarons.

(And, psst... could M. Hermé be far behind??)

Le Boulanger des Invalides

2011-05-15T09:15:00.012-04:00

As I wrote for HIP, the beauty of a great city is you’re never done with it; there’s always something you still haven’t discovered. And while I feel like I became intimately familiar with many of the city’s boulangeries in my two-year stint—a little too familiar with some—grace à my friend Britta, I discovered a gem in the 7eme while I was there last month: Le Boulanger des Invalides.

It’s a Belle Epoque beauty, crunched on a corner of the sprawling Avenue de Villars. We sat for savory tarts and watched the never-ending line of come in for takeaway lunches of quiche, sandwiches and salads. My own Provencal tart was pitch-perfect: a thin, crisp pastry, topped with grilled eggplant and sweet tomatoes, seasoned perfectly.

But of course, it’s all about the desserts.

They had sweet praliné escargots—only the mini ones lasted until the lunch hour.

Of course I had to sample, hoping for the same taste of heaven that the Praluline gave me. But not quite.

But there were plenty of pain aux raisins and pain au chocolat.

Spreads of beautiful tarts, with those perfectly fanned fruits, dusted in confectioners sugar or drizzled in chocolate.

Along with some more atypical gateaux and tartlettes…

In other words, a huge selection. Enough to keep me coming back again and again.

What didn’t I eat in Paris?

2011-05-05T07:55:00.011-04:00

Well, I sort of went a little crazy. I had my beloved praluline from Pralus.

La Folie from La Patisserie des Reves.

I picked up an apricot-pistachio escargot from a local boulangerie. Pourquoi pas?

That was after my second almond croissant from Eric Kayser.

My first almond croissant was from Boulangerie Gosselin.

Then there were my beautiful chocolate chip cookies from Lola's.

And chocolat chaud in the tearoom of Angelina.

I didn't skimp on dessert either. Le pain perdu...

... and a Grand Marnier soufflé. Miam.

However, I never did get my Nutella crepe.

Pain perdu

2011-05-02T21:50:00.003-04:00

Ever heard of it? I hadn’t either until I moved to Paris. And had it for dessert. And fell in love with it.

It’s another baffling example of just how the French can remain so thin. Because pain perdu is really French toast.

Day-old bread, steeped in a mixture of egg, cream, sugar and spices until it gets sodden in the best possible way, and then skillet-cooked. But instead of having it as a singular meal at breakfast, they have it for dessert, after dinner.

With ice cream. And caramel. And anything else you can dream of.

Old-fashioned at Angelina

2011-05-01T07:59:00.006-04:00

Did you know that you can now get Angelina’s chocolat chaud, in a bottle, to go? C’est vrai.

But moi, I’ll take mine in the tea room. With the other tourists. Sipping my chocolat à l’ancienne l’Africain in unhurried happiness.

It is so thick and rich and indulgent that I could forgo dessert (and how often does that happen??).

The vanilla bourbon millefeuille and ginza natsu.

The strawberry-pistachio religeuse and the raspberry lavender Olympe.

Even the signature Mont Blanc (as cool looking as they are, I’m just not a fan).

Oui… the chocolat chaud was really all I needed.

An American pause

2011-04-30T08:32:00.005-04:00

In between my daily rampage of croissants, escargot, chocolat chaud, chocolate truffles and many other ridiculous pastries and sweets, I sampled my friend’s chocolate chip cookies.

Lola’s Cookies: these beautifully oversized chocolaty treats, were the last thing I needed to distract me in my sweet tour around Paris. But they would not be ignored.

A box of 12 golden brown, chocolate-studded, firm and cakey home-baked cookies, quintessentially American yet made with Parisian ingredients and love.

They were dense, delicious and addictive. One bite, two bites, eight bites later… I wanted another, and then another.

They only thing keeping me from annihilating the whole box at once were the gateaux and pastries that beckoned me outside. And knowing I'd be back this summer to sample the peanut butter chocolate chunk, white chocolate, lemon and cashew, oatmeal raisin and snickerdoodles that have gone untasted.

Another day, another almond croissant

2011-04-27T17:38:00.000-04:00

Oh, hell. Pourquoi pas?

Another decadent viennoiserie, first thing in the morning. This almond croissant was from the great Eric Kayser.

It was an amandes chocolat, in fact - a bit of chocolate mixed in with the almond cream. A titch smaller and, actually, lighter, but obviously every bit as delicious.

Almond croissants from Paris

2011-04-25T17:33:00.006-04:00

God bless day-old croissants. If not for them, would almond croissants exist (these, from Gosselin)?

That’s right, the glorious almond croissant is essentially a way of salvaging not-so-fresh regular croissants. You take some day-olders, fill them with almond cream (a mixture of butter, sugar, almonds and eggs), sprinkle with almond slivers and then bake them again until the cream sets and the tips crisp up.

The result? Yum.

A dense and creamy breakfast treat.

A whopper of a way to begin the day.

Even if you do leave a few crumbs.

Easter in Paris

2011-04-24T09:42:00.000-04:00

Paas-dyed Easter eggs are great and all. But I think I’d rather have a chocolate egg, created and sculpted by a French chocolatier.

Chickens, lambs and Easter bunnies do nicely, too.

Or bread from the famous Polaine bakery.

Any excuse to eat chocolate, n’est-ce pas?

Dreaming of praluline in Paris

2011-04-23T16:47:00.014-04:00

One of the things preoccupying my thoughts in the days leading up to Paris was Pralus.

I knew the chocolatier in the Marais opened at 10 a.m. I was there at 10:15.

“Un praluline, s’il vous plait,” I requested, then watched la vendeuse wrap it with the care it deserved.

Then I took it back to my place and ravished it.

You could see the sticky caramelized butter and sugar that had oozed out when it was still warm from the oven and hardened into an extra layer of deliciousness.

Its underside was just coated in this sweetness.

I kept slicing, just a little bit more…

… relishing the candied almonds and crushed hazelnuts.

You could say I’ve been sated. For the time being.

L'escargot aux praliné

2011-04-17T11:36:00.003-04:00

Some Parisian pastries are elegant and exquisite. Others, like Du Pain et Des Idée's escargot aux praliné are even more beautiful in their simple, rustic ways.

Banana cupcakes with peanut butter buttercream frosting

2011-04-12T21:59:00.010-04:00

Here’s something different. I baked.
I actually made cupcakes from scratch and they were actually edible!

I give credit to Marguerite, who adapted her recipe from The Craft of Baking. The combination of banana cake and peanut butter buttercream frosting was too irresistible to deny, n’est-ce pas?

But I was making the cupcakes for a party; a dinner party that I knew would be chic because my girlfriend who was throwing it is chic. So my secret weapon…

Bespoke Chocolates.

Each moist, flavorful cupcake got topped with a divine bonbon.

A 70% Columbian dark chocolate truffle. A peanut butter honey square.

A hazelnut praliné. And the famous pretzel-covered sea-salted caramel.

They were chic and delicious.

And if Cowgirl and Butter Lane and The Spot and Tulu's weren't all so close, I might even do it again.

Giddy up! Back to Cowgirl Baking

2011-04-05T21:06:00.003-04:00

It’s too close to home. I feel the pull of those vegan cupcakes all the time.

And I can tell you, the chocolate with vanilla icing (though cruelly small)…

…and the red velvet…

… are just as delicious as the peanut butter bomb.

Next time I go, I’m hoping they have the tres leches or tiramisu cupcakes.

Chocolate soufflé cupcakes

2011-04-03T16:18:00.005-04:00

I've always been a fan of Kyotofu. Needless to say, it's been awhile since I'd visited but when I heard New York Magazine touted their chocolate soufflé cupcakes the best in the city, it was the perfect excuse to go.

I'll take three, please!

They pair perfectly with a glass of Cote du Rhone.

My top 10 all-time favorite sweets in Paris

2011-03-28T22:15:00.002-04:00

Though, I think you’d agree, this is an unfair list. An impossible task. There is no limit to the to-die-for deliciousness on every block in Paris. To try to select only 10 is a cruel challenge. But if I had to choose… 10 sweets I wouldn’t want anyone to miss… I would start with:

• A good, ole piping-hot oozing Nutella and banana street crepe.

• La Folie at La Patisserie des Reves: The heft and texture are pure magic. The doughy, whipped brioche is piped full of vanilla pastry cream that has a hint of rum raisin. Topped with praliné crumble and a touch of confectioner’s sugar. Unbelievable.

• The obscenely addictive Praluline from Pralus. Buttery, chewy, crunchy, sweet but a titch savory, caramelized—what doesn’t this beauty have?

• The sweet little strawberry Coeur from Coquelicot. Relatively modest in size—just 4-5 bites—it’s also sweet and fruity and has a pitch-perfect texture that’s both spongy and moist.

• A chocolate éclair from Stohrer. The crisp pastry shell envelopes an uber generous chocolaty custard filling and is slapped with a sweet chocolate glacage. It’s a serious sugar rush in the best way.

• Angelina’s stick-to-your-ribs chocolat chaud. It’s like sipping melted truffles. In a tearoom that Coco Chanel used to frequent.

• Speaking of truffles, Jean-Paul Hevin’s truffles are le mieux. And his mendiants. And his cakes. Hevin = heaven.

• The rice pudding at Chez l’Ami Jean. I never would have thought I’d care a lick about rice pudding. Last year’s dinner at Café Constant made me reconsider. And a later dinner at Chez l’Ami Jean changed everything. Served in a massive bowl with sides of candied granola and salted caramel cream, this is an unforgettable dessert.

• The Plenitude Individuel from Pierre Hermé. While his macarons are, oui, divine, this little cake is transporting. Fluffy chocolate mousse under a dark chocolate shell. Kissed by salted caramel. Adorned with tiles of more chocolate. It’s gorgeous, exquisite and delicious.

• The almond croissant from Boulangerie Julian. When Bennie and I split this, we were giggling in the middle of rue Saint-Honoré. Fresh and flaky, slightly chewy and caramelized at the edges, heavy with almond paste and lightly dusted with powdered sugar and slivered almond. I mean, how can something taste so good??

Infinite chocolate chip cookies

2011-03-25T08:58:00.008-04:00

One of the very few good things about working way over on 11th Avenue is that it’s not so far from Ruby et Violette.

Do you know this itty-bitty cookie shop? And their marshmallow cookies?

Their butter pecan cookies?

Caramel popcorn and cassis...

...Irish, peach cobbler, French vanilla, and many, many more...

Trust me, it's not the most convenient location. But it's more than worth the haul.

457 West 50th at 10th Avenue

Big blues

2011-03-21T14:20:00.000-04:00

Some mornings just warrant a humble little breakfast.

Cafe au lait and a blueberry muffin.

At Thé Adoré.

17 East 13th Street between Fifth and University
212.243.8742

Happy Macaron Day

2011-03-20T14:12:00.005-04:00

In honor of my 47 macaron-feat in Paris last year...

...and all the brave and hungry souls doing it in New York this year, this year...

Happpy Macaron Day.

One bite, and I was in love

2011-03-14T05:51:00.010-04:00

Cowgirl’s Baking is only one-week-old, but it’s already one of my favorite bakeries.

With flavors like Rocky Road—chocolate chocolate-chip cake with marshmallow filling, caramel frosting and chocolate-caramel drizzles—and Tres Leches, vanilla cake soaked in vanilla bean creme anglaise with dulce de leche and vanilla frosting, well…I was pretty certain without even ordering that I was going to love this place.

I wasn’t sure what flavor to get. The Coffee & Donuts, a vanilla cupcake soaked in coffee, topped not only with coffee frosting but also a mini doughnut?

The Midnight, a chocolate chocolate chip cake with chocolate frosting? Or the aptly named Heaven: vanilla on vanilla with rainbow sprinkles?

After my Nutella-banana French toast at the Brindle Room, I was pretty sure I shouldn’t be getting anything.

(At least I didn’t also have a doughnut at the Brindle Room.)

But I figured it was too auspicious that Cowgirl was just a few doors down from the scene of my gluttonous breakfast. I knew my day wouldn’t be complete without sampling something.

So I ordered the Chocolate French Toast cupcake.

Where to begin? Creamy frosting with a cinnamon-spicy kick. Uber rich chocolate cake, flecked with chocolate chips. It was moist. Delicious. Pitch-perfect.

It wasn't just a fluke, was it? Would a different flavor also send me over the moon? In a word, yeessssss.

I can’t even describe to you how delicious the Peanut Butter Bomb is.
Chocolate chocolate chip cake with peanut butter frosting.

Oh yeah. All of these are VEGAN. Which makes me think that maybe everyone in Manhattan should start baking vegan?

With cookies, doughnuts, tarts and other pastries on the Cowgirl menu, just blocks from home, I am in trouble. I am in heaven—but I am in trouble.

I waited all week for monkey bread

2011-03-12T10:12:00.005-05:00

Last Saturday, I overindulged in sweets. So I told myself I’d do a sweets-free week. I wasn’t as religious as I normally am—I didn’t shy away from a couple bites of a shared dessert (dulce de leche cake—why would I shy away from that?) or mini chocolates when they presented themselves (was I really supposed to say no when faced with dishes of mini peanut butter cups?). But I knew Bennie and I had Breakfast Club, a Peels redux, at the end of the week so I was saving myself. For monkey bread.

As good as the other treats by pastry chef Shuna Lydon looked, I had my heart set on the monkey bread.

Cinnamon brioche with mascarpone frosting. Sort of a no-brainer.

It was a dense slab of cake. Perfected by the mascarpone frosting.

A trio of treats to try

2011-03-10T08:43:00.008-05:00

I have my eating cut out for me this weekend. First on the agenda is Cowgirl's Baking.

With cupcake flavors like Elvis (chocolate cake with chocolate chips, banana filling and peanut butter frosting), French Toast (cinnamon vanilla cake with butter maple frosting) and Coffee & Donuts (vanilla cake soaked in coffee with coffee frosting and a mini doughnut on top), how could I not?

Tribeca has a whole bunch of bakeries I'm dying to try, including the newish Josephine, opened by two Frenchies (mom and daughter), featuring macarons, tarts and viennoiseries.

And I'm even keen to try Magnolia again.

The pistachio Priscilla cupcake sounds—and looks—pretty over the top.

Photo credits: Cowgirls, DNAinfo.com; Josephine, Tribeca Citizen; Magnolia, Genevieve Rafter Keddy

A taste of Paris in Soho

2011-03-08T19:57:00.012-05:00

Where do these lovelies come from?

Pierre Hermé?

Ladurée?

Some other gem of a Parisian patisserie?

Mais non, they’re straight from New York—Soho to be precise. They’re Kee Ling Tong’s creations.

Now, she rotates through 22 options including jasmine green tea, blood orange, blueberry and white truffle oil.

Kee added macarons to her stellar chocolate repertoire in early ’08, starting with five flavors: passionfruit (her favorite), key lime, raspberry (“I like fruit flavors”), black sesame and mocha.

She admits that it took months of trial and error to perfect her recipe but macaron fans should be thankful she did. A good macaron in Manhattan is hard to find.

(And if you're determined to give macarons a whirl yourself, don't miss the lovely little book by Annie Rigg.)

Not quite the bee’s knees to me

2011-03-04T08:26:00.005-05:00

I read about the honey cakes at Bee Dessert and was overly excited to try them. I mean, an “all-natural chocolate covered honey cake” extolled by Rachel Ray and the Times? Let’s get to it.

The packaging was adorable enough.

But I was expecting something more like Baklava than a Ring Ding.

Something more oozey and syrupy and multilayered than compact and cakey. Surprisingly, it was more like a spice cake enveloped in rich dark chocolate. No goo, no oozing, no sticky-sweetness. No wow.

Like spice cake enrobed in dark chocolate, it’s not that it was bad. It just wasn’t worthy of the buzzzzz I'd heard.

$50 lighter at Jacques Torres

2011-02-28T20:35:00.011-05:00

All I wanted at Jacques Torres was a little cocoa.

But how was I was supposed to resist?

Chocolate-covered Cheerios, chocolate-covered pretzels, chocolate-covered espresso beans…

Chocolate chip cookies, chocolate mudslide cookies and chocolate bark…

And bonbons infused with booze, fruit, and nuts.

All I wanted was a little cocoa.

But I should know myself better by now. It's an affliction.

Make My Cake a Cobbler

2011-02-26T21:31:00.002-05:00

It’s not often that I’m in Harlem. But when I am, I always make an excuse to visit Make My Cake (and when Levain opens around the corner this week, it, too, will be on the diet-busting-in-Harlem list). The bustling bakery has been around since 1995, serving ooey-gooey, over the top Southern specialties like hot cross buns, red velvet cake, and cobblers.

Unlike crumbles and crisps, cobblers usually have top and bottom crusts—sort of like deep-dish pies. Sometimes they’re made with pie dough, other times (and/or regions), with thick, cakey biscuits.

Make My Cake’s family recipe uses the former. Their giant pan of blueberry cobbler was crisscrossed with lattice shortbread crusts.

Amply dished into a plastic container, there was no thought to its presentation. It was all about the contents.

Wickedly-sweet, syrupy blueberry filling. It coated my belly. Filled me up. And felt like a sloppy-sweet embrace.

Stick it to me

2011-02-17T21:39:00.004-05:00

Again and again if it tastes like this.

The sticky bun at Peels is pitch-perfect: sticky-sweet, just the right size, light cake buried under a pile of pecans.

A ridiculously delicious way to begin the day.

As Bennie and I certainly will again.

Valentine’s at Bespoke Chocolates

2011-02-11T07:54:00.000-05:00

Valentine’s is often for the lucky… the lucky in love.

So tempt the hands of time, seduce your true love and express your creativity and deepest, most burning emotions at Bespoke Chocolates.

Rachel and Gil are creating a limited number of hand-molded heart-shaped dark chocolate boxes (advanced orders, a must!), to be filled with ten of their most amazing artisanal bonbons (think: French milk chocolate, strawberry balsamic, passionfruit…) and your personalized message, written in on a red card in gold ink (love, desire, passion, sex, marriage??).

The boutique’s open extended hours this weekend so even if you haven’t been slayed by Cupid’s arrow, you can pick up some pretzel-covered sea-salted caramels or other divine hand-crafted chocolates.

Photo by Saleena Fortunato

Valentine’s from This Chick Bakes

2011-02-09T09:03:00.001-05:00

I judge books by their covers, and I judge sweets by their packaging. I’m sorry, but it matters. And Jen and Charley of This Chick Bakes get that.

Their Little Box of Kisses for Valentine’s Day comes adorably wrapped in turquoise stripes and polka dots, which is swaddled in matching tissue. Undo the sticker to get inside the petit boite, and, voila!, three individually wrapped decadent treats await. Rich, fudgy brownie sandwiches a bright Italian cherry ganache center, all of which is drizzled with dark and white chocolate and dusted with hearts. Love-ly and delicious.

Valentine’s at Roni-Sue

2011-02-07T08:42:00.001-05:00

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.

Valentine’s at Recchuiti Confections

2011-02-05T11:31:00.001-05:00

There are certain chocolatiers who blow you away with their skill and creativity. I was surrounded by them in Paris, but I dare say they are fewer and far between in the states. Michael Recchiuti is definitely one of them.

I’ve been a fan of his since discovering him at San Francisco’s Ferry Building. Known especially for his dark chocolate fleur de sel caramels and his vanilla bean s’mores, Michael is brilliant when it comes to creating flavor pairings that wow. And his Valentine’s box contains a bunch of them…

...rose caramel, lavender vanilla, burnt caramel, lemon verbena, bergamot tea, tarragon grapefruit, sesame nougat and nine others that will pierce you right through the heart.

Valentine's Day Macarons

2011-02-02T09:43:00.005-05:00

From Pierre Hermé. Need I say more?

(Okay, I will.) Three love-ly boxes...

...I will take any of them...

...filled with creme brulee, infiniment caramel, chuao, mogador, infiniment chocolat, le magnifique, white truffle and hazelnut, olive oil and vanilla, médélice, fragola or, you know, any old flavors will do.

A one-two chocolate punch

2011-01-30T10:03:00.010-05:00

Jean-Paul Hévin, Patrick Roger, Un Dimanche à Paris… I was certainly getting around to my favorite chocolatiers during my last weeks in Paris. But in the very last few days, I made visits to two brand new chocolatiers: Chloe Chocolat and Franck Kestener.

My own copy of Chloé Doutre-Roussel’s bible, The Chocolate Connoisseur (2005), is a tattered, stained mess from all the bonbons I consumed while reading about Criollo trees and the tempering process. And when I spoke with Chloé at the Salon du Chocolat in October about the chocolate salon she was opening dangerously close to my apartment, needless to say I was as giddy as a kid in a candy shop. She debuted her two-story sliver of a salon just days before my departure, so I got to sit and chat with her and taste some mighty good chocolate.

What distinguishes Chloé—aside from being the former chocolate buyer for Fortnum & Mason and one of the very few female pros in an industry dominated by men—is how no-nonsense she is. She doesn’t scold about cocoa percentages or eschew milk chocolate for dark. She doesn’t make you feel like a chump for liking chocolate even if it’s not wrapped up from a “beans to bar” artisan or stamped with organic approval. “Don’t worry about where the beans come from,” she insists. “When you buy chocolate, you’re buying an emotional experience; it’s sensory.” Ah oui, merci!

That’s not to say she’s not on a crusade to make the world filled with better chocolate and more appreciation for it. Indeed, the intent of her new Marais home is to school both amateurs and connoisseurs through classes ranging from an introduction to chocolate to comprehensive international trends. She also offers two-and-a-half-hour walking tours that pay visits to some of the city’s most prestigious chocolatiers. And, once you’ve worked up a chocolate appetite, she offers milk and dark chocolate tablettes (in adorable packaging), both of which are divine and can be paired with carefully selected teas.

Across town, Meilleur Ouvrier de France Chocolatier, Franck Kestener offers a different, more decadent chocolate experience. It’s a posh shop near the Luxembourg Gardens, peddling marzipan, macarons, mendiants and more.

I went straight for his ganache-filled bonbons, which come in a beautiful and inspired range of flavors, from buttery tarte tatin to crisp mint to fruity juniper.

I saved my square of Atlantique—shortbread and salted caramel, topped with 66% dark chocolate—for the plane ride home, but piggishly ate two Nuages while strolling the streets of the sixth arrondissement.

Another one of the young chocolatier’s specialties, these treats look like cannelés but are filled with a light and fluffy whipped chocolate marshmallow.

It’s been over three weeks since those visits. My cupboard is finally depleted of the bars and bonbons I brought home with me. I think I need another Parisian chocolate run, don't you?

A last hurrah at Boulangerie Julien

2011-01-12T09:24:00.005-05:00

They’re about as naughty as they look: praline brioche pastry, there on the left, and the chocolate-pistachio option on the right. filled with cream.

As fond as my experiences had been at Boulangerie Julien, I had to go back for one last breakfast run.

The praline brioche was much more subtle.

But then again, with the number of chocolate chips in the other, how could the chocolate pistachio be considered anything but over the top?

Cherry pistachio crumble from Eric Kayser

2011-01-06T03:59:00.003-05:00

I am a sucker for a good crumble. But what I’ve learned is that a good crumble needs to be warm. It needs to be fresh. It needs to be balanced between the oozing fruit base and a melting, scattered topping. The fruits should lend tartness; the topping, sweetness.

Ergo, while Eric Kayser can do little wrong in my book, I think the crumbles are best left to tea salons and restaurants that can serve them from a big, oven-heated dish in which the juices and sugars are all baked together in one beautiful melty mess.

You know you’re in Paris in January when…

2011-01-03T11:14:00.007-05:00

Every boulangerie and patisserie is peddling les galettes de rois.

Beautiful, delicious galettes de rois!

Thursday, January sixth is the Day of Epiphany in France, which is celebrated virtually all month with wonderful galettes des rois.

They're quite simple: essentially frangipane (almond cream) inside pâte feuilletée (flaky puff pastry), made in different sizes, usually round though sometimes square.

Some patissiers also add chocolate or fruit or alcohol, but it's always a recipe for deliciousness.

La Folie at La Patisserie des Reves

2010-12-31T08:23:00.000-05:00

It’s true: craziness! As this lovely little baked good's name implies, it is sheer madness.

It may not look like much, standing there, properly lined up on the shelf with its peers.

But take it home and tear into it. Madness, I promise you!

The doughy, whipped brioche is densely construed and piped with thick vanilla pastry cream with just a titch of rum raisin.

All topped with praliné crumble and a touch of confectioner’s sugar.

I would kill to have a slice of Conticini’s 66-euro holiday buche.

But for two euro and some change, La Folie one of the best sweets—and craziest deals—I’ve had in a long time.

Dessert Blitz: rice pudding that will, I swear, convert you

2010-12-30T05:52:00.000-05:00

Soon, I will be back in New York. I, of course, have mixed feelings about this. But one thing is for sure: I still have a lot of sweets to get through.

If you’re like me, rice pudding isn’t exactly the dessert of dreams. It doesn’t get my heart racing or make my stomach do cartwheels. But that started changing when Bennie ordered the rice pudding at Café Constant. It was exquisite. And then on a more recent visit to Chez l’Ami Jean, my esteem for rice pudding as one of the best all-around dessert options was solidified.

Of course everything at Chez l’Ami Jean is a little bigger and more decadent so the rice pudding was not a modest little boule. In fact, one serving—what you’re looking at—could easily feed a family of four.

Especially with the whipped salted caramel cream and candied granola it’s served with.

Tell me if there’s anything you want to sample vicariously through me… it would be a honor. And my pleasure.