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.

 

A trip to Versailles

No, not that one. But an old-timey restaurant in Greenwich, Connecticut.

I had the happy occasion to indulge in brunch with a dear friend (eggs and mimosas!) in the chichi suburb. And while the Japanese couple seated next to us inspired with their ballsy order of steak and wine at barely noon, my idea of decadence was naturally on the sweeter side.

The dessert tray certainly had its temptations, from raspberry cheesecake...

...to apple galette.

But I went straight for the kill: a chocolate pistachio croissant.

Loaded with marzipan, studded with slabs of chocolate, and spackled with nuts, it was the last thing I needed.

And all the more delicious for it.

Algerian pastries: the unsung heroes of Paris

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.

A French patisserie in the heart of New York

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.