28 days of hot chocolate

Step right up. It’s Hot Chocolate Festival time!

For the next 27 days, you can sample something different from City Bakery’s annual deluge of fun, funny, inspirational and always delicious cocoa flavors.

 

You can get it with a homemade marshmallow to stay.

Or take it to go.

I’m especially keen for banana peel (today and the 23rd), caramel (the 3rd), bourbon (8th), black rum & cinnamon (22nd) and the ode to the polar bear (27th). What about you?

If it's cold, it must mean hot chocolate

It's winter, for sure. The days are short and, now, cold. Which means, times for City Bakery hot cocoa.

I was all too happy to indulge in my first cocoa of the year with Mademoiselle Lindsey.

Have you had your first cup of the season? If so, where??

20th Annual Hot Chocolate Festival

I missed meeting Bennie for a cup of banana peel hot cocoa yesterday. But I got to City Bakery’s Hot Chocolate Festival kickoff Wednesday morning—the 20th anniversary, no less—and indulged in sunken treasure hot cocoa—little extra bits of sweetness and chocolate at the bottom of your cup (miam).

No surprise, it was rich and decadent and the perfect way to start my day (and have you ever tried dipping a banana into your cocoa? Breakfast of champions, I tell you).

Here are my top five flavor picks for the remainder of the month:

• Bourbon hot chocolate (Friday the 10th)
• Caramel hot chocolate (Saturday the 11th)
• On a peanut butter barge hot chocolate (Saturday the 18th)
• Ode to the polar bear hot chocolate (Wednesday the 22nd)
• Chinese cinnamon hot chocolate (Saturday the 25th)

Find the full flavor roster and pick your favorites, here.

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?

The heavenly pretzel croissant

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!

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.

Oh cruel day of missing City Bakery

Lemon, chili pepper, ginger and even cinnamon… I can accept that I’ve missed the first few days and flavors of City Bakery’s annual hot chocolate festival.

But missing today’s flavor? Banana peel? It’s like gently dying somewhere deep inside.

I'll swallow that

“I’m a soy bean-eating, recycling-devoted, vintage clothes-wearing, used Volvo-driving, low-carbon-footprint person in the first place. Sometime during the Bush years, that administration’s intense assault on the environment left me feeling that as a business owner with a large and loyal customer base, I had a responsibility to begin talking about the environment.”

Go, Maury! Here’s to the New York-based, French-trained, bi-coastal pastry chef who’s now sharing his good morals and gut-busting cookies at a third location.

Sweet Freak’s irresistible cookie diet

Six cookies a day, plus steamed vegetables for dinner? Sounds totally sensible to me.

For anyone looking for a local alternative to Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet, it’s your lucky day. Be sure to follow this highly addictive New York regimen—don’t be afraid to walk, jog or bicycle from bakery to bakery—and watch the magical transformations occur.

1. For your first, most important meal of the day, Sweet Freak recommends you start with something substantial in your belly. Like a six-ounce dark chocolate peanut butter chip cookie from Levain.

2. Do good for the environment as your do good for your waistline. Birdbath’s coconut cookies are refreshing, buttery, delightful reinforcements.

3. Bigger is better. Thus the cookie diet, friends. Sashay up to Petrossian for a chocolate chunk cookie as big as your head.

4. Momofuku’s compost cookie. With “everything” inside, you’ll ingest extra vitamins and other good stuff.

5. Craving chocolate? Go ahead, you’ve earned it! Go straight to Max Brenner for a rich, chunky double chocolate chip cookie.

6. The protein inside City Bakery’s peanut butter cookie will give you that little stamina push you need to fight the mid-day slump.

7. Seeing as you have a sensible dinner ahead of you, keep things light: skip the dairy. This Chick Bake’s vegan ginger molasses cookie is spicy, cakey and oh-so-delicious.

And now you have dinner to look forward to.

Best recession special

Like many others in these gloom and doom times, I am not giving up my splurges on sweets. I take too much comfort in them.

But I also get that a $4 cupcake or $5 cup of cocoa is stretching the concept of "affordable luxury." Especially when you indulge every day like, um, me.

So I was especially thrilled to see the peanut butter cookie back at City Bakery. I had a cocoa date with Emmanuelle there and, in all my ladylike modesty, almost skipped a cookie. Thank goodness I didn't. I had forgotten how creamy-crunchy and heavenly this little beauty is. And, for just 75¢, an absolute must-eat.

Best cookie ever? That's a tight race. But best peanut butter cookie? Absolutely.

3 West 18th Street near Fifth Ave
212.366.1414

Sweet Freak scoop: Hot Chocolate Festival comes a day early

Just as I was reminding Alex that we're six days out to City Bakery's month-long Hot Chocolate Festival, I got a message from Maury: the festival not only starts a day early, but is staying open late to celebrate.

The 17th annual festival kicks off this Saturday, the 31st, at the normal opening hour of 7:30 a.m. But just in case you're too busy shopping sales, catching the Oscar nominations, taking in Marlene Dumas at Moma, or sleeping off Friday night's soirées, City Bakery will remain open until midnight in celebration of the festival. That’s 16 ½ hours of decadent hot cocoa, followed by a month of experimental flavors like banana peel, beer, ginger, caramel and, Maury's favorites, bourbon and vanilla bean.

What's more, they're introducing "Lights Out Hot Chocolate" this year. Every day at 3 o'clock, the mezzanine lights go off and the candles get lit creating not only a moody way to sip your cocoa, but also a sweet way to save energy. How do you like that, Mr. President?

3 West 18th Street between Fifth and Sixth Aves
212.366.1414

Manhattan's best 5 cups of cocoa

Because it's snowing in New York. Because it's the holiday season. And because it's one of the silver linings of winter: these are the hot chocolates you don't want to miss.

Jacques Torres
When you walk into Chocolate Haven Soho, the heavenly scent of chocolate is all around you. Belly up to bar and order my personal favorite: the peanut butter hot cocoa.

Vosges
That their cocoa is called "drinking chocolate" and served in elegant glassware is telling. I like to change it up at Vosges and get the Bianca Cocoa: white chocolate with vanilla, lemon myrtle and lavender.

Dessert Truck
Insanely thick. Made with Valrhona and Guittard chocolates. Don't expect to drink the whole thing. Even I can't.

City Bakery
If hot chocolate could be landmarked, City Bakery's would be the first to receive the designation. Start training for February's Hot Cocoa Festival by sipping their small portions now. It's habit-forming.

MarieBelle
I was going to give the fifth spot to La Maison du Chocolat. But since this blog is all (or mostly) about NYC, MarieBelle—with a proper cacoa salon, six varieties, and the option for European (made with water) or American (milk) style—gets the nod.

Sweet Freak Smackdown: San Francisco v. New York

New York is the reigning champ of sweets. It’s that easy. But if you have you have to score in another city (that’s not Paris), San Francisco is as good a contender as any. How do the two cities fare in a Sweet Freak Smackdown?

Specialty’s v. Levain

Sigh. There’s nothing better than a whopper of a cookie. Levain takes the cake with its six-ounce beauties. But Specialty’s isn’t far behind.

My love for Specialty’s—in particular, the wheatgerm chocolate chip cookie (just trust me on this one)—was very deep when I lived in San Francisco. It hasn’t waned. That I got to the Battery Street location just when the black and white cookies were pulled warm from the oven only solidified my love for the hippie-ish café.

Verdict: Levain for consistency and quality. Specialty’s for range of flavors (11 of them) and fun.

Tartine Bakery v. City Bakery

These two are different, that’s for sure. Tartine is small, City Bakery is sprawling. Tartine is still firmly entrenched in French pastries, CB has mastered American snacks. Tartine is six-years-old, Maury Rubin served his first tarts in 1990. But they both produce the most mind-blowing baked goods (as well as savories) that warrant the vulture-like fans who pace and scope, pace and scope, waiting a wee table to open so they can sit and feast.

Verdict: Tartine for its bread pudding. City Bakery for its peanut butter cookie.

Bi-Rite Creamery v. il Laboratorio del Gelato

Both of these homegrown gelato shops produce small batches of unique flavors made with the best (best, best) ingredients. As much as I love il Laboratorio, I’ve never had ice cream as good as the salted caramel at Bi-Rite. Never.

Verdict: Give it up for SF.

Recchuiti v. Kee’s

Michael Recchuiti is an exacting chocolatier. So is Kee Ling Tong. Michael’s signature treats are the fleur de sel caramels and s’more bites. Kee’s are the crème brulee truffles and fresh macaroons. Michael has an adorable sliver of a spot in the gorgeous Ferry Building. Kee’s eked out space in western Soho. I could go on. They’re both amazing. But…

Verdict: This one goes to Kee’s.

Fog City News v. Food Emporium

World-class chocolate should be more available. Kudos to Fog City News and Food Emporium/Trump Plaza for doing their part to share the wealth with the masses. Fog City News offers over 100 bars from around the world. Food Emporium for its sheer brazenness of attaching a fine chocolate shop to the smelly

Verdict: Fog City News for its impressive selection. Food Emporium for the brazenness of attaching a fine chocolate shop to a smelly grocery store.

Verdict

This one is tough. San Francisco has no shortage of kickass sweet shops. I didn’t even mention Miette, Citizen Cake or Bittersweet.

But New York is… New York. Untouchable. Delicious. Divine. From cupcakes at Batch or ChikaLicious Dessert Club to croissants at Patisserie Claude or Amai Bakeshop. From scones at Alice’s Tea Cup to brownies at Baked. From soy desserts at Kyotofu to vegan treats from This Chick Bakes. From cocoa at Jacques Torres to pudding from the Dessert Truck. From Doughnut Plant to Birdbath, Papabubble to Three Tarts, Lady M to Black Hound, Sugar Sweet Sunshine to Two Little Red Hens… okay, it’s not so tough after all.

A tart for a cookie

Maury, do you know what it’s like to look forward to peanut butter cookies all weekend and then to show up at City Bakery, and they’re not there? It’s cruel. So cruel.

But at least I was prompted to try something new: the open apple lemon tart. Which enabled me to rebound from my bitter disappointment.

Piled high, the tart, lemony apples have just a little bite, yet are soft and chewy. Big crunchy crystals of sugar are the yin to the tart apples’ yang. And beneath it all is a beautiful thin crackling crust.

Alex took solace in a wonderfully sweet oatmeal raisin cookie. I wouldn’t say either of us was forgiving the denial of a much needed peanut butter cookie fix but, like true champs, we made due.

Peanut butter. And some jelly.

I was pretty sure that Violette & Ruby made a pb & j cookie and that Baked had a pb & j brownie. Either one of those would have kicked Hill Country's pb & j cupcake. (Oh my, remember that??)


But, sadly, I was mistaken. Still, I can't get pb&j off the brain. At least there are other rich, savory snack situations. To wit…

Peanut butter sandwich cookies from the Treats Truck and Bouchon Bakery.

Peanut butter brownies at Baked, and peanut butter hot cocoa at Jacques Torres (um, since apparently it's winter already).

Peanut butter cupcake (with a chocolate ganache center) from Sweet Revenge.

And the best ever: City Bakery's peanut butter cookie.

To tart up the nuttiness, there are even jammie treats. Like Chocolate Bar's raspberry jam Retro Bar. And the raspberry brownie from the Treats Truck.

And for the truly gluttonous: fried pb & j at Mama's Mudsliders.

Fun with friends

It's so nice to eat vicariously through a friend with an appreciation for great chocolate.

After sending my friend Alex into diabetic shock from pain au chocolat (Penelope's), peanut butter cookies and cocoa with marshmallows (City Bakery), and doughnuts (Doughnut Plant), it seemed only appropriate to bring her to the Dessert Truck. She and her husband Nick live in San Francisco and introduced me to the salted caramel ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery, after all. Tit for tat and all that.

So after a divine dinner at Centro Vinoteca (where, omg, we passed on hazelnut cake with nutella mousse?!), we walked over to University and 8th. Unlike my first visit when I felt gluttonous just ordering hot chocolate with my chocolate bread pudding, this time I was able to sample three whole desserts.

The chocolate bread pudding, which I snitched a taste of from Alex, is still shamefully rich and deliciously spongy. The goat cheese cheesecake was a little too hoof-y for me, but Nick seemed to enjoy it plenty. Me, I got to sample the weekly special: chocolate truffle cake with praline crunch, and the praline crunch made the dessert.

So that leaves the slow-baked apple, chocolate and peanut butter mousse, and vanilla crème brulee as unexplored menu items. Alex, when are you coming back to NYC?

University & 8th
Every night except Monday

A New Classic

Is the peanut butter cookie better than chocolate chip?

The City Bakery is a powerful force in New York. On myriad “Best Of” lists, it’s referenced and revered for its absurdly thick hot cocoa, juggernaut cookies, and even its luxe salad bar. You could spend an entire day sampling the goods, riding the waves of sugar high after sugar high. Which means it’s tough to put just one sweet on the throne. But, when forced to do such a ridiculous thing, I could easily point to the peanut butter cookie.

First off, they’re small. Well, not really, but by City Bakery’s King-Kong standards, they are. These, like a scoop of sorbet, are modest enough that you can indulge in a couple. Second, they’re magically moist. The downfall of many peanut butter cookies is their tendency towards brittleness, sending crumbs and chunks into your lap, snapping off in rude pieces. But City Bakery’s hold together almost as if you were taking a scoop of peanut butter straight from the jar, sticking to the roof of your mouth and everything. And then there’s the flavor. Sweet, just as any cookie should be. But the creamy, nutty, savory balance couldn’t be better. A king is born.

5 Best Cookies

• Levain: Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie
Heavy (about six ounces); mountainous (studded with chips); and rich (chocolate on chocolate action).

• Grey Dog: Chocolate Peanut Butter Coookie
Ginormous (a good six inches in diameter?); two great tastes that taste great together.

• Porto Rico: Gingersnap Cookie
Moist & chewy; sweet & savory; under a buck.

• The City Bakery: Reverse Chocolate Chip Cookie
Yummy white chocolate/dark chocolate blend; flat as opposed to fat, but big nonetheless.

• Petrossian: Chocolate Chunk with Pecans
Ordinarily, not a fan of nuts with my chocolate chips, but these cookies are so huge and chocolaty, the pecans break up the richness nicely. (Plus, bonus points for using pecans instead of walnuts.)

Take Two

Birdbath Bakery spreads wings, heads westward.

Is it Build a Green Bakery? Or Birdbath Bakery? Or is this naming business trickery to ratchet up buzz? Does it matter? No, so long as the cookies and scones and muffins and croissants remain so tasty (and the ingredients, organic).

The City Bakery's second Birdbath offshoot is open in the West Village. Which means candied ginger scones, raspberry bran muffins, pretzel croissants, and chocolate chip cookies, served in eco environs, can be found twice as easily.

Pedal your bike over and get on the green bandwagon. It's more delicious than you ever imagined.

Birdbath
145 Seventh Ave South at Charles Street
646.722.6565

Haute, Haute, Haute!

The best thing about winter? Duh. Hot chocolate.

Baby, it’s cold outside. But thankfully, it's bustling and warm at The City Bakery. This Flatiron uber-bakery and café is filled with the beckoning scents of fresh baked goods. Unfortunately, it's also filled with New Yorkers looking for a fix of something good — "good," in this case meaning either good for you, or just yum-good.

The Bakery boasts an enormous salad bar tucked in the rear, and it's nothing to turn your nose up at. Parsnip chips, buckwheat noodles, scrambled tofu, and macaroni and cheese are made with greenmarket ingredients, vibrantly colored and decadently dressed. But what's more decadent are the baked goods up front — pretzel croissants, lemon tarts, peanut butter cookies — and a vat of hot chocolate that is so thick, a mini-waterwheel device keeps it stirring so it doesn't coagulate into a solid block of chocolate.

This is the crème de la crème of cocoa.

The chocolaty treat, served in a sturdy white crock and dusted with cocoa, is the most decadent cup in the city. Super thick and rich, it warrants a "wow" and a totally satisfied smile — maybe even a fit of giggles. If you want to be positively sure that it can’t get any better, order it topped with a sweet homemade marshmallow. Is enduring the hustle and bustle and long lines of The City Bakery worth their famed hot chocolate? In a word, yes.

The City Bakery
3 West 18th Street
212.366.1414