Pain perdu

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.

On a tear in New York City

It was a gluttonous return to New York, that’s for sure. Lucky for me and my ass, it was also brief. Sadly, for my psyche, it was not oh-my-god gluttony.

But I tried.

There was the red velvet cupcake from Amy’s Bread. So moist (and pretty, dontcha think?), the cake crumbled into pieces beneath the light and sweet whipped buttercream. Good but messy.

And put to shame by Sugar Sweet Sunshine’s “sassy” version. Why so sassy? The red velvet cake was topped with chocolate almond buttercream frosting.


And if you’ve ever had, say, the Ooey Gooey cupcake from Sugar Sweet Sunshine you know sass = heaven.

Speaking of sassy, I watched the froster at Billy’s top off the little morsels of cake with vanilla buttercream.

But I didn’t succumb to a cupcake there. Two new treats caught the eyes of Amee and me. The cookie sandwich…

Beautiful in theory, but just not the right balance of cookie to cream. Nor was the vanilla cream thick or distinctive enough to heed the call of satisfaction.

The peanut butter chocolate bar, on the other hand, did.

Weighing in at about eight ounces, the layers of chocolate cookie crust, dark chocolate and peanut butter were sinful and hit the spot.

There were, of course, the chocolate chunk banana bread at Arlo & Esme and Clinton Street Baking Co’s banana chocolate chip muffin.


That was a power breakfast if I ever had one.

And the cherry scone, olive oil muffin, pain au chocolat and glazed croissant from Maialino.

Yep. I put all four of those down in one sitting. There’s no shame in that.

I boycotted Momofuku Milk Bar. Not because I wanted to. God knows, I live for their cornflake marshmallow chocolate chip cookies. But can you imagine how much cellophane they go through daily to individually wrap every cookie and dessert?? Totally unnecessary and gross.

But since I love a good cookie, and had to walk by this sign every day on my way into my apartment, I finally succumbed to trying Milk & Cookies at their espresso bar inside Kiehl’s.

I wanted to try the S’mores cookie. What’s not to love about chocolate and marshmallow and graham crackers, all inside a single cookie, right?

But the barista said it was a “kid’s cookie”; he didn’t recommend it. Instead, he lobbied for the chocolate chip, the peanut butter chocolate chip or snickerdoodle.

So I got the peanut butter chocolate chip: a nicely chewy texture, gritty with butter and sugar and punctuated with peanuts and chocolate chips. Another good, not great, grade. Sigh.

But happily, there was one spot in the city that made my heart twitter and my knees shake. Stay tuned.

The mixing bowl: Amy Scherber

Not only do I feel an affinity for Amy Scherber because of our shared name—which is also the name of her bakery, which is the first reason I went years ago, but now I just go for the great, big baked goods—but also because she builds her travel itineraries around finding the best sweets in town.

Growing up, my favorite sweet was:
Lemon meringue pie

My favorite sweet now is:
A fabulous lemon curd tart, or devil’s food cake with chocolate frosting and vanilla ice cream, or a hot fudge sundae.

My personal Amy's Bread favorite:
Definitely Devil’s Food with Chocolate Silk Frosting

What I love about Hell's Kitchen is:
It is our “original” location and it has a fabulous old New York wood bay window. It feels like a place from another era. The neighborhood is very modern now, and busy, so it is fun to have that “old place” in the area that everyone knows about.

Truffles or pralines:
Truffles are my favorite.

White, milk or dark:
Dark chocolate, for sure!

Caramel, ganache or cream:
Salty caramel, or ganache are both wonderful.

The perfect pairing:
A tender, not too sweet shortcake biscuit with fresh, local strawberries and unsweetened whipped cream; gingerbread cake with lemon sauce and unsweetened whipped cream; sweet and tart, or rich plus salty.

I'd love to create a flavor for:
A new muffin for President Obama.

Kitchen essentials:
I just love tongs and use them for everything—and my digital gram scale. I also can’t live without my super sharp, Japanese serrated bread knife.

Style essentials:
If I am wearing a beautiful pair of boots, a decent pair of jeans, a stylish, fitted top, and interesting artist-made jewelry, I am happy.

Pastry chefs I admire:
I admire almost all the pastry chefs I meet because training and managing a staff of people on a sugar high is a huge challenge and takes great talent, not to mention being good at making pastry.

I'm most inspired when:
I try delicious food while I am on vacation. I can taste it better then.

How much is too much?
It’s more fun to try lots of small tastes than a huge meal. A giant steak with gigantic side dishes is too much.

Favorite movie snack:
Popcorn shared with my 4-year-old son. He holds the container.

Guilty pleasure:
A chocolate hazelnut biscotti with a well made single espresso at 4 p.m.

Other favorites:
Traveling abroad; visiting bakeries around the world; visiting playgrounds in foreign cities and observing “kid culture” with my 4-year-old son; running in Central Park in the spring; dining in Japan.

The curious case of the shrinking cupcake

It used to be that Amy's cupcakes were so big, you couldn't fit your mouth around one of them. This was good for gluttonous instincts (guilty). But not so good if you were trying to show a little dignity while chowing down.

But look at this: Amy's cupcakes are now much smaller. In fact, they barely peep out of their liners.

The spendthrift part of me found this disappointing at first. Like I was getting gypped. But the reality is, we don't need softball-sized cupcakes. If Amy can help us with portion control, it's something our dignity and our butts should thank her for. Besides, the uber-moist cake and light buttercream frosting are still divine. Not too sweet. And now, just the right size.

Get the goods, make the goods

Now that you're in a Thanksgiving dinner food coma, shall we contemplate dessert?

These favorite NYC bakers and pastry chefs have new cookbooks out. Drop one in your shopping cart this season.

With a name like Amy's

It has to be good, right? This I know. I've been snacking at Amy's Breads for years. I've had especially good birthday cakes there. But with a name like White Chocolate Cherry Chunker ("chunker" — I love it!), I had to try this cookie.

It's a chunker alright. About five inches in diameter and packed with lots of oats (which, are a Superfood - good for you!), and sprinkled with chunks of creamy white chocolate and chewy sweet-sour cherries. It's a good fix for a Friday afternoon, though I would have liked even more chocolate and cherries in that chunker.

On a side note, I've been loving dried cherries in everything lately, from Alta's spinach salad to Trader Joe's cereal to this month's gorgeous Bon Appetit.

Sweets moratorium

It's been two days without sweets.

Every once in awhile I feel compelled to do the ole detox. Not because my jeans are too tight or that bathing suit season is coming up (though, of course, those things matter and, for the record, my stomach is making an obnoxious display over the top of my jeans). But it just seems unhealthy to eat sweets every day. Every day. It can't be good for you. No matter how good they make you feel.

So I'll do my usual goal of one week without chocolate after dinner, without a cookie fix for the afternoon slump, without French toast at brunch, without a handful of m & m's just because they're there.

So far I've walked by Teuscher (love you, champagne truffles), Amy's Bread (the size of those cinnamon buns…) Something Sweet (sugar cookies that actually taste good!) and Veniero's (another time, cannoli) and forewent a purchase each time. I have even abstained from finishing my chocolate marshmallow eggs that I hand-imported from Wahl's of Buffalo (talk about discipline).

The good thing is, in this town, I know all those sweets will be there when the moratorium is off.

Two days down, five to go…