Gooey (and Delicious) on the Inside

When I lived in Paris, one of the things I missed about American sweets was the utter absurdity. Twinkies. Magnolia cupcakes. Cornflake marshmallow chocolate chip cookies. As lovely and divine as a macaron or chocolate éclair is, sometimes you just want to sink your teeth into something over-the-top decadent.

Enter Gooey on the Inside. These cookies are like the chubby, eccentric love child of Levain and Momofuku: hefty, chockablock, slightly mad, but all kinds of delicious.

And, as you’ll soon see, their mad creator, Kafi Dublin, has just the personality to make these over-the-top cookies absolutely irresistible.

Q: Give us the skinny on Gooey on the Inside!

A: There are two things that I'm innately good at: baking and fashion. I had enough of working in the private sector around idiots with no common sense, so I said it's time to follow my passion. It was the best decision I ever made! As I am fanatical, obsessive compulsive and detailed oriented, I relentlessly worked on perfecting my recipes because failure was not option and I know how brutal NYC foodies and critics can be. And I was not going to fall prey to such criticism.

Q: Let's play a quick game of association. What's the first word that comes to mind when you hear...

Red Velvet= addicted

Peanut Butter=sticky

Birthday Cake= comforting

Honeycomb=unique

Creme Brulée= sophisticated

Chocolate Chip=childhood

Q: You clearly have a penchant for over-the-top flavors. Where do you get your inspiration?

A: Have you seen my closet?! People who know me, know that I am not "normal.” I embrace my eccentricities! I have never been one to follow the crowd and so there was no way due to my DNA that I could create "simple" cookies. Impossible!

Q: How often do you introduce new flavors?

A: Whenever I get inspired. Whenever I eat something that impresses my taste buds, I always think, “How can I take this item's flavor profile and convert it into a cookie?" Buffalo jerky didn't really work out; foie on the other hand... brilliant!

Q: Are there any flavors that you thought would be delicious but just didn't make the cut?  

A: Buffalo jerky, grilled cheese and green tea. Yucky!

Q: Who are some of your baking heroes? 

A: I don't really have any except for my mother. All my memories of " the best things I've ever eaten" come from my mother.

Q:  Where can people find you and your madly delicious cookies? 

A: Currently, they can be purchased on my website: www.gooeyontheinside.com
Starting May 25, until October, I will be at the Hester Street Fair. I'm hoping to open a little dessert "nook" in NYC in the near future.

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 magic of Christina Tosi

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.

Just a little something from Momofuku

Qu’est-ce que c’est??

These funny little balls are wickedly sweet, wacky in conception, perfect over-the-top-deliciousness.

Cake truffles from Momofuku!

I popped into the East Village bakery for a cornflake marshmallow chocolate chip cookie. But, when confronted with the selection, I remembered my friend Mr. B—steadfast source of brilliant music, cocktail and sweets recommendations—telling me I must try Momofuku’s birthday cake truffles.

Still not pleased with the bakery’s decision to individually wrap everything (a disappointing result of the baking no longer being done on the premises), I rationalized that three treats per cellophane baggie is better than one. Besides, it’s my duty to try new things. And listen to Mr. B.


So there I was: with six little cake truffles. Think denser, cakier, sweeter and more granular Munchkins. Genius.

The birthday cake truffles are rainbow cake, vanilla frosting and sprinkles. Eating one is just like being an eight-year-old on a sugar high at a piñata party.

The banana cake truffles are banana cream, hazelnut crunch and gianduja fudge. They're moist little flavor bombs.

The chocolate malt cake and apple pie truffles? A girl can only be so gluttonous. Those, I still have to try.

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.

11 ice cream sandwiches for the books

Emily Luchetti, pastry chef and lucky author of such books as A Passion for Desserts and A Passion for Ice Cream, is having an ice cream sandwich creation contest. It got me to thinking about the possibilities… all the wild, wonderful, over-the-top possibilities. No wonder she wrote a book about it.

Since I don’t really bake, I drew inspiration from my favorite New York and San Francisco cookies and ice cream. The more I thought about it, the harder it became to pick just the right combination. But I think I have some winners. In order from most refined to the most ridiculous, here are my 11 submissions to the contest:

• Il Laboratorio del Gelato lavender gelato sandwiched between two light, airy sugar cookies.

• Ruby & Violette champagne strawberry chocolate chip cookies sandwiching tangerine sorbet.

• Jacques Torres double chocolate chip cookies sandwiching raspberry sorbet.

• Tarallucci e Vino pignolli cookies with vanilla rum gelato and a swirl of caramel.

• Two macadamia and white chocolate chip cookies, sandwiching Grom gianduja ice cream.

• Salted caramel ice cream from Bi-Rite Creamery in between two thin, crisp ginger snaps.

• This Chick Bakes vegan ginger molasses cookies with rum raisin ice cream.

• Bi-Rite Creamery roasted banana ice cream with a spoonful of Nutella, sandwiched between snickerdoodles.

• Chocolate peanut butter chip cookies sandwiching Bi-Rite malted vanilla with peanut brittle and milk chocolate pieces ice cream (hurt me).

• A chocolate chip whopper—either the walnut chocolate chip cookie from Levain or the wheatgerm chocolate chip cookie from Specialty’s—with the middle scooped out, an oversized dollop of toasted walnut gelato dropped in, and then the cookie bit placed on top again, like a dainty little chapeau.

• Momofuku compost cookies (pretzels, chips, coffee grinds, toffee bits, chocolate chips) sandwiching Ben & Jerry’s triple caramel chunk ice cream, dipped and frozen in chocolate.

Momofuku day-olders

Are we really that insatiable that we eat up every last cookie, cupcake and fudge brownie that a bakery pulls from the oven every day? Even with my own bottomless stomach, I doubt it.

So what do they do with all of those buttery, sugary, eggy baked goods? At Momofuku, I was thrilled to see them pawning a big bowl of day-old cookies, individually wrapped in cellophane baggies and selling for just 85¢ each.

It immediately pushed me into that psychotic bargain mentality where the only thing that mattered was taking advantage of a good deal. Did I need four cookies? No. Did my butt? Hell, no. But did I buy four? Yes. Because four ginorous, butter-laden baked goods for less than $4 was just too good to pass up. I had to have them.

Ostensibly, two were for Bennie (blueberry and cream and the compost) and two were for me (same flavors). But Bennie only wanted one. Which left me with three.


What’s a Sweet Freak to do? It’s been six looooong months without a Momofuku cookie—not that I’ve been hurting for sweets. But I sure was eager for my first hit of Momofuku.
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It probably wasn’t the wisest choice to break the drought with day-olders. Bennie and I agreed that you can taste a difference. Not so much in the flavor, but in the texture. They’re predictably harder and less melt-in-your-mouth buttery.

And yet, they’re still delicious. Heavy, dense, chockfull of butter and other naughty bits, to me, they’re true New York icons.

A plus tard, New York

New York, it’s been sweet. You will always own my heart. But Paris has my soul, and I’m going over to live there for awhile.


I’m going to miss my very best favorites—Batch, Bespoke, Kee’s, Momofuku—and I will be late to some new discoveries. But I will be back, with skat, and hungry to explore.

Morning at Momofuku

The thing with Momofuku Milk Bar & Bakery is to go in the morning. That's when things are warm and fresh out of the oven and the crowds are nil.

Bennie and I met there for breakfast, looking forward to the banana and blueberry cream cookies, respectively. Sadly they weren't there. But we didn't starve.

Ben got the pork and egg bun.

I got a loaf of banana green curry bread.
It was super moist and banana-y on the inside, a nice crunch of crust on the outside. Washed down with melted marshmallow cereal milk soft serve.

Even though I consumed my day's calories before getting to work, I took some cookies to go.

207 Second Avenue, entrance on 13th Street

Sweet Freak Smackdown: East vs. West

The Willage has always been my go-to neighborhood for sweets. But, like a dark horse, the East Village has come from nowhere with chocolate, cookies and cupcakes of heroic portions and flavors.

So, which side of town is the best sweets destination? A Sweet Freak Smackdown:

The dessert bar & spin-off:
p*ong and Batch v. ChikaLicious and ChikaLicious Dessert Club

I've always been a sucker for Pichet Ong's sweet-savory combinations. It started at p•ong with a three-course dessert-as-dinner feast: a walnut-crusted Stilton cheese soufflé with basil-arugula ice cream, a chevre cheesecake croquette and a malted chocolate Bavarian tart served with crunchy caramelized bananas. And my love for his cupcakes—carrot salted caramel, chocolate dragon devil's food cake and others—is no secret. I have an affliction.

But at the original dessert bar, ChikaLicious, Chika and Don Tillman are hardly slouches. Their three-course prix fixe menu starts with an amuse, ends with petit fours, and includes your choice of a gorgeous dessert like brown sugar panna cotta served with grape sorbet, warm chocolate tart with pink peppercorn ice cream and red wine sauce, or fromage blanc island cheese cake served atop a mound of shaved ice. And, knowing that Sweet Freaks sometimes like a treat on the run, their Dessert Club offers heavenly cupcakes, bread puddings and chocolate chip cookies.

Verdict: West Village
At the end of the day, my heart belongs to Pichet.


Cupcake central:
Magnolia v. Butter Lane

We can thank Magnolia (sincerely or facetiously) for taking us on this national cupcake binge. When I first moved to Manhattan, there were no annoying lines at the West Village bakery (just cranky employees) and I quickly became a fan of the ultra sweet pastel cupcakes. Then I got a little sugared out.

Thank goodness new cupcake stations, like the East Village's Butter Lane, have toned down the sweetness and introduced super fine ingredients like French buttercream, farm fresh eggs and pure vanilla. This three-month-old cupcake-only bakery does the neighborhood proud.

Verdict: East Village
Butter Lane kicks butt.


Cookie monsters:
Milk & Cookie v. Momofuku

I really think cookies are my all-time favorite sweet. Classic chocolate chip is hard to beat, but I'm always hungry for experimentation.

I love that Milk & Cookies lets you create your own flavors with killer ingredients like hazelnuts from Bazzini and E.Guittard chocolate, not to mention cappuccino chips, M&Ms and cranberries. Their variety is impressive; quality, top-notch; and the place is just cute.

But, um, Momofuku? Best. Cookies. Ever.

Verdict: East Village
Momofuku's blueberry cream and cornflake marshmallow chocolate chip cookies seal the deal.


For the chocoholic:
Pure Dark & Li-Lac v. Bespoke & Bond Street

Both Villages have seen a lot of chocolate action lately. Alison Nelson's Chocolate Bar spent seven years on Eighth Avenue before high rents last year sent her across town to East Seventh Street. But the East wasn't as kind and just six months later, she closed. Sad, but… she's going to reopen right across the street from her original shop in the West Village.

In the meantime, Pure Dark opened on Bleecker (house specialty: create your own bark with mix-ins like cacao nibs, mango and macadamia nuts), joining Willage staple Li-Lac.

On the eastern side of town, Bond Street Chocolate, home of the gold-dusted deities and tequila truffles, opened on Fourth Street, followed by Bespoke, where you can get the most divine melt-in-your-mouth truffles.

Verdict: East Village
Between Bespoke's strawberry balsamic truffle and Bond Street's chocolate-covered corn nuts, I have my sweet, salty and sour chocolate needs met.

Overall verdict:
East beats West!

Un, deux, trois pommes délicieux

Another place I can cross off my must-go list: Trois Pommes. It only took me a year and a half to get there, but I finally made it since I was doing chocolate recon in Brooklyn. Plus, mom gave me the nudge after she saw the patisserie in the new Food Network Magazine.

With the French name and sophisticated perch in Park Slope, you wouldn’t expect to find such cheeky treats as whoopie pies, Oreo cookies and the “Mostess” cupcake, a dense chocolate cupcake shot through the center with espresso cream filling. But they’re there, and they’re delicious.



So are the classics. Like a good old blueberry muffin, studded with bits of crumbly buttered sugar on top and juicy blueberries inside.


The black and white cookies are gorgeous cakey pieces with sweet frosting on top, and everything else looked divine. But there was only so much I could sample in a sitting. Oink, oink.

260 Fifth Avenue
718.230.3119

Back for sevenths… and eighths

I was kept away from my new favorite cookie...

...by a weeklong business trip (but, while in Toronto, I discovered one of the best chocolatiers ever).

I wasted no time returning to Momofuku this morning. After all, I hadn't sampled the banana cookie yet. (Nor the corn, but I'm saving that for another week.)

Who needs yogurt when you can have warm banana cookies for breakfast?

True to form, the cookie was monstrous, full of flavor, slightly undercooked, and it was oozing butter, leaving a slick residue on my fingertips.

I do love to gush about sweets, but I also have some gripes about the new bakery.

I hate to be one of those bloggers but since they seem to have been taking constructive criticism to heart (they've rearranged the interior layout and, instead of using multiple napkins and paper bags, they're using sanitary gloves and enviro-friendly whopper containers), I've gotta say: their process needs serious attention.

When there are 5 people behind the counter, and 3 people in line, at 9 o'clock in the morning, it shouldn't take 5 minutes to get 2 cookies. It just shouldn't.

But was it worth it? You betcha.

13th and 2nd
212.254.3500

Best. Cookie. Ever.

This is some serious competition.

I had a Levain cookie Saturday night. And six Momofuku cookies last night—with a little help from my friends (thanks, boys).

Serious competition. Momofuku is making a run for Levain’s title of best cookie in the city.

The blueberry cream is like a buttery blueberry muffin. In cookie form.



The double chocolate—the name says it all.



The cornflake marshmallow chocolate chip is sticky, chewy and crunchy.



The peanut butter is a gut-busting nutty, savory treat.



The compost cookie, chock full of pretzels and chips and butterscotch and coffee, was my least favorite. But still. These cookies are it.

13th and 2nd
212.254.3500