2014 Year in Review of NYC's Dessert Offerings

The new year is in full swing and so my bakery reviews of local confections is due as well. I have to say in looking it over I hadn't ventured to as many places. Maybe I was eating "healthier" or maybe I was baking at home more. But that doesn't mean that sweets weren't had and I wouldn't take the time to tell you the good, bad, and the unfortunate.

Here goes...

Ivy Bakery - Formally a storefront in SoHo Daniellan now offers her wonderful desserts in Brooklyn at Root Hill Cafe.

Highlights: Everything gooie! The red velvet gooie has a blood red color and good texture just like a bar. The butter gooie is still my fave of the batch. The green tea pie is quite good as Daniellan's crusts are fantastically flaky and tasty. Dunno if she uses high-class butter or lard but whatever it is keep doing it Daniellan!

Dominique Ansel - I tried Ansel's stuff before the whole rat debacle happened. So I feel somewhat comfortable noting what I did enjoy.

Highlights: The magic souffle. The orange in the brioche "shell" had a nice tang but the chocolate mousse inside is the star of the show. The mousse was wet like an undercooked bread pudding it holds semi-firm and is dense and delicious and not too chocolatey or dark chocolate flavored. However it's pretty costly (and small) at $7. Also finally tried the Cronut (Milk & Honey edition)! The FauxNuts have NOTHING on this one. Perfect consistency with the interior being very much like a nice chewy croissant and the exterior perfectly fried like a doughnut so it has a nice crunch. And the cream inside was tasty, sweet, and drizzly through the flaky layers. The inside of the cream was a bit oily so it ran, but it was good. However, I dunno if this is wait in line for hours good.

Red Rooster - Marcus Samuelsson's restaurant was a place I visited on several occasions this year for restaurant week and press dinners. Usually the desserts do not blow me away, however...

Highlights: ... the sweet potato filled doughnuts were perfection. Screw munchkins, get these light and lightly sugared tasty rounds coupled with a nice frothy sweet potato cream that oozes out when squishing your doughnut so it fills your mouth with tastiness. A sweet cream was served as a dollop on the side.

Silk Cakes - Ever since Silk Cakes opened up in Forest Hills (not far from my place in Queens) I have made a point to go on walks with a friend just to stop by their bakery and reward myself post-walk with milk cakes and/or cupcakes!

Highlights: Yuzu cake (kind of citrusy with lemony/limey) with green tea buttercream and green tea truffle in the middle. The cake was solid texture, nice subtle green tea flavors in the truffle and frosting. And the frosting was perfect, super smooth, best when room temperature (not when cold) and is like velvety perfection but filling (hence the name Silk Cakes). Can I say it again? I LOVE the frosting. I also tried the chocolate cupcake with semi-sweet chocolate truffle inside and green tea icing on top. I am addicted to this icing. So good and smooth.

Another addiction? Their milk cakes! The cinnamon milk cake which was reminiscent of a cinnamon roll. It's on the light and airy inside with the right amount of a sweet brown sugar/cinnamon swirl. Much better than a dense Cinnabon roll I tell you. By years end I had tried ALL the milk cakes from the cinnamon to banana, to green tea w/ blueberries and adore them all fantastic with tea. And again, a nice post-walk treat for yourself.

Trois Pommes - This patisserie is now closed.

Lowlights: A friend said she enjoyed their red velvet twinkie and it was fine. It had a solidred velvet balance and taste and the filling is nice, not too much could actually use more on the chocolate/red velvet side since there's so much cake and is light in cream cheese taste.

Cafe Glechik - The owners have Ukranian ancestry and displayed some of their hometown food at Village Voice's annual Choice Eats event last year.

Highlights: I pretty much repeatedly passed this booth for their Napoleon Cake. It was one of those eyes are bigger than your stomach scenarios. I wish I could've eaten more of that massive phyllo & vanilla cream layered goodness. Light, yet filling. Sweet yet not overwhelming. Fantastic.

Hill Country BBQ - I go for the brisket and the green bean casserole but Hill Country is known for their award-winning desserts.

Highlights: A friend shared some banana pudding and chocolate nut pudding. When having the pudding you must have it with the cookies that goes with them. The chocolate comes with chocolate wafers and the banana with Nilla wafers. If you're a fan of banana then the banana chunks in the pudding will be nice and creamy. However, this has to be eaten relatively quickly as the banana tends to lose water and this makes the overall pudding consistency a bit less solid so that you'll be dealing with chunky bits versus watery surroundings. The chocolate was HEAVY but delicious with the nuts, milk chocolate pudding and the cookies inside. Would recommend sharing the chocolate, the banana I could eat alone.

Old Fashioned Doughnuts - While their storefront has closed down this place popped up at the LIC and/or Astoria Fleas over the summer.

Highlights: Joining in on the FauxNut craze OFD's version was the Cream Croughnut. To me it was one of the better fake Cronuts I have had. It's more croissant like on the interior and is baked not fried. It's not dry like the Crumbnut and not too hard yet sweet unlike Trois Pommes version. It is quite soft and there's a lot of cream so it can get messy with the powdered sugar on top. But a very good find if you don't want something fried.

Sweet Muse - This is a new pop up available for purchase online. They specialize in brownies and I got to partake at LIC Flea last summer.

Highlights: I tried their cashew and caramel fudge brownie. It's a large brownie and the caramel had hardened but was still gooey and worked well with the overall brownie. You know I am all about the texture for brownies/blondies and this one had that dense quality I enjoy. Owner Laura Siner offers a wide range of flavors to choose from. There are also inspirational messages packed with the brownie in a mini ziplock.

Two Little Red Hens - This place may be known for their pies but their cupcakes are also very, very good.

Highlights: The chocolate and peanut butter cupcake, chocolate cake that was perfectly moist reminding me of a homemade Duncan Hines texture with peanut butter inside as filling and a fantastically smooth and creamy icing of chocolate and PB swirl.

That is not to be out shined by the pumpkin spice cupcake with pumpkin apricot spice frosting. Wonderful! Red Hens cupcakes can give Sugar Sweet Sunshine a run for the money in terms of the quality of the cake. The frosting was nice, not too thick or buttercream like and I like the added sweetness alternative from the apricot in the spice frosting. Well done. Large size, wish they had a more "regular sized cupcake." But very good.

Kicky's Kitchen - Is the cupcake dead? Not in NYC apparently. New pop up I tried at Madison Square Eats last summer.

Highlights: The pina colada caketail (cupcake with alcohol). Kicky's thing is making cupcakes out of cocktails! And this entails a cake with pineapple and coconut liquer (and some shredded coconut), and buttercream with a rum floater. It is not heavily alcoholic and you'll enjoy the tropical taste. It was fluffy and a reasonable sized cupcake. The cake itself was springy and the buttercream thick and sweet. I tried a taste of the car bomb (had chocolate stout in the cake) which tasted way more alcoholic than the pina colada.

Macaron Parlour - This place is one of my favorite bakeries and makes the best range of French macarons that I've had as far as I'm concerned. But I am open for others trying to persuade me otherwise.

Highlights: I retasted the Giggity macaron, which is a chocolate macaron with chocolate, caramel and peanut filling. Kinda reminiscent of a Snickers in macaron form. Fan-tastic. But would I expect anything less from Macaron Parlour? I think not.

Molly's Cupcakes & Milk & Cookies Bakery - See my May 26th cupcake crawl post for info on these. They were by far the best things on the crawl.

Chloe Doughy - While this isn't a bakery Chloe Doughy does warrant noting. I won a sample of this dough from the NYC Bake Sale raffle. Basically you sign up for Chloe Doughy and get two doughs (one new flavor for the month and the staple of chocolate chip). I'd recommend this as a cool gift to someone who enjoys baking. Like moi!

Highlights: The chocolate chip was divine. While the process of making it is reminiscent of Duncan Hines it is also distinct in the taste, quality of chocolate, and the fantastic smell. It's a standard chocolate chip that stands out as well and the dough held up well after 2 weeks in the fridge.

The lemon lavendar seemed to dry out a bit after two weeks and this may be because it's more a shortbread type cookie. Instructions say to add sparkling sugar and whipped lemon icing. The dough is fragrant like sorbet and the lemon in the cookie is quite light which is why the lemon icing may be necessary for taste. And to me the subtlety of the shortbread alone was enough to have me wanting more.

Sprinkles - You may know them as the place where you can get cupcakes via ATM. They have branched out form California to the fancy areas of Manhattan.

Highlights: Had the mini lemon cupcake with lemon icing and an unnecessary candy disk on top of the cupcake. The lemon flavor comes through mainly in the whipped icing, nice and frothy, and is subtle in the cake itself but definitely there. I'd get again, but a bit pricey for the mini size at $2. Would prefer it to be $1.50 at most, but then again I was in the UES.

La Toulousaine - I don't have a lot in terms of bakeries in Morningside Heights. I had stumbled upon this place and decided, what the heck?

Lowlights: I tried the pistachio and regular "madeleine's." (Notice the quotes.) They were massive and taste less like a traditional madeleine than a kind of pound cake in madeleine form. Mind you madeleine's are buttery cake but this was not the same. The pistachio was not that pistachio. Not bad but not like the formal madeleine. This is definitely not your typical patisserie. For that I'd suggest going elsewhere.

Le Maison du Macaron - I've been here before and being in the Chelsea area they don't only have French macarons but many freshly made goodies available every day.

Highlights: The key Lime Pie macaron definitely has the essence of key lime pie down. Key lime in the filling, green cookie with graham cracker crumble sprinkled on it. Good stuff. Had it twice. 

Vendome Macaron Bar - I'll admit to being a bit biased because the second time I went to their booth (or tent) at Smorgasburg the vendor got a bit testy. Could've been the heat but still...customer service.

Highlights/Lowlights: Their Reese's peanut butter macaron does taste like a Reese's peanut butter cup. Win! The claim to fame for Vendome is dying their macarons and the orange cookie captures the peanut butter and the chocolate ganache filling is tasty. I later had the salted caramel (light blue cookie) good but this one was not memorable. Their nutella macaron was okay as well. I had to freeze it after it was melting so may not have gotten the best of it as the nutella overwhelmed in the chilled/hardened filling.

Treat House - This place is known for varied rice krispy treats. And that's pretty much it.

Lowlights: For me a rice krispy treat is pretty darn simple to make. Add some more bits into it and it may not be spectacular but fine. I had a chocolate pretzel rice krispy treat that was very chocolatey with a chocolate frosting and flavorless pretzel. Chocolate chips were included in the rice krispy and it was aight. I also had the salted caramel which was fine but I'm also a rice krispy purist. And for $2 each they are small for what you get (and could easily make at home) but service is nice and they keep well.

Levain Bakery - This is the big a** cookie place. Cookies the size of your head I tell you!

Highlights: On a splurge I got the pumpkin loaf, deliciously cinnamony, moist. The perfect quality for bread with a nice crisp crust. I am also quite happy because they gave me the "butt" of the loaf so I got a hefty piece. :-)

Kitchenette Uptown - I used to go here more since it's near my job but the lack of scones in the morning (they make 6 a day) and the increasing prices for watered down cider have me going less and less.

Lowlights: Their cakes and desserts are said to be made fresh everyday. I had their red velvet cupcake and I am sorry to say people that it is not true red velvet! While it's a moist cake with creamy icing (that is also not cream cheese). The red velvet has no chocolate flavor, is closer to pink than red in color. So save your pennies if you have a red velvet fix and get something else. Now their big-as-your-hand cookies, namely PB was very good.

Epicerie Boulud - The director of my company brought two pies in from this fancy place. That means she loves us.

Highlights/Lowlights: The chocolate pecan pie was dense, super sweet, and very good. It's definitely a sinful and good dessert. The dark chocolate is so rich and wonderful...

The apple crumb pie however was dry. If you want some good apple crumb I suggest Little Pie Company's sour cream apple. Boulud's apple crumbs were a bit on the dry side and apple inside is fine and cinnamony but nothing overly special.

2013 Year in Review of NYC’s Dessert Offerings (2 of 2)

Fairytale Brownies: Brownies sent via mail? Yeah, I'd be suspect too, especially individually packaged and mass distributed but these brownies were amazingly good and like getting some freshly made. Chewy not so much fudgy, chocolatey, and a variety of flavors in bite-sized morsels (to be consumed in a speedy manner) are a treat for those who receive them. An author sent a bunch of these minis to an editor at my office and after one I had to get a couple more, for posterity. I sampled the caramel which had a line of caramel in the middle and the walnut. These brownie bites literally melted in my mouth upon eating. I would purchase dozens of these for myself and friends, but mainly for myself. (Minis come in a variety of flavors such as chocolate chip, raspberry swirl, peanut butter, expresso, and cream cheese as well as others. They also sell blondies and cookies.)

Ivy Bakery: Another interviewed vendor. Daniellan was nice enough to answer questions right around her 13th anniversary celebration. The standout item are the butter gooies and this summer Daniellan had cinnamon butter gooies. In general the butter gooie is a bar with butter and buttermilk, add in some cinnamon and it has a nice taste that ramps it up a notch in terms of reminding you of cake or coffee cake to be more precise. On a savory note: the vegan items available at Ivy Bakery are fantastic! Daniellan's crust on the spinach & cheese quiche was superior to any I've had and certainly any I have made making it the standout part of that dish. And the vegan mac n' cheese?! Yes, vegan mac n' cheese has me a convert for something that delicious that doesn't quite remind you of old school baked mac n' cheese but something a bit tangier with some kick to it and the addition of soy meat, whoa on all levels.

Pain D'Avignon: Another Smorgasburg find! The bread pudding with creme anglaise. I was eyeing this and kept, purposely, walking by the booth. It looked like it was made in a gigantic loaf pan since it holds the shape of a long loaf of bread, yet, and yet, it had the perfect bread pudding consistency and holds up well outdoors. It was solid but moist like bread pudding should be, had chunks of apples in it that were a tad tart so guessing granny smiths. There was also a lemony zing from either juice or zest but not too heavy. A great creaminess to it and heavy stuff so it's filling as a meal in itself and the portions (for $4) were wonderful. Love it!

Trois Pommes Patisserie: A co-worker shared another Cronut knockoff from this bakery in Brooklyn. Trois Pommes was filled with a creamy (kind of pudding-like) chocolate and had a harder shell and soft yet dense interior. This faux Cronut had more of a croissant flavor compared to the Crumbs doughnut flavored Crumbnut. Trois Pommes version was not very sweet which is why the chocolate ratcheted it up and the chocolate was in spades! Lots of it in the middle and between a couple layers. I prefer the Crumbs bavarian cream since it's sweeter but this is good for people who like less sweet items.

Tonnie's Minis: I like visiting the bakeries in and around Harlem and so had to make time to go to Tonnies. I purchased the sweet potato cupcake, which was adequate. Like Red Rooster the cream cheese icing was fabulous but there was a tad bit too much spice in the cupcake, perhaps too much clove? There was a slightly moist, crumbly texture which was okay but not amazing and the cupcake did contain bits of sweet potato. Perhaps their minis, not regular sized cupcakes, contain moisture better in the cake? A find cupcake but not the best NYC has to offer.

Chokolat: Again, a patisserie. However, this was a very disappointing experience for me. I got their brownie, which was huge for $2, but lackluster. What did it have? A chocolatey taste. It had the look of a dense brownie. But it did not have the goods of a good brownie. Texture makes huge difference when it comes to brownies and the texture was way too cakey for me which leads to a kind of dry tasting feel to the overall confection, meaning you need liquids to even get the darn thing down. There's another Chokolat a few blocks south of the one I got it from (closer to 125th Street) and perhaps that place makes it fresher so that I wouldn't get day-old goods.

Macaron Parlour: Like with Butter & Scotch I kinda went to town when Macaron Parlour popped up at Grub Street and Madison Square Eats last summer. And so the list goes:

• The 'Elvis' (peanut butter & caramelized bananas) macaron. Amazing! They have yet to let me down in terms of the balance of flavors in their macarons and this one is just phenomenal with the exterior crisp to the cookie and internal softness and that interior to the sandwich of the French macaron that imbues the flavor desired. I tasted the bananas and peanut butter in this one for sure, which has come to define the late King.
• The caramel apple was PHENOMENAL. (caps intended) This French macaron had sweet apples in the macaron so it was like an apple pie. I don't know how they do it but they really capture their flavors so that tastes natural. God, they're good.
• The s'mores macaron had dark chocolate and marshmallow inside the filling with a brown sugar cookie and honey cookie sandwiched together. It was fine but not my fave because of flavor combo, not necessarily the execution. The brown sugar is somewhat intense in this one from the cookie.
• The Giggity which also had marshmallow inside with chocolate but different taste from the s'more, again not a stand out for me.
• The red velvet which I still and will presumably always love. That cream cheese filling and the cookie are just divine reminding me of a good red velvet. I should bring these to my grandma and hear her verdict on them.

Levain Bakery: What defines Levain? Big ass cookies, that's what. At first I thought I was staring at scones until I realized these were the cookies (at $4 a pop). I got my cookies right out the oven so the chocolate chip walnut cookie (trademark) was melty and gooey. Even the next day the crispy exterior was no force for the chewy interior of the cookie cooled down. Delicious and very filling. A nice splurge but nothing orgasmic in terms of pricing. I may still go to old reliable Insomnia which is cheaper and closer, but Levain is worth a look-see and a once-in-awhile splurge for that cookie.

Fruition Chocolate: Their toasted white chocolate and milk chocolate are delectable. Fruition even placed in the International Chocolate Awards for their white chocolate. Their confections melt in your mouth, without the granular texture of processed chocolate, and the white chocolate has a slight dulce de leche taste to it. Milk chocolate is just fan-freaking tastic. So good. And I have to thank Jackie for introducing me to Fruition at Chocabaret.

Bibingka-esk.com: This is a Filipino dessert and I wonder what type of flour is used because the texture reminded me of a financier, which is made with almond flour. It is a homegrown business and these are quite tasty with a good consistency. I tried the minis with coconut (such a great combo) and chocolate chips. The chocolate chips overwhelmed lots of the flavor so I'd suggest some of the more subtle ones without chocolate.

Thumbs Cookies: Another new business at Grub Street. I tried the thumbs pie (two cookies put together with frosting). These are cute size, small like your thumb hence the name, and is basically a sugar covered shortbread that has a nice, buttery flavor. The filling got lost in the rest of the cookie which may be a good thing but this is a homemade dessert that definitely has that taste to it.

Eric Kayser Artisan Boulanger: And we have, yet another patisserie people. This one opened up in midtown right across from Bryant Park and is in good company with Lady M, Pain Quotidien and other sweeteries. On a walk one morning I decided to stop in and try their financiers (plain, chocolate, and pistachio). The pistachio was my fave for the nice flavor, and usually I'm not digging pistachio but the melding of flavors here was good. Just like Financier's financier there's a good balance of sugar, almond flour, and butter in small, one bite quantities. It's a nice little nubbin' of a treat. The chocolate was too chocolatey and rich for me. I like my financiers with less flavors taking away from the butter. Their plain was fine but I kind of prefer Financier's plain because of the softer quality to the cake. In addition, because I can't just get one thing at a French bakery, I got a brioche de cannelle which has cinnamon and apple. The brioche de cannelle was quite tasty but should have more bread & apple filling than crumb topping. It's a nice dessert or even brunch time treat with the brioche, cinnamon, and apples working together like a lighter fritter with the crumb topping that isn't too sweet but sorta thick. Very small in size too for the $4 price tag but delectable nonetheless.

Hot Bread Kitchen: Many of these may not be desserts but they are baked and delicious and they need to be mentioned! As you saw in my Tour of HBK I was lucky to try their freshly baked bread and more and more and more! Since then I've been addicted to their stuff since venturing during my lunch hour downtown just to get some filled m'smen and pain de muertos and Nan-E-Barbari! Cause I need this bread with my tea, people. If you want a breakdown see my tour but good God also hit up their store in East Harlem or visit them at the green markets they're at during the week. And get yourself some filled m'smen (it has kale and butter!).

Vosges Haut Chocolate: If you like Godiva then Vosges may give it a run for the money. One of the fancier flavors at Vosges is the Milk Chocolate Bacon bar. Yup, bacon is all the rage these days. But a friend introduced me to Vosges because of my love for the combo of chocolate and peanut butter in their Organic Peanut Butter BonBon Bar (which is a big seller). Vosges is luxury chocolate and you definitely taste it as the back of the packaging of any bar encourages you to invoke all your senses to the sensuality of this particular (and somewhat pricey at $8-9/bar) chocolate. The PB BonBon lives up to the hype. In one weekend I had Reese's and then the BonBon and kept going back to the BonBon bar because it had a richer/deep milk chocolate (45% cacao) taste and the PB is within the bar itself, not a slather of PB in or atop the bar. Decadent, y'all! I also had the Bapchi's Caramel Toffee Bar which is good but I may not be the biggest toffee fan when it comes to my chocolate. And I also recently had the Barcelona Bar with hickory smoked almonds and sea salt and lordy I think this is a new fave. The crunch of the almonds with the tinge of smoke to it and the sea salt with this chocolate was dinner for me one night. A $9 chocolate bar dinner that I will not soon forget. Indulge on this, y'all. At least once if you can.

Crumbs: With many places in the U.S. let alone NYC going into the Cronut craze why wouldn't Crumbs through their dough in the ring? Theirs is named the Crumbnut and I would recommend the one with bavarian cream. The cream in particular had a nice vanilla-y taste to it. Even with the flaky layers added in the Crumbnut tasted more doughnut than croissant but still very tasty and soft once you chewed it. Though it's somewhat hard to cut. The plain Crumbnut with powdered sugar is good as well but the bavarian cream makes the other Crumbnut. The plain Crumbnut tasted a bit dry without the cream in comparison.

2013 Year in Review of NYC’s Dessert Offerings (1 of 2)

Another year, more bakeries, patisseries, restaurants, etc. More bakeries to try. More bakeries pop up. Just, more sugar in general. And the cycle continues. Note that not all of the confections I list may be located in NYC but for the most part, this was a good year in desserts, y'all.

City Bakery: I'd been meaning to partake in City Bakery's Hot chocolate month (every February), so when I was in Manhattan one Sunday I had the caramel which was light on the caramel but their hot chocolate is THICK. The homemade marshmallow totally makes it though and amps up the sweetness. Did I mention it was rich as hell? And you know what else they have? Gargantuan cookies! The chocolate chip is worth sharing. This cookie was sweet and rich and the center had a doughy like taste to it that was additionally sweet. This is a cookie where you'd need milk or something not sweet liquid-wise to tone down the sugar. Everything was good, but, and maybe I didn't say this, rich. Keep in mind when going to City Bakery all their sweets are large in size, so go in ready to eat hard or go with friends.

Zugar Haus: I don't normally win things but I did win Shay's Valentine's Day pack! Which amped me up to do an interview with Shay for my site. Everything Shay makes is made with care and you can taste it in her chocolate Cassis Sables w/ Raspberry Jam, the perfect cookie for chocolate lovers as the chocolate is dark and intense! The raspberry jam has some seeds and is tart working well with the semi-sweetness of the chocolate cassis sable (the sable has creme de cassis, orange zest & orange blossom water which you taste hints of for the added tart factor). This cookie was fudgy like a bar not so much chewy which was a nice surprise. Because of the flavorfulness of this cookie eating half may be satisfactory (again, sharing means caring) and I'd highly recommend with some tea. On to Shay's chocolate dipped lavender sables hearts--my a fave. This crumbly cookie was light on the orange essence because of the orange blossom water and zest that complimented the lavender blossom. Add in the dark chocolate edge with sea salted orange peels on the side as a lovely touch and interesting contrast taste-wise for the citrus, floral, and butter.

Coolhaus: It was summer. The truck was near my office. So that could only lead to me purchasing something. I tried their strawberry mojito sorbet...wonderfully refreshing. This sorbet had bits of mint in it that are signature to the mojito cocktail and a wonderfully fruity flavor to it sans alcohol. It was sweet and had the right texture for sorbet. An excellent treat for a warm day.

Cannelle Patisserie: New French patisseries seem to be popping up all over NYC. This one is in Jackson Heights. It's a small pastry shop that offers the whole shebang,  savory quiches, sweets, and coffee. Lots of coffee. Their range of cakes are fabulously light and moist and small. The red velvet was a bit dense for cake, but not too much so that the balance of the slightly heavier cream cheese icing was in every bite of cake. Cannelle's prices were very reasonable, especially if you compare getting the same dessert in Manhattan or Brooklyn would've been twice the price. I got a mini red velvet cake for $3 and it filled me up.

Dauphin Bakery: Dauphin Bakery is known for making gluten-free, soy-free, egg free, peanut free, and dairy free cookies. I tried their salted chocolate chunk and though it was moist (the reason I purchased it) I'm sorry to say that the taste was all kinds of wrong. Not good as a cookie and especially as a gluten-free cookie. There was a chalky taste that made me think paper/cardboard and it stays with you. And an overly grainy texture to this cookie is not pleasant.  Perhaps it's the hemp milk or buckwheat, tapioca, rice flour mix or cane juice and such but I have made gluten free cookies and tried some that have been SUPERIOR. Perhaps it was just a bad day for a cookie.

Whimsy & Spice: When at Smorgasburg I try LOTS of sweets I'm unable to get since they may not have storefronts yet. And thus, I tasted Whimsy & Spice's espresso dulce de leche brownie. Delicious! Moist and almost fudgy, perfect for a brownie. The brownie had chunks of dulce de leche inside and the espresso flavor is hinted at but does not overwhelm, which is great for coffee haters like myself. This was a great find. I also tried their honey lavender shortbread, which was quite good as well with the perfect shortbread texture. I hope to try much more from Whimsy & Spice, soon.

Butter & Scotch: Sooo, I may have invested a good amount of income into desserts from Butter & Scotch (Alison Kave & Keavy Blueher's joint venture) this summer. No regrets on that, people. In order, I had:

• Strawberry/Darryl Pie Shake! A new confection that includes Alison's (First Prize Pies) strawberry basil pie (which in itself is an amazingly deliciously tangy summer pie) in a strawberry/vanilla milkshake with crust on top. This jammy is huge. Great big chunks of pie inside make it like a liquid pie a la mode. Love it, love it, love it, want more OF it. When I returned to Smorgaburg for the 2nd time no pie shakes to be had. But I remember. Oh, I remember.
• Apricot poppyseed mini cupcake that I liked because y'alls know I enjoy my citrus. which I liked. Subtle apricot taste in the icing which was on point! Icings are hard and Keavy does them well. And the poppyseeds worked outside of the standard lemon poppyseed items we may see.
• Lemon lavender cupcake where the lavender is in the frosting and the lemon was also very light in the cake itself.
• Sticky toffee trifle was a bit warm by the time I had it at Smorgasburg but still ridiculously sweet. One of the sweetest trifles I've had with nuts and all kinds of sticky goodness. Be warned this is a very filling dessert with cream, toffee date cake that includes candied pecans/walnuts, so make sure to have room left in your tummy or refrigerate soon after consuming.
• Maple bacon cupcake at Grub Street which is a treat if you love your maple because you get it and then some in this cupcake.

Itizy Ice Cream Truck: Congrats to Itizy for their 2013 Vendy Award for Best Dessert! Itizy regularly comes to my neck of the woods so I tried two of their frozen treats. I was not a huge fan of their strawberry balsamic sorbet which was quite icy in texture and not too sweet. The balsamic was indiscernible in this treat and I couldn't get past the icy texture for the sorbet. I ventured for their ice cream the next time I passed them by and had the hazelnut special. While the texture was fine for ice cream I have to say I wasn't too enthused and couldn't recall the taste several minutes after eating it. The hazelnuts were chewy but quite soft due to being in ice cream, and they were also not pralined or sweetened in any way. While there was a lack of sweetness I can say there was also a lack of taste of preservatives which was very nice. It did taste more natural but not very filling.

People's Pops:  Had the strawberry balsamic pop at Smorgasburg DUMBO which was very good and very red! I tasted balsamic in this and along with the strawberries reminded me of those frozen ices on sticks I'd get as a kid. Sidenote: I found it funny people on line at Smorgasburg  thought these guys shaving ice was "so cool" and new. Have they not seen the Latino ladies on street corners in summer shaving ice?

Empire Cake NYC: Otherwise known as the other place you can get homemade twinkies in lieu of the Hostess shortage. I had the mini red/white cookie which is really cake with white icing on it that is chewy and tasty. It won't make you think red velvet immediately but is a solid red cake with chocolate essence. But it may not hold up for red velvet traditionalists. To pair up I had the black/white cookie which is the same deal as the red velvet but with a yellow cake and chocolate icing. Very nice in mini/tiny doses. I also liked the Homemade Empire Cake Twix with dark chocolate. Again, cookie was more like a thin cake so it was soft and easy to eat with a crapload of caramel. A nice confection to have with milk but melts super fast so do not eat on a humid day. You've been warned. Also got their sandwich peanut butter cookie with icing inside which was fine. The cookie was super chewy/flaky and crumbled in my mouth but the icing was meh. In this case the peanut butter cookie may have been good simply as is. Marble shortbread cookie is also fine. It didn't have the greatest flavors in the marble/chocolate resulting in a more bland cookie yet it had a somewhat solid, not flaky, shortbread texture.

Red Rooster: As part of my dessert for Restaurant Week I indulged in the banana cupcake. The cake was fine, not overly ripe with banana flavors, somewhat moist and all, but the icing, the cream cheese icing was fluffy/creamy perfection! Loved it especially with the pralined walnut on top. I could eat a bowl of that stuff on it's own. Mesa Grill: Again with the Restaurant Week! My dessert of choice was the chocolate bread pudding with chocolate ganache and passion fruit. It was good, and chocolatey as heck, but it was not solid like bread pudding should be. In fact it was a gooey chocolate mess. Great for chocolate overload but will not travel well.

Insomnia Cookies: My one gripe with Insomnia is that they show the calorie count for each cookie. Who wants to know how many calories they are consuming while enjoying a cookie?! Be it the size of your palm or the size of your face?!? For me, Insomnia is still one of the top cookie places around for it being good, basic, comforting, and warm, just like Mom (or grandmom or even grandpa [no gender roles here]) makes. Their newest location is at Columbia and that means good and bad things for my willpower for cookies. On my first of several visits I got the ginormous peanut butter chocolate butter cup cookie which was perfection. All kinds of moist and chewy with the big melted chocolate bits on top of PB cups. And what we love about Insomnia is that the cookies are slightly undercooked so that they maintain a good chewiness to them since they come out of an oven/heater! And during winter that means all kinds of comfort. One of my go-to cookies there is the (smaller) peanut butter cookie. Your mouth is filled with all kinds of sweet, melty PB flavors.

Doughnut Plant: I realized I really enjoy DP's doughseeds. These are like mini filled donuts that they vary up during the seasons. Particularly I  liked the coconut lime doughseed available last summer. Fluffy yeast doughnut covered in glaze and shredded coconut with a tangy lime custard inside. And then in fall there was the pumpkin doughseed...good lord! So fantastic. Perfection. I love the doughseeds now. The pumpkin custard inside was deliciously light, the doughnut was yeast, and the pumpkin seeds on top were crispy and toasted to perfection so they had a great crunch. This was SUPERIOR to the pumpkin pie doughnut at Dunkin Donuts. Doughnut Plant continues to impress.

Breads Bakery: At Super Duper Market I had a sample of their chocolate rugelach, which was like a chocolate croissant! Other samples of their bread were crusty and delishly flaky. This means I have to try more buttery goods from here.

Jack's ChedBread: ChedBread's staple is cornbread, a variety of it both savory and more like the sweet type you may be used to. Me being me I went straight for the plain with the buttery honey crumble on top that was reminiscent of down home cornbread.

Sweet & Simple: Michelle has a storefront in CT and I went partaking in her lemon scone. It reminded me more of a muffin in texture than a scone but the flavors and glaze were really good and not too citrusy. A great lightness to the lemon that stays with you in terms of the sugar and citrus balance.

Lady M Confections: Mille crepe cake means hello pricey! But it was lovely! And I felt very fancy eating it at Lady M across from Bryant Park. The mille crepe cake is a couple dozen layers of crepes with light creme filling resulting in a decadent and light dessert. So delicious and nice to walk off on a sunny day in Manhattan. You will not feel like a glutton after eating this but you will spend some ca$h. I also purchased the apple galette with apricot glaze. The galette is basically an apple tart with a kind of cinnamony dough under the sliced apples and above the crispy flaky crust. A fantastic mix and familiar flavors with apple and cinnamon rarely ever going wrong together. Lady M may be a nice place to splurge or take someone you really, really like on a date. Hint, hint, dudes.

Meryienda Gluten Free Bakeshop: I met Meryienda's founder Elvira via Cookie Swap NYC and when I had some shortbread I needed to bake and give away she was up for 'em. And kindly gave me some of her gluten free items in return. Thanks, Elvira! Unfortunately, or fortunately, it being holiday season you know sugary treats are in full effect so I shared with my co-workers. But I did save the coconut dream bars for myself. And Dream is right! A kind of crumbly cookie crust (akin to that from key lime pies and such) and atop that a mass of shredded coconut, chocolate chips, and other hearty goodness and you will enjoy it. Gluten free means sans gluten but it doesn't mean no taste and Elvira's coconut dream bar was on par with the coconut dream bar I've had at Amy's Bread back in 2010 (yeah, I remember that far back).

2012 Year in Review of NYC's Baked Good Offerings

Y'alls knew it was coming! The annual review of baked good offerings in NYC (and sometimes elsewhere). I traveled, I ate, I ate, and I had (for the most part) no regrets. But of course there are hits and misses, more hits than anything else though.

First Prize Pies: I had the pleasure of interviewing Allison earlier this year and have visited First Prize Pies at Smorgasburg and later on at Grub Street Food Fest. Gotta love Alison's pies! At my pie-themed birthday party we tried her hot chocolate pie. Seriously spicy! Cayenne everywhere with a dark chocolate ganache. If you're like me and have a low tolerance for spicy stuff than have it in small doses. Of course I had my fave pie, s'mores' at Super Duper Market. And then my friend Ric and I tried the people's choice candy apple pie at Grub Street and enjoyed it. This pie reminded me of a good old fashion apple pie with a candied topping that was a mild red hot.

Allison has had a big year. She's currently writing a cookbook and will have a new storefront called Butter & Scotch that will be a cocktail and dessert bar in Brooklyn opening in 2013. Congrats Allison!

Two Little Red Hens: My first venture here since I wanted to get a variety of pies for my birthday pie party. I purchased the pecan pie w/ chocolate chunks. The filling was good but probably a bit cold and better warmer/room temperature. The crust was flaky yet didn't have too much of a buttery or lard taste, so the flavor was all in the filling.

Little Pie Company: Since I love the sour cream apple crumb pie I decided to vary it up and get their pear apple crumb pie. It is very cinnamony, which tended to overpower the subtly of the pear apple filling, but the crumb topping and crust were as excellent as the one on the sour cream pie.

Momofuku Milk Bar: The crack pie is ridiculously sweet, even for me! I'm unsure what's in it besides brown sugar and a heap of butter. Overall it's a hard taste to pin down but the brown sugar comes through in all points and the filling has the consistency of blondie dough (or really the point where brown sugar and butter are melted together. The crust is very thin as is the filling which is a good thing, so it's not too thick.

I also had their candy bar pie and it was also too sugary for me. It has a chocolate cookie crust. The caramel was all over it, there was a peanut butter nougat as the filling, and the dense chocolate coating made it hard to enjoy the balance. There was a lone pretzel in the hardened chocolate top which I would've liked more of to have a sweet and salty mix alas, no. I say less chocolate and caramel and more pretzel. It's too, too sweet. Nicely done but both pies were a bit much. I'll stick with their cookies.

Puddin' NYC: In February (bitterly cold) the Ramen & Friends group went to the newly opened, and teeny tiny Puddin location in the East Village. I enjoyed the banana parfait which was more like banana pudding with crushed cookies (wafers?) atop banana pudding and cream. Their lemon tart was quite good with a marshmellow bruleed topping but was a bit more watery and not as solid nor as lemony as some may have liked. Their pudding is pricey ($7 and up) but I was satisfied.

Financier Patisserie:  I have become a big fan of almond flour since doing gluten free baking last year. I had heard a lot about Financier from friends and finally had the financier -- a small buttery almond cake (made with almond flour) that is reminiscent of a Madeliene  Very tasty, soft, great buttery flavor and the almond flour makes a great contrast in a slightly denser texture. The chocolate financier is really tasty, not overly chocolatey with nuts in and around it. These are great, small treats that are not too sweet with tea, cider. However, their Madeleine is fine. You get the cakey texture based on unbleached flour and theirs has a smidge of lemon in the middle along with vanilla taste. But if I had a choice I'd have the financier and/or chocolate financier.

Konditori: They have a location in Williamsburg and another one in downtown Manhattan. I have to say that the pumpkin ginger cake I had at Konditori is the first vegan baked good I have been very fond of! Although it was a bit pricey for just a corner piece of cake ($2.25) of which I received a small portion that I was given (didn't get to choose). Great texture and taste and while I was worried the ginger may be too overpowering it isn't yet clings in the after taste. There's also a brown sugar topping.

The Rescue Baker: TRB is a site developed to aid people who have baking emergencies and figure out a way to fix them. I tried TRB's goods at IACPNYC this past spring. Her campfire cookie were a take on s'mores with chocolate chips and marshmallow  cookie was a bit hard and too crunchy for my taste. However, the lemon bundt cake was delicious and the perfect cake moisture and lemon flavors. Flourless chocolate cake had too much dark chocolate for me which made it hard to finish. But I look forward to delving into more of The Rescue Baker's recipe ideas and informational posts.

Brownies & Cream: This was a nice little storefront that opened up this year and unfortunately closed in Forest Hills. Ah well, it was nice having a new bakery in Queens. Whenever I visited my friend in Forest Hills we always stopped by (support local businesses!) I had their tiny cupcake. The salted caramel icing was oily and the cake was super dry. On the flip side, their blondie was very good. Nicely dense and fudgy in texture but sugary and sweet like a blondie should be with a good balance of buttery flavor. I also had their red velvet French macaron, very good, a bit crispy on the outside meaning it may have been overbaked a tad but it was still chewy and the flavor for the macaron was definitely red velvet with a good cream cheese filling. Hopefully the owners may be able to open another place in the near future.

Bubby's: I love the food at Bubby's and they are known for their pies. But the last time I visited, too stuffed from their delicious entree, I had their peanut butter jelly cookie. Peanut butter can do no wrong in my mind so the cookie had jelly on top like a thumbprint cookie. Not a fan of the jelly used (it may have been raspberry), but overall a very good cookie.

Robicelli's: I tried various goods from Robicelli's at the Great American Bake Sale this year and then went to Dekalb market (three times) and tried some more stuff. Three words: Apricot pecan scone! Amazing. Wonderful scone, not too crispy inside and out but wonderfully moist and not too sweet. Pecans within and apricot glaze on top. I'm a convert!

At Dekalb market I tasted the Rue McClanahan cupcake which was a peach cake with cream cheese icing and peach topping. Good and moist, lots of great sweet flavors. But I didn't taste much peach in the cake. Had a bit of the lemon blueberry cupcake. Good but it seems the main differentiation is in the topping and not so much the cake unless they do very 'light' touches within the cupcake batter.

Allison Robicelli has done a lot for Sandy Relief in the past few months and helped create Bay Ridge Cares Kitchen (BRiCK) that I had the pleasure of working at a couple times and wished I could have gone more. Great group of people that did great work for those in need during a crisis.

Sweet & Simple: The Great American Bake Sale strikes again in introducing me to great bakers. Michelle Jaffee donated a bunch of her fudgy brownies to the bake sale. She's located in CT and I was so happy that she agreed to an interview! I purchased her deluxe brownie box  thinking I could eat much of it myself, I could not. But I shared! And everyone I shared it with LOVED the brownies. From her traditional brownie to her peanut butter to her raspberry to her walnut brownie every one is made with love, just like her tagline says, and lots of chocolate! High quality chocolate at that! My favorite is the walnut brownie and you must have these with milk. Just don't even argue with me. Order online, wait for a lovely wrapped package, and enjoy chocolate heaven.

Coolhaus: One of the few food trucks that comes uptown to where I now I work I get Coolhaus whenever I can! They have huge portions when it comes to their ice cream sandwich and it is good stuff. Mainly I try their cookies. The potato chip & skor cookie. A solid cookie. I didn't really taste the salt from the potato chips but they did add a good crunch factor to that with the candy bar in the cookie. I've had their ice cream and try not to go too wild though their flavors run the gamut but are always good. Next time you see a Coolhaus truck, just go for it.

The Good Batch: The Good Batch is known for stroopwafels and other dutch items. While they had a presence at Smorgasburg I was introduced to their goods via Robicelli's at Dekalb Market. I purchased the Honey Bears which is a sandwich cookie but the texture makes me think of a small whoopie pie. The Honey Bears are vegan (no dairy or eggs) and has peanut butter and oats cookie (cake like texture) and a honey, sea salt, peanut butter filling. It is peanut butter to the MAX!!! Need milk with it for sure because it's so thick. Cookie is moist but not delicate and has a harder texture, but maintains a great sweetness and peanut butter flavor, especially from the filling. This will make you thirsty with the salty and sweetness. Particularly from the peanut butter and sea salt sprinkled atop the cookies. Didn't get too much honey and think they should change the name so it better captures how intense the peanut butter is in this cookie sandwich/whoopie pie.

Runner & Stone: Another introduction via the Bake Sale! Those at the sale raved about the almond croissant and having tried it at Smorgasburg I can tell you the hype was very much earned. What makes the Runner & Stone croissant stand out from a typical almond croissant is the fact that it is made with almond flour and not necessarily filled with an almond paste. It's not so much flaky as it may be more reminiscent of a scone/cake. Either way it's light and fantastic for those of you who do not like that almond paste/extract taste. I just wish they would open a storefront in Queens so I don't have to travel to Brooklyn to always get the goods.

Dough: During the Bake Sale I had seen many people carrying some huge doughnuts at Brooklyn Flea. It was then I was introduced to the new staple. I would try them when visiting Smorgasburg for the first time this summer with Angela (Mind Over Batter). Angela's son had 2 cinnamon sugar donuts and loved them. I enjoyed the hibiscus with a glaze and a leaf on it. Delicious! Thanks to Angela for snagging it for me. :-) Later on when passing the main location I tried the lemon poppyseed doughnut, unfortunately it was pretty lackluster. The glaze was too lemony (read: tart) even for me! Overpowered the whole thing and the doughnut wasn't as chewy as it should've been but a tad on the dry side. Not good for a huge yeasty doughnut.

Melt Bakery: While I had tried the deep fried pumpkin pie from Melt Bakery a couple of years ago at Grub Street I had yet to try their staple, ice cream sandwiches! Julian (co-owner) was at CookOut NYC on Governor's Island and thankfully his ice cream sandwich helped me during a spicy emergency with some ridiculously hot sauce.

I was bummed to hear that Melt won't be doing deep fried pies anymore but they will be focusing heavily on their sandwiches and I have to say those are perfect. My favorite is the the lovelet (red velvet cookie with cream cheese ice cream). For the most part Melt's cookies have more of a cake like texture so that you can actually get a good balance when biting into it. They have a range of flavors yet some cookies may be hard/chewy like you may be used to (example: Jack = pumpkin ice cream with a molasses cookie). But for the most part they are a nice balance of hard/soft on a hot day.

Culture NY: Congrats to Jenny and Gino Ammirati on the arrival of their new baby this year! And big thanks to Jenny for the interview soon after she had the baby, so kind of her. Culture's staple is the original yogurt with key lime topping (key lime syrup and a type of pudding and graham cracker dusting) delicious! Not too tart and not overly sweet but a great melding of flavors that really make you feel like you're having the perfect frozen yogurt. You will not be able to have anything quite like it and so you better take yourself to Brooklyn to get some Culture.

Macaron Parlour: By now you know I'm going to say I tried their macarons at the Bake Sale this spring. But Macaron Parlour also opened up a storefront this year also. Yay! Macaron Parlour has a never ending array of macarons, some of which include bacon. But my faves are the red velvet and earl grey macarons. The trick to a tea flavored macaron is to capture that essence without overdoing it and the earl grey does just that. The red velvet is one of the best red velvet macarons I have had and trust me I venture out for those. Another new fave of theirs is the salted caramel which also has a nice caramel cream inside. Delicious and light and perfect. Love, love, love.

Ovenly: Super Duper Market this summer was a fun place to go in and get out. I was introduced to Ovenly and got to try their chocolate chip cookie, which was huge and thick and moist and really good. Salt being the thing in baked goods nowadays Ovenly's cookie also had a dash and the chocolate chips were well spread out in the large cookie but tasted bittersweet/dark. I also had some candied maple thyme pecans, a savory sweet mix but the maple comes through mostly and then the herbs. Ovenly just opened a shop in Greenpoint earlier this year.

Miette: Another find at Super Duper Market that is unfortunately not available in NYC, but is a San Francisco based bakery. I went a little overboard and purchased the lemon shortbread cookies (has lemon zest in it that is very light but definitely can taste it in the shortbread). The shortbread is crispy yet not overly dry and has a good moistness to it that makes it chewy as well.

Also snagged the chocolate sable shortbread cookies, very chocolatey. You get more than a dozen tiny cookies (like 16 or so) in a nice sealed clear baggie. The owner has a new cookbook out with Chronicle Books and said she's trying to find an NYC storefront. Hope it works out as I think it'd be a nice addition to NYC.

Jemez Food Shack: While on my conference tour on the west coast my friend Iris stopped by a Native American food shack in Pueblo Jemez. I had an amazingly tasty and freshly made cherry fruit pie. Wonderfully flaky cinnamony crust with a great filling. A big rectangular slice that was so tasty and cheap! I wish there was a way for me to order this online or lead you to it, alas you must go to New Mexico to see for yourself.

PierNYC: This Ramen & Friends outing lead us to PierNYC on Roosevelt Island. What I had read about when searching the menu was the huge red velvet whoopie pie and I was eager to try it. It was a popular item that sold out with our big group. Turns out the whoopie pie is made by Ally Cakes makes the dessert for PierNYC. May I reiterate that the whoopie pie was large. Perhaps this added to the fact that the cake (aka pie) was overcooked and dry. The filling was not cream, it was icing with a stiffer texture than what should be accompanied by a whoopie pie. Pretty disappointing, but I was very happy with the service at PierNYC and the fact that we weren't charged for a lackluster dessert. (See Melt Bakery for red velvet.)

City Baking (gourmet bakery) Corporation: I don't normally review storebought goods so much but this was pretty disappointing. I purchased the blondie from Interchurch cafeteria because it looked moist. It's pretty much cake disguised as a blondie. The taste just didn't meld much with blondie and the brown sugar wasn't there. The website touts it as a chocolate chip cookie but a bar and it's not, brown sugar should be more evident and the texture was too much like a Duncan Hines cake for me to think blondie. The chocolate and nuts within overwhelmed the taste of the cake which is quite forgettable and light.

The Brownie Boy: After having treats from The Brownie Boy repeatedly at Smorgasburg I was glad to do an interview with him. This is a new bakery one man show. Now Mario knows his blondies and brownies. First up is the dulce de leche, great texture a mixture of dense half-baked inside that worked. The sea salt on top was a nice add to the brownie and the dulce de leche wasn't too heavy yet the chocolate is subtle. It all worked really well at a good size and price.

His brownies and blondies are all reminiscent of what you'd want, dense, sweet, with high class flavors. Looking forward to more of what he has to offer.

Schmackary's: Heard about this place thanks to Yoshie (R&F) since it's in midtown West. The hype is worth it. Had the sch'mores cookie and caramel apple crisp. Both chewy/moist and full o' flavor! The s'mores cookie was pretty intense and messy with toasted marshmallow being on top. It had graham cracker base with chocolate and had toasted marshmallow (not in pieces but like a frosting) that was delicious. Another milk warning(!) The apple crisp was like a pie in cookie form with an oat cookie that has white chocolate and chunks of cinnamon apple and caramel on top. Absolutely filling and delicious. These cookies served as my dinner and I have no regrets.

Dominique Ansel Bakery: Stopped by the newly opened bakery and just went crazy. The mini passonfruit chocolate eclair was tasty but nothing too memorable with a passionfruit cream filling and chocolate flakes on top that were a good mix. Admittedly I'm not a huge fan of eclairs because of the rough exterior of the dough.

However, the Madeleine's were amazing! They are made upon ordering and in teeny tiny size you can get ten for $4.50. Warm, light and fluffy not dense like some can be and lemon zest is in there somewhere because you can taste it as soon as you take a bite. The powdered sugar just makes it all come together and they really are best eaten quickly!  Get your own batch because you will not want to share.

Cake Bites: It being the season I had the pumpkin spice gluten free and vegan cake bite which is basically a cake pop without the stick. The texture reminded me of a nice moist, carrot cake with the perfect melding of pumpkin spices to melt in my mouth. The coating was white chocolate with a ginger sprinkling but the true powerhouse is the cake inside. Delicious. Also tried samples of their mocha, which was good but a bit too coffee like for me. I liked the peanut butter yet it was too gel-like.

Fat Witch Bakery: Known as NY's Legendary Brownie they are worth the hype! Pumpkin season brings forth the limited, and popular, pumpkin brownie. a thin chocolate brownie layer than a thick pumpkin layer then a thin graham cracker like layer that is delicious and made fresh every morning! Fat Witch was so nice to hold two for me free of charge after I was unable to get there in time to purchase these delicious confections. I had had their brownies and blondies at my brownie/blondie party in 2010 when Joy purchased them and was already a fan but now I'm a SUPER fan not just for their generosity but for the taste of that amazingly fresh and perfect brownie and pumpkin mix. More please.

Ivy Bakery: A well run, one woman show Ivy Bakery was hit hard after Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy. I had tried Daniellan's trademark Buttermilk Pie and it is creamy goodness with a crust! Try her ooey gooey bar and it'll remind you of the pie in bar form. And the pumpkin cupcake! Another must-try since I love pumpkin anything. Daniellan is going to be offering classes for pie crusts and starting January 8th for truffles! So check out Ivy Bakery on Facebook to learn some baking tips and/or just lounge around and have some sweet goods or savory ones.

Hill Country BBQ: One of the best cupcakes I have had hands down! The cupcake has a whipped peanut butter frosting with Reese's pieces and salted peanuts atop a golden cake (perfectly moist) and inside jelly! Peanut butter will overwhelm no matter what but if you love it and it's light in texture everything balances out. It was delicious and I can see why Godiva Sweetest gave it the award in 2012 as a challenge winner for Best Cupcake at the NYC Food & Wine Festival. Deservedly so, I say.

Brooklyn Treat Shoppe: I got to work with ToniAnn at Bay Ridge Cares Kitchen (BRiCK) a couple times post Sandy. ToniAnn was a regular fixture baking desserts in large quantities for the meals that went out for BRiCK. She also donated some items one of which was a dulce de leche cake. I don't use acronyms often but OMG people that was the BEST yellow cake I have had in a very, very long time. It reminded me of the boxed cakes in texture in that it had a great balance of moisture you can get when adding pudding into the mix but it was NOT boxed cake it was an original. The dulce de leche frosting was perfectly smooth and we were eating that thing with our hands. Yes(!), we went carnal on that cake it was so good. I cannot wait to taste more of ToniAnn's confections in the New Year.

Francois Payard Bakery: And in the last few days of 2012 I had a couple French macarons from FPB. The vanilla bean is a goodie. Vanilla bean cookie and frosting. Passion fruit was good but I couldn't discern what the filling was exactly. After having had many macarons and especially those from Macaron Parlour I have to say FPBs are good but not on the same level. The cookie itself felt a bit tougher than it should as I am used to having the nice crunch/crackle of a French macaron exterior with a delicate softness that makes it easy to break apart and chew. This may have been due to temperature. I'd definitely try the vanilla bean again.

So that was my year in baked goods. Who knows how much weight I have gained from all this experimentation and tasting and whatnot, but for delicious desserts there are never any regrets...ever! Every year it seems new places pop up so I'm eager to try more in 2013 and beyond. Happy eating!