The Treats Truck Stop

This evening I was in Carroll Gardens for a class at the Brooklyn Brainery. I wanted a hot chocolate to drink in class.

This should have been an easy goal, but I will tell you that I walked the length of Court Street, from the Carroll Street subway stop to the Brooklyn Brainery at West 9th Street, and I could not find an appealing hot chocolate to go. Anywhere. A few coffee shops were closed. One cafe offered me a three dollar cup of Swiss Miss, if you can believe it.

When I reached the Brainery, I still had a few minutes before my class was due to begin. "I will walk just one block farther south," I vowed, unwilling to give up my clearly doomed dream of hot chocolate.

So I walked one block further south. And lo! Across the street, through the darkness, and the rain, and the fact that I wasn't even wearing my distance glasses, I spied a symbol that I recognized. And that was the symbol of the Treats Truck.

I recognized the Treats Truck logo because I received their cookbook for Hanukkah. To date I've tried making only one of their recipes (it was for a non-chocolate cookie, which is why I haven't written about it), but I'm looking forward to baking all the rest.

I flung myself into the Treats Truck Stop all but shrieking, "YOU MUST HAVE REAL CHOCOLATE. YOU HAVE SAVED ME."

I was right. Not only did they have non-Swiss Miss hot chocolate, they had Mexican hot chocolate.

I love buying Mexican hot chocolate because, unlike normal hot chocolate, I don't know how to make it at home, and therefore I can more easily defend paying for it. In this case, paying only $2.72, which is rather a bargain.

The first thing the Treats Truck proprietor did was offer me free samples of their baked goods. I hadn't told her that I write a chocolate blog or anything. She just wanted to share. She cut me off a piece of the pecan butterscotch bar (delicious) and the Mexican chocolate brownie (even more delicious: just the right amount of chocolatey and spicy).

The Mexican hot chocolate that I ordered was smooth, thick, and lovely. It could have been more cinnamon-y for my tastes; it didn't have that intense kick of some Mexican hot chocolates. If you're not a big spice person, this might be a good way to ease into it. And I have a great deal of respect for the fact that they offer a "small" and a "large" cup, and the "large" is so large that it was daunting even to me. It can be very hard to find places that will sell me hot chocolate in big enough quantities.

I drank my hot chocolate all through my class. Just kidding -- I finished it in the first ten minutes. Either way: I think it helped me learn way better.

BOTTOM LINE: Without question, Treats Truck Stop is your best option for hot chocolate, baked goods, and other treats anywhere between Court Street at President Street, and Court Street at Garnet Street.