Guylian

This blog has had a lot of discussion about our favorite candy.  Well, since childhood, this has been my pick:

It's surprising, because I'm normally a purist, but it's not TOO surprising, because it's extremely delicious.  And those Belgians really do know how to do hazelnut praline.

 

So I think over the years, Guylian has cut out the partially hydrogenated oils from this product.  I remember that being a leading ingredient when I was younger, but now the most unnatural thing seems to be vanillin.  Honestly, though, I don't even care what's in it, which is what makes it candy.  It is simply DELICIOUS.

 

 

I spent a month in Nairobi, and the pickings there were unsurprisingly slim.  But the Nakumatt -- think East African Walmart -- carried Guylian's, so I was safe.  They even had a decent dark chocolate bar -- unlike the sugarfree ones they offer in the US.  This is what I survived on when I was running out of my last fancy European bars and then a dog ate the remainder.

Bottom Line:  David's vote for best candy.

16 Hundles

16 Handles is a chain of frozen yogurt stores.  16 Hundles is apparently their branch in the East Village:

There is some case to be made that this says "16 Hindles," but I am 99% sure it says "Hundles."

Anyways, I'm usually an ice cream/gelato snob.  I don't much care for frozen yogurt.  But I went here with a friend, because why not.  Their yogurt was about as boring as expected.  But then this happened:

Cookie dough, mochi, chocolate chips, brownies, graham cracker crumbs, and hot fudge.

Ok, I get it now.  Sorry for doubting you, trendy frozen yogurt chain.

Bottom Line: I guess sometimes going the healthy route pays off.

Milk Bar Mea Culpa

I had previously stated that Milk Bar was not good at chocolate.  It seems that in my absence they have been righting some wrongs.

First of all, this:

It's a "5-Borough Cookie" or something like that.  The first ingredient?  Cocoa powder.  It's even chametz-free, for all those of you observing passover (Sephards-only!  It has a little cornstarch.  Also I guess this advice is coming a little bit late.  Next year?)

It's also extremely delicious.

Next up, the chocolate malt cake truffles are back, and delicious as ever:

Also, they had a "chocolate swirl," which seemed like it was just a chocolate croissant shaped like a cinnamon roll, but I didn't try it, so I can't tell you for sure.

Finally, I got some of the birthday cake truffles, which are one of my favorite non-chocolate desserts in NYC, and I made an amazing discovery.  The third ingredient is white chocolate!  This explains why I love them, and why Leila does not.

Bottom Line: Milk bar is known for a somewhat rotating menu, so let's wait to see whether this effort is sustained, but this is a promising development!

Ice Cream in Pittsburgh: Oh Yeah! and The Milkshake Factory

Who knew that Pittsburgh was such an amazing town for ice cream? I was there for a weekend and hit up two different ice cream spots, both of which wowed me. If I'd had more days, I bet I could have found even more extraordinary Pittsburgh sweets.

I started at Oh Yeah!. They do mix-ins. I am a fiend for mix-ins. It's like Coldstone Creamery only so much better and it doesn't taste like a heart attack.

Here is a list of all their mix-in options:



How do you decide?? You can put in as many as you want, but put in too many, and the flavors are going to conflict. But how can you make yourself stop?

Here are some of the mix-ins in person. Also, if you can tear your eyes away from the jars of candy, peep those prices on the blackboard. Is anything in NYC priced at only $2.15?



Oh Yeah! uses Dave and Andy's Homemade Ice Cream. It's pretty good. I got the chocolate ice cream base and mixed in cinnamon, nutmeg, and chocolate chip cookie dough. Then they whirl it all around in this machine that mixes in the flavors, and also gets rid of excess water, so that when it's presented to you, it has more of a custard texture. Mine was amazing, and I felt like a mix-in genius.



Also the woman who worked there was really nice, and they have metal sample spoons and will let you sample as many flavors as you want without getting annoyed. GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. And the woman who worked there offered to choose for us if we couldn't handle it, which I appreciate, being an extremely indecisive person.

Okay, I just looked at Yelp to see if everyone agrees with me (they should) and was reminded that Oh Yeah! charges you for using a credit card. So, bring cash. Otherwise you'll have to write intensely bitchy reviews on Yelp.



The next day I went to The Milkshake Factory, which is in the back of Edward Marc Chocolatiers. (More on Edward Marc at a later date, or see what we've already said about them here.) And what do you know, the Milkshake Factory also does mix-ins.



Again, please note the pricepoint: you get a large milkshake, with as many mix-ins as you want, for $4.50. In NYC you can get a milkshake with no mix-ins for roughly $7, and somehow we have come to accept this.

Pittsburgh, you are an amazing city.



I got too crazy with my milkshake concoction, a chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream base with hot fudge and eggnog syrup mixed in. By the time it was all blended up, it pretty much just tasted like sugar. But that was my fault, and if I go back-- and, oh, do I intend to-- I will keep a firmer grasp on my emotions.



BOTTOM LINE: The Pittsburgh ice cream scene is a delight.

Rainbow Cookies from Bagel Boss and Sugar

When I was a child, my grandmother would travel all the way up to Washington Heights to purchase rainbow cookies for me.  They were my favorite parve dessert, and since she was orthodox, most meals at her house were followed by parve desserts.   They were not really chocolate, but they were covered in chocolate, so I'm going to count it.  They also were not really cookies, but whatever.  Or rainbows, I guess.  Just leave me alone, ok?

Rainbow cookies are a real art. Jewish bakeries know how to make them right -- with almond flour or marzipan.   If you get them at an Italian bakery, it is often just regular wheat flour.  Ironic, as they are an Italian invention and designed from the Italian flag (or so I hear).

Tragically, the bakery of my childhood has since closed, and I have ever since been on the hunt to find rainbow cookies as good.  The best I know of right now are at Bagel Boss.  They also make my favorite bagels in the city.  But the rainbow cookies are just the right combo of chocolate and almond to bring me back to my childhood.

Recently, I stopped by Sugar and tried their version. Among the circles I travel, those circles namely being Leila, Sugar is not the most highly respected bakery, so I was expecting very little.

I was quite surprised to find their rainbow cookies more than adequate, and indeed made with almond flour. A lucky stop!

Bottom Line: How about you, readers? Do you have any advice for me to regain the tatters of my lost childhood? No pressure.

Trattoria L’Incontro's Pizza Cioccolato

My favorite Italian restaurant in NYC is probably Trattoria L'Incontro.  I don't go often, because it is all the way out in Astoria.  But since Jason is Greek, he lived there, so it made for a perfect field trip.  

As always, the food was delicious, but for the first time, I got dessert: Chocolate Pizza!

As you can see, it is pizza crust stuffed with gooey chocolate and maybe nutella, covered with hazelnut ice cream.  It was delicious.  That said, I shockingly would have subbed the hazelnut ice cream for something more of a dark chocolate.

Bottom Line: Go for the food, stay for the chocolate pizza.

Hot Chocolate Month at City Bakery Recap

So it's no secret that Leila and I (David) love City Bakery hot chocolate. It's no secret that we were excited by their Hot Chocolate Month. So it should not surprise you that we made multiple visits over the course of February. Here are some things that happened:

February 14: I was stuck at work all day. On Valentine's Day. The worst! Fortunately, I have the best friends. Danielle happened to be in the Union Square area and heard of my plight, and she made a special delivery of the special Love Potion hot chocolate.  It's City Bakery's regular hot chocolate with a layer of fudge on top. No joke. I think this is the only hot chocolate I've ever had that's better than the regular City Bakery hot chocolate.

February 21: Darkest Dark Chocolate Hot Chocolate. Obviously I was going to go for this. I snuck out of work and delivered some to a couple of my co-workers.

It was excellent. I mean, by hot chocolate standards. But somehow it was unsatisfying as compared with their regular hot chocolate. Certainly it was less sweet, but that is not a negative in my mind. The problem was it just didn't taste as rich. I also purchased the Melted Chocolate Cookie. Now that DT Works is gone, I'd say it competes with Levain for the chocolatiest (and therefore best) cookie in the city. A true work of art.

February 28: Two of my colleagues and I made a field trip for the Festival Finale. What that means, apparently, is that they have a different flavor from the festival every hour. The flavor offered when we arrived was some fruity, terrible-sounding concoction.

So instead ducked in the Chocolate Room room and picked out some other assorted chocolate goods. I got some chocolate-covered nibs by Nunu. I told myself that I could taste the confectioner's glaze on them. Could I? Who knows. They were delicious, though, if you can tell from the empty container.

I also got some non-chocolate-covered nibs from Askinosie, and those were truly excellent. I have the Planete Chocolat beans, Theo nibs, and Askinosie nibs on my desk. While the beans go fastest, that's due to my preference for the whole bean, including husk. In terms of pure taste, Askinosie wins hands down, though it should be noted that there is a distinct coffee-like taste to them.

Finally, I got a 66% Fruition-brand bar. I had heard tons of good things about Fruition, but I was honestly disappointed. It was not rich enough for me, too fruity, and vaguely unsatisfying. (I still finished it that day.)

Okay, over to Leila for her Hot Chocolate Month report:

February 1: I was so excited for Hot Chocolate Month that I went to City Bakery on the very first day. I didn't actually want lemon-flavored hot chocolate. I just wanted to commune with City Bakery employees about how exciting it was that February had finally arrived. I tried a sample of the lemon hot chocolate, and it was surprisingly good, considering that you wouldn't expect lemon and chocolate to be complementary flavors.

February 6: Ginger hot chocolate! This was awesome. As you know, I like chocolate with a little bit of a kick, and this was just the right amount of spice.

February 13: I got confused and thought there would be cinnamon hot chocolate on the 13th. I'd been mistaken; it was actually "Happy Hot Chocolate" day. I usually avoid City Bakery when their hot chocolate flavors have names that I do understand (like "Happy" or "Moulin Rouge"), because I don't want to encounter a nasty surprise.

Indeed, that was what happened on the 13th, as Happy Hot Chocolate turned out to mean a hot vanilla-infused milk chocolate. You know I'm not a milk chocolate girl. But I had come all the way to Union Square already, so I couldn't leave empty-handed. So I got a normal hot chocolate. That may not have been necessary, Leila.

February 22: Black rum and cinnamon hot chocolate. This was really good! It didn't taste like rum. It just tasted interesting. And the chocolate still took center stage, which I always appreciate.

BOTTOM LINE: Over the course of February 2013, we hit six out of the nineteen available City Bakery Hot Chocolate Month flavors. Sometimes, we even impress ourselves.