By guest DessertBuzz columnist Dr. Josh

“I do not think there are laws about nougatine.”

“The Kings of Pastry“, a documentary by D.A. Penebaker and Chris Hedgedus focuses on 4 pastry chefs’ voyage to attempt to earn the title ‘MOF’ (Meilleur Ouvrier de France).  MOF is a French National award given to the best craftsman in their respective field, and the highest award for a pastry chef in France (it should be noted that the title MOF is given to masters in crafts as diverse as window making and chocolate making; Pastry is just one such competition albeit perhaps the most prestigious).

One of the creations from "kings of Pastry"

The standards for the award are stringent, exacting and daunting.  For the pastry category a field of approximately 90 pastry chefs who have distinguished themselves for consideration is narrowed down to 16 candidates by a panel consisting of other chefs who have achieved MOF.  Once the 16 are chosen, the contest begins.  Well, truth be told, the contestants can spend years preparing, and once they know they are in the competition they devote months to practice and often take as many as 6 weeks to do nothing but rehearse their contest plan.

The contest, unlike what we are used to seeing in the US where candidates compete against each other, compete against only one thing: standards. Unassailable, unwavering, standards judged by MOF awardees who all want the candidates to achieve MOF but will, under NO circumstances, allow any standard to not be properly enforced.  The candidates, all 16, could achieve MOF.  Likewise, none could achieve MOF – it all rests on if the standards are met. Read the rest of this entry »

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Perfect for some caffeinated s'mores

Barbecue in Williamsburg:

Looking for a hipster food gift for your next barbecue? Why not order a batch of Stay Puft Marshmallows. They’re square, they’re caffeinated and apparently they come in a flexible, reusable, rubbery box.  From ThinkGeek via The Daily What.

Barbecue in Chelsea or the Villiage:

That's a lot of marshmallow goodness for $10.00

Three Tarts gourmet marshmallows.  $10 for a whole bag!  Choose from vanilla, raspberry, passionfruit, strawberry-basil and Yuzu.  In the store you can order a smaller portion but that’ just silly.  Bring 2 bags to your event.  Or just rock the whole “Rooftop S’mores” kit.

Rooftop S'mores from Three Tarts

Order Three Tarts marshmallow products here.

Drunk at 11:45 p.m. with friends or by yourself.

Get the universally well-regaraded Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake from The Stand in the East Village.  Seriously, you can’t go wrong with this thing.

Toasted marshmallow milkshake from The Stand

The Stand is located at 24 Eat 12th Street.  Their website is here.

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Photo courtesy of Kathy YL Chan at A Passion For Food

A friend who I turned on to Spot told me they put a laminated DessertBuzz review inside the restaurant.  So when I was near there last nigtht I figured it was time to show some love.  When I arrived I was happy to see there was a wait and that the place was bustling.  I ordered the Chocolate Marquise and my companion ordered one scoop each of the chocolate and mango sorbet.

The Chocolate Marquise is a legitimate, three-part, schmancy-pants restaurant dessert.  The Marquise itself is a dark chocolate based mousse-like cake dusted with cocoa-cookie crumbs.  It’s not sweet at all, just very smooth and chocolaty.  Next to that is a bit of  mango tapioca.  This particular tapioca is made from the large format balls like those found in bubble tea (which they also serve at Spot).

Then, there is a scoop of Yakult flavored ice cream.  Yakult, according to Wikipedia is a “Japanese probiotic milk-like product (aka yogurt).  I was told by one of the hosts at Spot that this is a common Japanese flavor.   It wasn’t a common flavor to me but it did go perfectly with the dark chocolate marquise due to it’s tart low-sweetness profile.  There were also some cubes of chocolate cookie thrown in for texture.  All-in-all an excellent dessert and I think well worth the $9 price tag.

For some reason I had never ordered ice cream or sorbet from Spot.  I had sampled it many times since it often comes with their plated desserts.  Let me just say right off that Spot’s sorbet is easily the among the best in the city right now.  The Mango chile is certainly the best I have tasted this summer.  Why?  The flavor.  The mango flavor in this sorbet is incredible.  The texture is almost like  puree of mango frozen to perfection with no ice crystals.  The chilies seem to work with the mango flavor as well.  The heat they bring is mild but after you have a few spoonfuls it builds a bit.

The chocolate mint cookie

The chocolate sorbet could be mistaken for gelato.  It’s very rich and very dark.  The ginger bits are a nice addition and add little “punch” to the dish.  This chocolate sorbet reminds me of Ciao Bella’s excellent, store-bought version but the Spot creation is even better.

Recommended: Chocolate Marquise, mango chili sorbet, dark chocolate sorbet with ginger

Spot’s  website has their full menu.

Spot is located at 13 St Mark’s Place.

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Peacefood Cafe Vegan Desserts

Dear readers,
For those of you who are terrified of any dessert that has “vegan” in the title I have some news: The mini brownies at Peacefood are actually really good especially when you consider their $0.99 price.

These brownies are moist and “cake-like” rather than “fudge-like” but the thing I like most about them is their dark chocolate cocoa flavor.  This is what is often missing from many brownies IMHO.  Maybe the lack of eggs and milk forces a vegan baker to focus more on flavor?  A more traditional baker might take for granted that a brownie with all the usual ingredients will taste pretty good no matter what they do.  Check these out for a buck and let me know how they were.

The mini cupcake with chocolate frosting was good as well. I doubt too many people could identify it as “vegan” in a blind taste test.  Like the Brownies, it was moist.  For some reason it did not have the deep, dark chocolate flavor that the brownies had.  If you like your frosting with the sweetness-o-meter jacked to 10 like Magnolia or super-high in volume like Sweet Revenge then you might not love these.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Peacefood Cafe on the Upper West Side seems to have hit their stride and people have taken notice.  The place is frequently very busy and their vegan baked items which started out in the “very good category” seemed to have improved even more.  I swear their standard chocolate chip cookie recipe has changed for the better.  Maybe they just added a second batch during the day now, but I remember these cookies being a little dry and brittle.   However, over the last few weeks  I have eaten 3-4 of them and they are moist, soft and have some nice chocolate chips inside.  At $1.25 each a good deal I think.

Peace Foods is here:

460 Amsterdam Ave, corner of 82 St.

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Lily Bloom's Kitchen gourmet Chocolate macaroons

One of the few,  real-world benefits to readers of DessertBuzz is that when you get invited to a holiday dinner or birthday party you can bring something that the hosts and attendees will actually appreciate rather than another random bottle of wine which, to me, is the fruit cake of dinner party gifts.  So if you really want to rock your hosts’s world  (I am looking at you boyfriend-who-wants-to-get-in-with-the-girlfriend’s parents) read on.

In 2010 I discovered all kinds of macarons. These small French cookies should not be confused with their shredded coconut siblings, macaroons, which are commonly eaten around Passover since they can be made without flour and leavening.  As it happens, I discovered two really great makers of macaroons, both outstanding, one vegan.

Comparing a Lily Bloom gourmet macaroon to the garden variety macaroons found on supermarket shelves in a can is kinda like comparing the Four Seasons to Red Roof Inn.  They both do the job but one is a little embarrassing.

Until this year’s Fancy Food Show, I had no idea there was even a super premium category for macaroons, which is really my bad since I run a dessert blog in New York City and people here might like to know about a product like this.

The flourless vegan coconut macaroon

So what makes a these macaroons so good exactly?  Glad you asked.   For one thing, the ingredients are  all top notch.  The chocolate macaroons have a very nice, rich dark chocolate flavor that comes from plenty of real cocoa powder and cocoa mass. On the white chocolate raspberry version, the dark chocolate coating is very dark and to me tastes very high-end.  Each chocolate macaroon is topped with either a slice of candied orange peel or a bit of sweet cherry.  And unlike most macaroons they aren’t gummy but have an almost pastry-like quality inside.

The white chocolate raspberry macaroons, which are only partially dipped in the aforementioned excellent dark chocolate are equally as delicious.  Usually, I would recommend one over the other but in this case I suggest you just buy a box of each, if only for aesthetic reasons.  The Lily Bloom Kitchen website lists a number of other flavors such as peanut butter (which has to be good) but I only tried these two.

If you bring a few boxes of these to your future in-laws you will be in like Flynn.

Available in New York City at William Poll on the Upper East Side or you can order them from their web site.

The Lily Bloom Kitchen Web site is here.

The second gourmet macaroon to be aware of is also available available on the Upper East Side and this one is vegan.  The main benefit of this macaroon is that it’s truly a “light tasting” dessert.  Here’s what I wrote a few month’s ago:

The Vegan Divas coconut macaroons were superior to any full butter-and-egg-containing macaroons I have tried.  If all macaroons tasted like these they would be as ubiquitous as chocolate chip cookies.

The main difference with these macaroons is that they were very light but about twice as flavorful as normal macaroons.  They contain no flour and are made with arrowroot (a starch many chefs use as a thickener).  For example, if you ate the whole container of 4 (that might happen) you wouldn’t feel like too much of a pig.

Coconut macaroons (box of 4)  $6.95

The entire Vegan Divas vegan dessert line is available at  Buterfield Market, 1114 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10075-0379, (212) 2887800

The macaroons will also be available at Francois Chocolate Bar, 714 Madison Ave, 4th floor (212) 759-1600.

The Vegan Divas web site is here.

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