What if the Treats Truck doesn’t park near you and you can’t get to the Dessert Truck?

Anyone who (still) works in midtown Manhattan will tell you that its really hard to find excellent baked desserts (Midtown’s food landscape is covered in amazing detail by one of my favorite blogs: Midtown Lunch).  Take chocolate chip cookies.  Its easy to find a huge, sugar-flour-butter bomb for $3 at any a generic midtown deli.  But what if you want something that’s actually good?

Surprisingly, there are some really good options if you know where to look.

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Dishes: Expensive but cookies and bakery items are as good as the best bakeries in the city.

All of Dishes baked goods are top-notch and house-made except for a few selections which are from Balthazar Bakery.  For something really tasty try the Hamentashen when they are in season.  Other recommended selections: Chocolate chip cookies, Valrhona dark chocolate brownies, flourless, butterless chocolate cookies, single-serving molten dark chocolate cakes (different than the ones you find in restaurants everywhere). Cookies and cakes $2.50-3.00.  Dishes is at 6 E 45th St or 399 Park Ave.

Pret a Manger: holy sh_t! that’s a good oatmeal cookie.

Why I am I recommending a chain sandwich place for cookies?  Because Pret is one of the few places in all of Manhattan that bake their own cookies on the premises and then keep them in a self-serve warmer so they always have that “just out of the oven” texture.   Their “Harvest” cookie is the best oatmeal cookie in the city (that’s right I said it).   Also in the warmer: Top-notch muffins, Croissants and Pan Au Chocolat.  Cookies $1.79 Prets in New York.

 The Good Burger: Great Value in a classic chocolate chip cookie.
Besides burgers this joint has huge Chocolate Chip cookies containing both dark and milk chocolate chunks for only $250. These cookies are not warm and don’t seem to have the turnover that Pret and Dishes have so they are not as fresh.  Of course they also have awesome chocolate shakes as well.  Goodburger locations.

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Other baked notes: Midtown Lunch and Blondie and Brownie have already noted Magnolia bakery’s new location and there will soon be a Crumbs bakery in midtown as well.

Posted by nikonice on Sunday, October 5th, 2008 at 6:11 pm.