Bovella's Pastry Shoppe

A new-to-us Italian cookie source in New Jersey:
Bovella's Pastry Shoppe

The first boxful:
raspberry bar, pignole macaroon, walnut macaroon
lemon drop blueberry, lemon drop raspberry, almond S macaroon, almond crescent macaroon
raspberry italian cookie

Five days later, the second boxful:
lemon drop, pignole macaroon, almond S macaroon

And don't forget about the Large Macaroon Almond Horns!

Eagle Rock Italian Bakery

All hail the Eagle Rock Italian Bakery Almond Cookie! 

Loads of delicious Italian cookies to be found here:

We got Almond Cookies, Pistachio Cookies, and Pignoli Cookies -- all delicious.

Severo shops.

The colossal 10 pound Chocolate Egg, for Easter gluttons.

Severo also got some cake slices -- he couldn't resist!
(Just give me the Almond Cookies and I'll be happy).

Eagle Rock Italian Bakery
1726 Colorado Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90041
Tel: 323-255-8224

OPEN DAILY
Monday - Saturday . 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sunday . 9:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Refer to enticing photos on Yelp!

Linking with Catherine's #SaturdayShareLinkup

Milk Jar Cookies, Los Angeles

Desserts have been on my mind more than usual lately (which means I've been thinking about them A LOT).
My gallery, TAG Gallery, had to move out of Bergamot Station (goodbye most excellent brownies and mint lemonade from the Bergamot Cafe) due to an impossible rent increase. It has relocated to the "Miracle Mile" district at 5458 Wilshire.

Milk Jar Cookies is two doors west, at 5466.
The cookies are REALLY GOOD.
Severo got me hooked, when he obtained the Lemon Blueberry and Chocolate Caramel Pecan the night of my latest reception [#mycommute, which is up until 8/5/17, btw].

I brought home this haul with the intention of sketching them.
Ha.

Cinnamon Sugar, Oatmeal Raisin, Chocolate Chip,
Lemon Blueberry, Chocolate Caramel Pecan, Banana.

Only managed to get the Chocolate Caramel Pecan done [and I fear that it looks kind of, um, unsavory].

Looks like I'll have to get more Lemon Blueberry and Banana (my favorites)!
What a shame.

And WHY are desserts on my mind?
January 2 - 27, 2018 will be my next exhibition at TAG -- dessert themed! NOPE, didn't happen.
Sometime...

Black and White vs Half Moon

It's NYC vs Utica in a cookie taste test. 

"Look to the cookie," Jerry Seinfeld.

The Black and White (or Half and Half) from William Greenberg Desserts, NYC.
Vanilla and chocolate fondant over a firm sponge cake.

The Half Moon, from Hemstrought's Bakery, Utica, NY.
Fudge and buttercream frosting on a cake base.

Half vs Half

Which was better?

The Central New Yorkers favored the Half Moon, though conceded that the Black and White's  chocolate fondant had a better chocolate flavor. I preferred the Black and White. If the frosting on the Half Moon had been a higher quality buttercream, I might have been swayed. I love a good buttercream!

I flew the test home to LA, to get Severo's opinion.

The Black and White WINS, in our household at least.
Here is a Wikipedia link that goes into detail on the two cookies and their history.

It's Our Sweet Sixteenth AnneSeverosary

You: the sweetest guy ever!

What better way to celebrate then here publicly on Dessert Safari!
You are known in these parts as The Enabler.
As I type this, you are flying home from a gig in NYC, bringing cookies from Pies-N-Thighs. Mmmmmmmmmm. Can't wait!

Last year at this time, we were in NY together and ate our way around the city, as is our want. One of the most memorable experiences was going to ChickaLicious Desset Bar. I don't know if I wrote down what we had, and I certainly can't remember every delicious detail from the photos. So here are a bunch of images, with dollops of text.

from the outside looking in

sit at the bar, like you would at a sushi bar

you can watch how they assemble stuff

caffeine!

 We ordered the three course prix fixe dessert

the amuse bouche - it involved earl grey flavor in one of the layers

Brown Sugar Panna Cotta with Pink Grapefruit Sorbet and Toasted Pistachio
(lifted from current menu, which "changes daily")

apple cake? spice cake?

truffles, shortbread cookies, something covered with coconut

happy gluttons!

ChikaLicious Dessert Bar

203 E 10th St
(between 1st Ave & 2nd Ave)
New York, NY 10003

(212) 995-9511

www.chikalicious.com
yelp link

Note: The Dessert Club (across the street) is NOT THE SAME

Here's to you, my sweetie! (Made you blush - hahahaha).
Looking forward to many more desserts with you! xxox

Conclusion of the March Austin Cupcake Orgy

Nothing like a cupcake cliff-hanger...
I last wrote on March with a "to be continued..."
Life (and the SpyGirl fashion blog) took over. Not that I went on any sort of cupcake hiatus! I just haven't had time to write them up.

So, to continue on the cupcakes we ate in Austin...
Our pal Debonee drove down from Dallas, a rather hellish drive in the rain. After a large feast at The Boiling Pot, and bunch of social activities, we returned to our motel, making a stop at Quack's en route. Quack's makes a "Texas sized" lemon meringue cupcake and we wanted to do a lemon taste-testing. I think maybe they were out and we had to return later... because our tray of sweets was very brown in hue:

I don't remember what flavor that cupcake was... peanutbutter? (I don't like peanutbutter but The Enabler does). In the middle was a cake ball of some sort (fantastic!).
The cookies were: molassas, salty oatmeal (perennial fave), and cranberry pecan (new-to-us, great). We sent Debonee into a real sugar coma (she was having palptations!) but she was able to make it home before her sugar crash.

I spent the next couple of days attending TxSC events. The enabler went shopping for baked goods! We had a tower of bakery boxes by the end of our trip:

One of our carry ons was all food!

And the lemon test?

Clockwise from top:
Quack's Lemon Meringue
Sugar Mama's Hemingway
Hey Cupcake's John Lemon
Sugar Mama's Jack's Lemon

Quack's did not disappoint, the Hey Cupcake was good, but up against tough competition. Sugar Mama's came in with the most lemony (Jack's Lemon) and the most bland (Hemingway -- it was supposed to be lime). Funny how a place can get one so right and another so wrong.