America's best desserts
We criss-crossed the country in search of America's best chocolate chip cookies, brownies, cupcakes and fruit pies. Lucky us, right?
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Did any other cookie ever stand a chance? The classic treat is even more delicious at these bakeries.
BATH, MAINE: Marnee's Cookie Bistro
Marnee Robinson's cookie creations-with names like Shangri-La and Xanadu-are meant to transport you. The Marnee's Nirvana is your classic thin chocolate chip, with a twist: a sprinkling of oats and toffee chips. Brown sugar, butter and honey bring it together, but it's Robinson's touch that makes the cookies special. Friends with the recipe swear they can't get the same results. Read the full review »
BOSTON: Volle Nolle
Torri Crowell, who spent years in the restaurant biz insists, "I'm no pastry chef," and her baking was a side note when the tiny sandwich shop opened. The cookies are on the dark side, because Crowell shaves a block of chocolate into large chunks and tiny specks that melt into the dough. A generous butter content and high baking temperature send them spreading, but it's the saltiness that makes these guys so addictive. Read the full review »
DES MOINES, IOWA: Baby Boomers Café
In the summer of 2007 Barack Obama set up camp next door to prepare for the Iowa caucuses, and his campaign team and his daughters became regulars. The cookies are now shipped all over the country. The Baby Boomer chocolate chunk, now known as "The Obama Cookie," is a classic thick and moist dunker, but we may never know what makes it so magical. As with many treasured recipes, a secret ingredient is closely guarded. Read the full review »
LOS ANGELES: DeLuscious Cookies + Milk
Who knew the stick-thin Hollywood set even ate cookies? We're into the classics-peanut butter, oatmeal raisin-and the seasonally driven, like a fresh lemon shortbread. The large, deliciously chewy chocolate chip cookie is pumped full of three kinds of chocolate (including one imported from Belgium) and is a star in its own right. It made a cameo in Entourage, when the character Drama held it up to bribe a security guard. Read the full review »
Make some yourself!
Try ours: Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies
BROWNIES
They're chewy and chocolaty, dense and delicious. And they're most addictive in these cities.
SEATTLE: Two Tartes Café & Catering
Here, locals line up for wholesome soups, salads, sandwiches and desserts in a small, cheery space that has become a mainstay in Seattle's industrial, artsy Georgetown neighborhood. The basic brownie, with a raised, wrinkled crust and slightly undercooked molten middle, is classic baked perfection. At 3 to 4 square inches, it would be daunting if it didn't provide so much joy. There's nothing fancy about this brownie, but sometimes only the simplest dessert will do. Read the full review »
MEMPHIS: Muddy's Bake Shop
A bright spot in Memphis' bakery scene, owner Kat Gordon named the shop for her late maternal grandmother, who handed out homemade cakes and cookies to anyone who needed cheering up. Gordon's business is fittingly community-minded: To keep prices down she refuses to advertise, and she donates all tips to local nonprofit organizations. You can't go wrong with the mint brownie, which is at once rich and just cakey enough: The batter's made with butter, loads of cocoa powder, farm-fresh eggs, whole milk and pure peppermint extract, then topped with mint-flavored icing. Read the full review »
PHILADELPHIA: Flying Monkey Patisserie
In 2002, Rebecca Michaels ditched grad school to start baking; now she's opened shop in the famed Reading Terminal Market. The stand, stuffed with playful, oversize baked goods and strewn with toy monkeys, fast became a Philadelphia institution. Though her work caters to chocoholics, Michaels herself prefers the white variety, creating the White Chocolate Raspberry Chip Bar to satisfy her own cravings: a chunk of Callebaut Belgian white chocolate baked with semisweet chocolate chips and raspberry jam. Read the full review »
CHICAGO: The Bleeding Heart Bakery
This bakery blows your senses: punk-rock music, neon walls, enormous whisks as chandeliers and a heavily tattooed staff. Socially minded Chicagoans appreciate that The Bleeding Heart works with Growing Power (growingpower.org) to help inner-city communities learn about sustainable agriculture. Co-owner Michelle Garcia created s'mores brownies when she was pregnant; they're overloaded with chunks of milk chocolate and handmade graham crackers, and topped with a house-made marshmallow. Read the full review »
Make some yourself!
Try ours: The Best Basic Brownies
CUPCAKES
The word alone brings a smile. But these creations from bakeries across the country truly take the cake.
NEW YORK CITY: Sugar Sweet Sunshine
The cupcake craze can be traced back to New York City's famed Magnolia Bakery. Think of this café as its funkier little sister, opened by two former Magnolia employees, Peggy Williams and Debbie Weiner, with fewer lines and more comfort. Peg and Deb won't spill the recipe for their supermoist pumpkin cupcake, but you'll taste clove in the spice cake and cream cheese in the thick icing. Read the full review »
PHILADELPHIA: Brown Betty Dessert Boutique
Named after 85-year-old Elizabeth "Betty" Hinton, whose daughter and granddaughter run the bakery, this bakery does a mean birthday business. You'll find 10 customizable fillings and frostings, such as the sweet strawberry cream cheese frosting. That one is made for Brown Betty's classic vanilla pound cake, which has a hint of nutmeg. Read the full review »
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE: MagPies Bakery
Known for beautifully decorated (and delicious) wedding cakes and cupcakes, you won't find rubbery fondant here, only quality ingredients like European-style high-fat, high-flavor butter, and local fruit whenever possible. The vanilla-on-vanilla cupcakes are among the bakery's biggest sellers with good reason: Both the batter and the frosting are made with pure Madagascar vanilla extract. Read the full review »
TOPEKA, KANSAS: Daddy Cakes
Owners Allyson and Bill Fiander found their niche by accident. At an auction, Bill bought cupcake tins that were actually Texas-size muffin pans. Thus, the "daddy cake" was born. The Retro is a tribute to the Hostess Cupcake. The rich treat is made with top-quality cocoa and buttermilk, dipped in a bittersweet chocolate ganache and filled with fresh-made vanilla buttercream. Read the full review »
SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA: Crushcakes Cupcakery
This bakery specializes in cakes inspired by classic desserts like bananas foster, as well as quirkier sweets. Sample a few in the café next door. The fresh lime-margarita cupcake tastes like the love child of a stiff drink and an airy meringue. There's lime juice and zest in both the batter and the buttery frosting-plus a dash of tequila, just for fun. Read the full review »
Make some yourself!
Try ours: Marshmallow Cupcakes
FRUIT PIES
Treat yourself to a slice (or two) of the country's best fruit-packed pies. Even sweeter: You can order most of them from home!
MACHIAS, MAINE: Helen's Restaurant
This local favorite has been around since 1950. These days you'll find ravenous crowds lined up for the spot's famous combo: deepfried haddock and chips, chased with warm blueberry pie. The kitchen churns out about a hundred pies a day ($4 a slice)-with a lard crust and barely-cooked blueberries plucked from nearby fields. In August, you can also try their summer pie, filled with only the sweetest raw berries. Read the full review »
ATLANTA: Sweet Auburn Bread Company
Head to the city's historic Martin Luther King Jr. district, and let your nose lead you to the two-table storefront, which peddles tasty goods like peach pie and sweet-potato cheesecake, all made by proprietor Sonya Jones and her son Bobby. A punch of tender, sugared Georgia peaches and a buttery crust make the personal-size pie an Atlanta obsession. Make like the natives and pair it with a tall glass of cold milk. Read the full review »
CHICAGO: Floriole Bakery
Their blue tent at the farmer's market-and store of the same name-are teeming with rustic quiches and baked goods, whipped up with local produce and organic flour and eggs. The only thing sweeter than Mathieu and Sandra Holl's pies is their little daughter. In classic French style, the galettes bear a light, flaky pastry crust-an ideal base for the just-picked raspberries and nectarines tucked inside. Read the full review »
ORONDO, WASHINGTON: Lone Pine Fruit & Espresso
Savvy Seattle road trippers pull over to this retro-cool joint by the highway. On summer Saturday nights, the bar opens, a blues band plays and the shake machine whirls up fresh fruit smoothies. Grandma Jean (owner Jim Walker's mom) cobbles together the almond crumble sour cherry pie with fruit grown yards away. You'll need to walk farther to burn it off: The à la mode version weighs an entire pound. Read the full review »
HAYWARD, CALIFORNIA: Pot Pie Paradise & Deli
Lazy home chefs in San Francisco's East Bay head here to stock up on-you guessed it-homemade potpies, with fillings such as spicy Balinese beef or Thai curry chicken. Nine-to-fivers from nearby offices celebrate happy hour with the piña colada pie, a combo of roasted California pineapples, coconut milk and brown sugar. The familiar yet hard-to-identify ingredient: a splash of dark rum. Read the full review »
Make some yourself!
Try ours: Orchard Fruit Pie
Cookies: By Nina Lalli | Photography by Kana Okada; Brownies: By Justine Van Der Leun | Photography by Con Poulos; Cupcakes: By Nina Lalli | Photography by Yunhee Kim; Fruit Pies: By Justine Ven Der Leun | Photography by Robyn Lehr
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