Las Vegas Dessert Tour: World’s Largest Chocolate Fountain October 10, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in bars, chocolate, cookies, cupcakes, dessert tour, ice cream, information, sweet eats.Tags: bellagio, chocolate, crepes, jean philippe patiserrie, las vegas dessert tour, las vegas desserts
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Let’s continue on my Las Vegas Dessert Tour with a stop at the delicious Jean Philippe Patisserie inside the Bellagio:
Berry Crepe
Chocolate Crepe with Dark Chocolate Fudge
Not only is the Jean Philippe Patisserie famous for their Chocolate Waterfall, they are also known for their French style crepes. There are all sorts of crepes – sweet, indulgent, fruity, and savory – to satisfy everyone. We tried three different crepes:
Veggie Crepe: Crepe filled with Mediterrenean vegetable mix and a side of field greens. Good, but not amazing. Tasted a little bit like marinara pasta and salad.
Chocolate Crepe: Crepe with chocolate syrup, intense chocolate fudge, brownie bites, chocolate shavings, powdered sugar and mint garnish (comes with whipped cream if you like). I LOVED this crepe – Very indulgent and SO delicious! Extremely chocolate-y; a must for chocoholics!
Berry Crepe: Crepe with berry (strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry) compote, powdered sugar, and whipped cream – my favorite one of the three! Sweet and berry delicious! I loved the chunks of fruit and the perfect balance of sweet and tangy fruit. Very light and leaves you craving more.
Pastries
The dessert paradise that is Jean Philippe Patiserrie has a never-ending supply of pastries, candy, cakes, and gelato. There are giant almond brioches, fancy eclaires, a variety of sandwhiches, baguettes, hazelnut spread, opera cake, slabs of chocolate from the chocolate fountain, Sponge Bob birthday cakes, Hello Kitty cupcakes… you name it! I could barely take it all in with my eyes. Can’t wait to go back!
Jean Philippe Gelato
Los Angeles Dessert Tour: (I strongly strongly recommend) Porto’s Bakery August 25, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in bread, cake, chocolate, cookies, cupcakes, dessert tour, information, sweet eats.Tags: burbank desserts, cheap bakeries, cuban cuisine, cuban desserts, glendale desserts, los angeles bakery, los angeles dessert tour, los angeles desserts, porto's bakery
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- Dulche de Leche Napoleon
Porto’s Bakery is my newest love and obsession! This place is so super wonderful; I have no idea why it took me so long to find it! Located in the heart of Burbank or Glendale (there are two locations), Porto’s is just a quick (and very worthy) drive away from L.A., and a definite dessert stop in Los Angeles. I recently visited the location in Burbank, and had the time of my life. The place is almost as big as a Whole Foods store, and packed to the max with cakes, pastries, desserts, and customers! This dessert heaven is completely family-owned and operated, and all the goods are made fresh at the premises.
Exotic Red Velvet Cupcakes
Surprisingly, Porto’s is actually a Cuban restaurant and features a wide variety of (delicious) Cuban sandwiches, snacks, and drinks along with traditional Cuban desserts and exotic pastries. Even though they are a Cuban bakery, they still have a great selection of the regular cakes/pastries/desserts we are used to. There is also a huge selection of fresh baked breads and rolls, too. I’ve never had real Cuban cuisine myself, but a customer standing in front of me in line told me Porto’s had the most authentic Cuban cuisine she had ever had in California – and yes, she was Cuban.
Delicious Banana Chips
Now, I never write about real food because I don’t really eat it, as I just live off dessert, but the real food at Porto’s was SO good that I am going to mention it. I had a vegetable sandwhich which was perfectly cheesy and delicious, but the thing I really want to talk about are the banana chips that came with the sandwhich. These are supersuperthin slices of banana that are freshly fried into crispy banana chips – also know as plantain chips. Soooooogood! They are the perfect thinness and perfect crispiness and they even come with a delicious dipping sauce. I suggest you order a large side and enjoy!
On to the best part now – the desserts! Porto’s is super fun because it has two extremely long glass display cases that stretch the entire length of the store completely filled with all the sweets you are craving. A lot of the sweets feature the exotic flavors of guava, mango, pineapple, apricot, and coconut which you don’t usually see in desserts at traditional bakeries. Here’s a small sample of what they have to offer in those wonderful display cases: Opera Cake, Apricot Empanada, Cheese Roll (sweet cream cheese filled pastry; their best-seller), Tiramisu, Guava Pie, Napoleons, Mariner Cake, Red Velvet Cupcakes, Tres Leches Cake, Raspberry Pudding…
Mango Turnover
admist all this wonder, I finally settled on six sweets to try:
Coconut Strudel: my favorite item from Porto’s! This was so coconutty and sweet, I ate half of my strudel and ran inside to buy more 
Dulche de Leche Pound Cake: good, like caramel pound cake from anywhere else. The only average-tasting item I had at Porto’s all day.
Dulche de Leche Napoleon (I was having a caramely day): soooo good! The layers were flaky perfection, the buttercream filling was delicious, and the dulche de leche definitely filled my caramel cravings.
Chocolate Eclair: this was pretty average as far as eclairs go.
Mango Turnover: delicious! Mango in a turnover is genius.
Refugiado (guava and cheese pastry): omg so good! I have never had guava in a pastry before, but I have totally been missing out! Similar to a raspberry and cheese strudel, but more tangy. The tang compliments the sweet cheese perfectly.
Refugiado (guava and cheese strudel)
Next time I go, I am definitely going to stock up on Coconut Strudels and Refugiados. I also want to try their Cinnamon Rolls, which are bigger than my head, their best-selling Cheese Pastry, and the Tres Leches Cake.
Doesn’t Porto’s sound amazing?! Well, I didn’t even tell you the best part yet – the PRICES! I have never been to a dessert place with prices this good. My favorite Coconut Strudels are only 85 cents each, and $7.40 for a dozen. The delicious Refugiadosare only 65 cents each! Most cheesecakes/sliced cakes/Napoleons are only $2.50. The cheapest I’ve ever had for a Napoleon outside of Porto’s was $6.50! The cinnamon rolls that are bigger than my head are $1.50! Everything is super worth it.
After that life altering dessert trip, I have added a new life goal to my list of life goals: to try every sweet at Porto’s Bakery! Yay, this is going to be so much fun! If you’re planning on going, be prepared to park far away and wait in long lines as the place is ridiculously popular and always packed and there is no such thing as big parking lots in or around LA. Porto’s Bakery has two locations to satisfy your sweet tooth:
Glendale Location
315 North Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91203
tel. (818) 956-5996
fax (818) 956-0696
Map it
Burbank Location
3614 W Magnolia Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91505
(818) 846-9100
Map it
So if you live near LA, go! Now!! I’ll see you there
Dessert Obsessed Recipe Index is Up! August 18, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in bread, cake, chocolate, cookies, cupcakes, vegan.Tags: banana cookies, brownies, chocolate chip cheesecake, dessert recipes, lemon pound cake
10 comments
I went through the entire blog and indexed all the recipes featured on the blog so far for your convience. Just click the ‘recipe index’ tab on top or click here. I’ve got everything from cupcakes, muffins, cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies, frostings, and even vegan dessert recipes there. I only post tried and true recipes here, so check them out!
Here are some of my personal favorites:
Coconut, Banana, and Chocolate - Tropical Brownies
Kahlua Cheesecake Swirled Brownies
Best Ever Banana Butterscotch Cookies
Lemon Sunday Pound Cake
Cinnamon Hazelnut Rolls
Super Chocolate Chippery Cheesecake
My Quest to find the Perfect Combination of Black and White April 10, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in chocolate, cookies.Tags: BJ's, chocolate, cookies and cream, cookies and cream cookie, oreo cookie, oreos, pizookie
18 comments
I am on a baking quest!
Cookies and Cream Cookies
One of my favorite chain restaurant desserts is the delicious Cookies and Cream Pizookie from BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery. I love BJ’s (I think they make the best pizza that has ever come out of a chain restaurant kitchen) because not only do they have the best pizza, they even have pizookies! “Pizookie” (pizza + cookie) is a registered trademark of of BJ’s Restaurant, and is a wonderful dessert consisting of fresh baked cookie in a deep dish pizza pan, served right out of the oven and topped with vanilla bean ice-cream and whipped cream. The Cookies and Cream Pizookie (by far my favorite pizookie) consists of a cookies and cream cookie base, topped with vanilla bean ice-cream, and swirled off with cookies and cream whipped cream. YUM!
BJ's Cookies and Cream Pizookie
My quest is to find the perfect combination of black and white, and re-create that perfect Cookies and Cream cookie from BJ’s. I don’t want to make a pizookie; I want to find that cookie dough and make perfect cookies and cream cookies! I’m going to start by trying different recipes that combine cookie dough with crushed Oreos – cookie and cream cookies! Here is my first try, adapted from this Cookie Madness recipe. These cookies were definitely good, but not as cookies and cream-y as I wanted. They were also slightly more cakey than I wanted.
Cookies and Cream Cookies
6 Tbsp butter
6 Tbsp granlated sugar
6 Tbsp brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tarter
pinch of salt
10 broken/slightly crushed Oreo cookies
2 1/2 Tbsp mini chocolate chips
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat butter and sugars until smooth. Add vanilla and eggs and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, stir together flour, soda, salt, baking powder and cream of tartar. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until incorporated. Fold in Oreos and chocolate chips.
Shape the dough in to 1 1/2 tsp size balls. Place dough balls on parchment lined or non-stick cookie sheet and flatten tops slightly – I didn’t do this and my cookies came out quite fat. Bake for about 10 minutes or until brown around the edges. Cool slightly on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to set: remove from baking sheet. Cool on wire rack. Makes about 18 cookies.
New York City Dessert Tour – Part 4 March 12, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in cake, chocolate, cookies, cupcakes, information, sweet eats.Tags: 5th ave, candy, chocolate, desserts, dylan's candy bar, eloise, forbidden broadway sundae, frozen hot chocolate, ice cream, lady m confections, new york city, nyc, serendipity, serendipity3, the plaza
11 comments
Fourth and final part in my dessert tour! Wow, I’m a slow blogger – I’ve been back from NYC for 3 weeks and I’m just finishing up my blog posts! This section features fabulous, gorgeous, over the top DESSERTS!
Dessert Stop #1: Lady M Confection
Lady M Desserts
the dessert: Lady M Mille Crepes, strawberry fueille mille
the assessment: Gorgeous confections, Gorgeous store, Gorgeous display, Gorgeous ambience… HORRENDOUS SERVICE!! Their service was so bad, I didn’t eat there in protest! The servers are pretentiously snobby and never smile. Never Smile! How can people never smile?! I don’t get it. They had plenty of tables available while we were there, but none for a party of three, so they couldn’t seat us. I don’t know why they couldn’t add a chair to a table for two; we told them we didn’t mind squeezing. Since the wait was too long, Helen and Colleen ordered desserts to go. I didn’t order anything, bc they were so evil. Helen and Colleen thoroughly enjoyed their desserts, but they thought the cakes were a bit pricey.
Strawberry Feuille Mille
Dessert Stop #2: Dylan’s Candy Bar
the dessert: assorted candy
the assessment: OMG I LOVE THIS STORE!!! This store (the 5th ave. location) is now one of my all-time favorite stores ever! Not only do they sell candy, and chocolates, they also carry clothing, accessories, and cosmetics! I love it! And the design of the store is SO FUN – everything is in extreme colors, super bright and happy! And it smells like sugar. There’s a superbeyondcute food bar upstairs, and you can even host parties there! Wish I had known about that before my birthday passed! Oh, well, next year. I can’t wait for the Los Angeles location to open!
Non-edibles at Dylan's
I was so infatuated with their Ooey Gooey Bar, I ate everything I bought there in one day, and had to go back the next day for more! The Petit Fours are to die for! Soft, vanilla-y, white chocolate-y, fondanty, perfection! I have insane love for petit fours in general, and these are amazing! The Ooey Gooey Bar also has other creative goodies, like Chocolate Coconut Stacks, Candy Covered Pretzels, interesting chocolate barks, etc. I was also extremely smitten with the fudge at Dylan’s Candy Bar. They have every possiblity imaginable, from Cookies ‘n Cream to Rocky Road to Salty Caramel Nut. I wish I had taken pictures, but I ate all the evidence…
Even the website is fun!
Dessert Stop #3: Serendipity
Forbidden Broadway Sundae - Blackout Cake, Vanilla Ice-Cream, Hot Fudge, White Chocolate Syrup
the dessert: Forbidden Broadway Sundae and Mint Frrrrrozzzzen Hot Chocolate
the assessment: OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!!!
SO WORTH THE HYPE!
Are you drooling yet?
Serendipity definitely has the craziest, most over-the-top desserts. The confections are so creative, so beautiful, so artery-clogging…so perfect! It took us SIX hours to actually get a table there. We first put our names on the 2 hour waitlist at 4pm, but then we realized that our tickets to The Lion King were actually for 6:30 pm, not 8pm, as we originally thought. So we dashed over to The Lion King, and then dashed back to Serendipity. We got our names on the waitlist again at 8:30. After an hour of waiting, and with at least another hour and half of waiting to go, we decided we had to switch tactics. So… we conned the host. And befriended the cashier. And…got a table by 10pm. YAY US!!
Notice how Helen is still taking pictures of her Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate while Dorothy has already devoured half of her sundae?
And it was so, so, SO worth it. The desserts are over the top, the ambience is whimsical, the service is fantastic… LOVE IT!
Dessert Stop #4: The Plaza Hotel
We didn’t actually get a chance to eat at the Plaza Hotel (we were way too stuffed), but we had a wonderful time looking at their gorgeous desserts and taking pictures with Eloise. Just wanted to share pictures of the desserts Eloise got to eat at the Plaza!
Serendipity and Dylan’s Candy Bar are MUSTs for any trip to NYC!
Colleen, Eloise, Dorothy, and Helen at the Plaza
Photos courtesy of Helen! Visit Helen’s blog for her take on our dessert tour.
