Kissable Cupcakes at Sugar Sweet Sunshine

Mint and chocolate is a tried and true combination. But in a cupcake?

The Kissable Cupcake at Sugar Sweet Sunshine is a chocolate peppermint cupcake with cream cheese frosting, topped with red and green sprinkles to commemorate the upcoming holiday season. It had an alluring minty, chocolately fragrance. The cake was the perfect consistency and the peppermint shone through despite a truly chocolate flavor.  Like the Spicy Pumpkin Cupcake, the frosting to cake ratio was done right. It was incredibly delicious. And the best part was that, after I had inhaled the whole dessert, the refreshing minty finish left me fully prepared to pucker up!

Sugar Sweet Sunshine. 126 Rivington Street, New York, NY 10002.

http://www.sugarsweetsunshine.com/

Cranberry Doughnuts at Doughnut Plant

By now you can tell that I like to frequent Doughnut Plant in the LES for their artisanal doughnut creations. With the holidays coming up, they are now churning out Cranberry Doughnuts. I tried the cranberry cake doughnut and found it to be a bit heavier than the usual cake doughnuts. There were tangy bits of fresh cranberries in the dough as well as in the icing. However, this was really just a glazed cake doughnut with the incorporation of cranberry chunks into the cake and icing. But I have to give it points for the lovely rosy color. 

Doughnut Plant. 279 Grand Street, New York, NY 10002.

http://www.doughnutplant.com/

Spicy Pumpkin Cupcake at Sugar Sweet Sunshine

Despite the fact that the passing of the Thanksgiving holiday marks the end of pumpkin season for me, I still love the stuff so I had to test out the Spicy Pumpkin Cupcake that caught my eye in the display case in the LES bakery Sugar Sweet Sunshine. The spiced pumpkin cake had hints of cinnamon and nutmeg and it was extremely moist and not too dense. The cream cheese frosting was not overwhelmingly heavy and the ratio of frosting to cake was acceptable, whereas many NYC cupcakes are infamously smothered in excessive amounts of frosting (more is not always better). All in all, it was a pretty good cupcake and a fine end to my pumpkin season. 

Sugar Sweet Sunshine. 126 Rivington Street, New York, NY 10002.

http://www.sugarsweetsunshine.com/

Buy 1, Get 1 Free Holiday Drinks at Starbucks

This weekend (November 18-21, 2pm-5pm) Starbucks is offering a Buy One Get One special on their Holiday drinks, including:

Caramel Brulée Latte

Peppermint Mocha

Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha

Peppermint Hot Chocolate

Gingerbread Latte

Eggnog Latte

Caramel Brulée Frappucino 

Peppermint Mocha Frappucino 

'Tis the season for sweet coffee drinks. The following link contains the details of the deal as well as a "Find a Store" locator link for you. 

http://www.starbucks.com/share#/redcups

Ichabod's Courage at Flatiron Lounge

Ichabod's Courage tastes like a liquefied pumpkin pie spiked with rye whiskey. A lot of rye whiskey, but I always appreciate a mixology den with a heavy pour. This concoction, a mixture of pumpkin, ginger, bitters, rye whiskey and egg whites has a frothiness about it that could almost be reminiscent of whipped cream topping a slice of pumpkin pie. There was also a dusting of cinnamon atop the froth. It will definitely warm you up.

Flatiron Lounge. 37 West 19th Street, New York, NY 10011.

http://www.flatironlounge.com/index_main.html

Stuffed Artisan Cannolis

I love cannolis. Not the kind carelessly fried with whipped cream inside, but the kind made with love and real ricotta filling. Maybe it's because half of my mother's family descended of Southern Italy or maybe it's just because they taste good, but I can't walk through Little Italy without lusting after a cannoli.

I heard about Stuffed Artisan Cannolis and thought that the multitude of flavors sounded fun. I tried the Pistachio, Peanut Butter and Birthday Cake varieties. They were indeed novel and I appreciated that, but unfortunately I am unable to say that I loved any of them. The Pistachio wasn't very pistachio-y and the Peanut Butter failed to impress as well. The Birthday Cake was probably my favorite of the three and it came with cute little sprinkles peppered over the filling. 

But they were adorable and attractive, and that counts for something. Side note: their online flavor list includes tantalizing options like Limoncello, Lemongrass, Curry Chocolate and Thai Iced Tea. I did not try them therefore I am unable to vouch for them, but they sure sound innovative. They also have an Eggnog and a Pannetone for the upcoming Holidays. 'Tis the Season!

Stuffed Artisan Cannolis. 176 Stanton Street, New York, NY 10002.

http://www.stuffedcannoli.com/