Category Archives: Bakeries

Say Hello To My New Little Friend: Chili Crisp Mochi Muffin

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Third Culture Bakery's new Chili Crisp Mochi Muffins.
Third Culture Bakery’s new Chili Crisp Mochi Muffins.

What’s soft, chewy, and irresistibly delicious with just the right kick of heat?

New chili crisp mochi muffins from everyone’s favorite mochi muffin bakery, Third Culture Bakery.

Best yet, its mochi muffins are not only available at its Berkeley and Walnut Creek locations, but also now through nationwide shipping.

Partners in business and in life, Chef Sam Butarbutar and Wenter Shyu founded Third Culture Bakery in 2016 to create baked goods that reflect their Indonesian and Taiwanese heritages.

Their newest chili crisp flavor mochi muffin is a collaboration with Oakland Chef Stacy Tang, formerly of Taiwan Bento, to commemorate the Lunar New Year.

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Irresistible Rory’s Bakehouse Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Rory's Bakehouse frozen cookie dough balls bake up into huge 4 1/2-inch diameter chocolate chip cookies.
Rory’s Bakehouse frozen cookie dough balls bake up into huge 4 1/2-inch-diameter chocolate chip cookies.

Warning: Do not keep these in your freezer unless you want temptation dangerously beckoning every waking moment.

Rory’s Bakehouse Giant Chocolate Chip frozen cookie dough balls will do serious damage to your willpower and waistline — and leave an enormous smile on your face in the process.

Rory Kandel of Napa is the creator of these ginormous chocolate chip cookies that have cultivated a loyal following. So much so that she started making the frozen dough available through nationwide shipping. They can also be found in the freezer case at Woodlands Market in San Francisco, Kentfield and Tiburon; Glen Ellen Village Market in Glen Ellen; and Sunshine Foods in St. Helena. They can also be found freshly baked at Loveski Deli in Napa and Marin and Biscuit’s BBQ in Napa.

The cookie dough balls come either 6 or 12 to a bag.
The cookie dough balls come either 6 or 12 to a bag.

Last month, she also debuted a walk-up retail window in Napa at 2766 Old Sonoma Road, open Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. There, you’ll find the frozen cookie dough, along with baked cookies. There are also weekly specials of buttermilk biscuits, black truffle gougeres, and coconut passion fruit thumbprint cookies.

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Holidays Mean Lebkuchen

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Plain or chocolate-covered lebkuchen holiday cookies.
Plain or chocolate-covered lebkuchen holiday cookies.

Soft, cakey and a little chewy, they’re fragrant with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and allspice. They taste marvelously Old World, too.

Lebkuchen, German spice cookies made with honey, are especially beloved at Christmas time.

For more than 90 years, Lebkuchen-Schmidt has been baking these popular treats in Nuremberg. Now, you can enjoy them in this country, thanks to New Jersey-based European Deli, its exclusive U.S. partner.

They come packaged in various options, including an embossed blue and gold tin ($49.95) depicting scenes from that German city, of which I received a sample.

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Pumpkin Plus Nutella For Double the Goodness

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It's the great pumpkin Nutella bread, Charlie Brown.
It’s the great pumpkin Nutella bread, Charlie Brown.

October heralds everything pumpkin, of course.

Add in rich, creamy Nutella, and you have a combo that can’t miss.

That’s what this gorgeous, moist “Pumpkin Nutella Bread” is all about.

The recipe is from the new “Dolci!” (Alfred A. Knopf), of which I received a review copy.

It was written by Renato Poliafito, founder of Ciao, Gloria bakery and cafe in Brooklyn, and former co-owner of Baked in Brooklyn; with assistance from with Casey Elsass, food writer and cookbook author.

It’s a collection of treats that take influence from his Italian, American, and Italian-American heritages in everything from “American Cinnamon Rolls,” “Sicilian Sticky Buns,” and “Triple-Chocolate Biscotti” to “Honey-Ricotta Black and Whites,” “Limoncello Pistachio Tart,” and “Cannoli Cake.”

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Understated, Utterly Delicious Caramel Slices

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A simple cookie that delivers on all levels.
A simple cookie that delivers on all levels.

Like biscotti, these cookies are baked in flattened logs of dough, then sliced after emerging from the oven.

But unlike those Italian classics, these Scandinavian beauties are baked only once and end up crispy all over and chewy at the center.

They also taste profoundly of caramel, despite being made with only white sugar and corn syrup.

And best yet, they require only a few basic ingredients.

When I started seeing people rave online about “Caramel Slices,” I knew I had to try baking them, too.

The recipe for these cookies, also known as “Kolasnittar,” is from “Scandinavian from Scratch” (Ten Speed Press, 2023) of which I received a review copy.

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