elenis

Best Cookies in the U.S.

Luxist Readers have nominated their favorite cookie bakeries and the top five are:

Eleni's New York New York, N.Y.
Levain Bakery New York, N.Y.
Sweet Adeline Bake Shop Berkeley, Ca.
Tate's Bake Shop Southampton, N.Y.
Tom's Mom's Cookies Harbor Springs, Michigan

Gallery: The Best Cookies in the Country

Vote for the company you believe makes the best cookies. Readers' Choice Winners will be announced on March 1st.

Tags: awards-main, bakeries, best bakery, best cookie, best cookies, BestBakery, BestCookie, BestCookies, elenis, elenis bakery, elenis cookies, Elenis NYC, ElenisBakery, ElenisCookies, ElenisNyc, levain, levain bakery, LevainBakery, luxist-awards, Sweet Adeline, sweet adelines bakeshop, SweetAdeline, SweetAdelinesBakeshop, sweets-main, tates, tates bake shop, Tates Bake Shop Cookbook, TatesBakeShop, TatesBakeShopCookbook, toms moms cookies, TomsMomsCookies

Continue reading “Best Cookies in the U.S.”

Eleni's New York: Eat Desserts First is its Motto

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

As a maker of delicious, creatively designed sugar cookies, Eleni's New York has a fitting motto: "Eat Dessert First." Similarly, it should come as no surprise that the New York-based shop is a nominee for a Luxist Readers' Choice Award in the best cookie category.

Eleni's founder and name sake, Eleni Gianopulos, came by her baking acumen naturally. During her childhood in 1970s Northern California, Eleni's mother was known for treating the neighborhood kids to batches of home-baked oatmeal cookies. After switching coasts and trying her hand at the cookie-cutter corporate world, Eleni found herself with a craving for a more creative career. In the kitchen of her Manhattan apartment, she fine-tuned her mom's recipe and began selling the fruits of her labor directly from home. Just like the kids in her hometown, the "kids" in New York ate up the oatmeal treats and clamored for more; Eleni complied by opening up shop at the Chelsea bakery and dabbling in the creations that since have earned her the title of "cookie couturier."

Gallery: More from Eleni's New York

From the beginning, this homegrown company has offered an array of quirky but beautiful, delicious iced sugar cookies celebrating a variety of whimsical themes – from spring flowers to high-heeled shoes to Halloween ghouls. Eleni's cupcakes, brownies, and classic cookies do tradition one better, raising the bar for basic desserts. Nicknamed "conversation cookies", the treats are baked and frosted in the shapes of everything from bees to bikini-clad women. Eleni's makes fresh dough every day, then chills it for several hours. After that, it's sheeted, hand-punched with custom-made cookie cutters, re-refrigerated, then baked and iced.

Tags: awards-main, best bakery, best cookie, BestBakery, BestCookie, eleni, elenis, elenis new york, ElenisNewYork, luxist-awards, sweets-main

Continue reading “Eleni's New York: Eat Desserts First is its Motto”

Sweet Treats to Send Your Sweetheart on Valentine's Day

by Deb West (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Holiday Guides

For those of you who want to send a delicious delicacy to the one you love on Valentine's Day there are some great mail order options. Whether you like cookies or chocolates there is something for everyone.

We write about Dean & Deluca a lot here on Luxist in part because they consistently offer quality products for the discerning gourmand from various manufacturers around the world. Their offerings for Valentine's Day are no exception:

From Valerie Confections an artisinal confectioner in Los Angeles, come chocolates designated as Pour Elle and Pour Homme. Each box contains 3 large chocolate hearts and 8 small hearts with the "For Her" gift box having traces of edible rose petals and the "For Him" gift box is completed with caramel and toffee filled chocolates. Each set of 11 pieces retails for $30.00 a box.
Chocolat Moderne in New York city is represented with a red box filled with 12 hand painted chocolate hearts. The $36.00 box contains two each of six different flavors.
For those who like their sweets from France, the Pyramide des Tropiques from Francois Pralus, is a great choice for serious chocolate lovers who are more interested in the chocolate itself than cute Valentine wrapping. A stack of 10 individual bars each made with beans from a different part of the world and a 75% cocoa content for $12.00.
Eleni's specializes in selling hand iced cookies. There is an adorable box of pink and purple XO shaped cookies 18 for $50.00 If you go to Eleni's web-site there are just under 20 different designs from which you can pick the perfect option for your sweetie.

All of these purveyors have their own web-sites and it is up to you to decide whether you'd like to comparison shop quickly through Dean & Deluca or take your time and order individually from the different stores. Either way you will come away "smelling like roses" but "tasting like chocolate" a perfect combination for Valentine's Day.

Gallery: Sweet Treats For Valentine's Day