Sono Baking Company shares a little Thanksgiving goodness with their recipe for Pumpkin Raisin Muffins. Cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon make these muffin the perfect autumn breakfast treat, although they can certainly be enjoyed year-round. These moist quick breads are even better the next day, when the spices have had a chance to mellow. Try adding ½ cup chopped walnuts or ½ cup chocolate chips for even more flavor and texture. Extra unused pumpkin puree can be transferred to a resealable freezer bag and stored in the freezer for up to one month.
Welcome to the neighborhood SoNo Baking Company. We’re awfully glad you’re here! (Though my waistline may beg to differ.)
SoNo Baking Company & Café officially opened its doors on Pequot Avenue in Southport today. Behind the glass display cases a beautiful array of cookies, tarts, pastries, cakes, and croissants all neatly arranged all ready to be purchased. Trays filled with delectable treats, fresh out of oven, were stacked and cooling. Brand new coffee and espresso machines glistened along the back wall.
In August, I was swept away by a candy apple color of the Bubble & Brew truck at the Wilton Farmers Market adjacent the Historical Society. I was at the vegetable stand when directly across from me was the most beautiful striking flash of red.
In addition to their impressive design aesthetic---their 37 tea canisters were painted red to match the truck--the Bubble & Brew team has serious baking chops. With sweet treats for every palette, tasters will be delighted by all the offerings from this tiny dream on wheels. People will be astounded by some of their best sellers like the sticky toffee pudding, which is actually gluten-free.
Adding a bit of whimsy into the Olde Mistick Village shopping center and amping up its already kid-friendly atmosphere, let yourself go into the looking glass at the recently opened Alice in the Village tea shop and café. The completely decked out exterior is replete with faux floral window frame and the beloved doorknob from the 1951 animated Disney film Alice in Wonderland. And is this uber-theme continued on the inside? Of course!
Step inside and you will find an enchanted tea house split roughly into three sections: Eat Me!/Drink Me! to go orders, an Alice-themed shop, and tea room. In addition to Alice in Wonderland collectables and kitsch, the shop section stocks an excellent selection of Harney and Sons teas. The bright green walls and sage green ceilings are decorated with hanging playing cards, pictures from Alice in Wonderland scenes, and flying books. My favorite décor element is the life size bottom half of Alice hanging down from the ceiling—any child who loves Alice in Wonderland would love a visit to Alice and the Village simply to see the décor.
Cafe 47, an intimate dining space inside Perfect Provenance in Greenwich, reflects the luxury retail and exhibition space that surrounds it: tasteful, diverse, and capricious. The restaurant’s new chef, Duane Shand, fits right in to the unpredictability of the place.
He radiates a rainbow of ethnicities -- West Indian, African, and Asian—a callaloo kid from Trinidad who unexpectedly, delightfully, now presides over a chic restaurant in one of America’s most patrician enclaves.
Shand landed in Greenwich via a serpentine culinary route: from training at Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando to restaurants around the world, such as the Royal Mail Hotel in Australia, Asador Etxebarr in Spain and Bad Saint in DC. But what ultimately brought him to Greenwich was…
Collaborations, pop-ups, and food markets are what I live for in terms of seeking out inventive yet timeless cuisine pairings. And one new collaboration that caught my eye with an abundance of drool-worthy Instagram posts—and likely you’ve spotted it too—is the recent marriage betweenVault Coffee and Deviant Donuts. Truly, what is better than a perfect pairing of coffee and doughnuts on a lazy weekend morning?
Earlier this summer, husband and wife team, Cristina Ramirez and Mario Lopez along with brother Jaime opened Bianco Rosso’s newest location, in Trumbull, to eager diners. Noted Chef David White (most recently of Vespa, Westport) was brought on to oversee all culinary matters and is joined by award-winning Pastry Chef Susanne Berne where the two have joined forces to create a delectable menu. Acclaimed Mixologist Jaime Johel oversees the creative specialty cocktail menu. The energetic restaurant opened to rave reviews. We had the opportunity to visit the new restaurant last week and sample some of Chef White’s culinary prowess.
The humidity is making your hair look like Rosanna Rosannadanna’s. You are sweating just…standing…still. What can help ease the ills of this sweltering weather? Gelato. The cool will survive! Cups and cones of creamy cold, Italian, La-Dolce-Vita-I’m-on-a-Vespa gelato. Luckily, scattered across our fair state, a wide variety of gelato can be found and now you have a reason to smile about this crazy heat and humidity. Scoops, scoops away! Brava!
This August, The Hummus & Pita Co. will bring its healthy, fast-casual Mediterranean cuisine to Connecticut in a comfortable and inviting environment, at its newest location in Brookfield, Connecticut. This opening marks the first Hummus & Pita Co. restaurant to open outside of New York City.
What we love about The Hummus & Pita Co. is that all menu items are made-from-scratch on the premises, including freshly baked pita and laffa breads, and traditional-style meats cooked in a taboon oven.
But what REALLY sets them apart from your local Mediterranean haunt, are the signature hummus desserts offering such as the Dessert Hummus and the recently launched Hummus Shake. Yep, you heard me.
Last summer Prime opened its doors in Stamford’s Harbor Point area. The stunning restaurant boasts exquisite views of the Long Island Sound and the Rippowam River. Removable tempered glass walls offer guests unparalleled views, thus making it a perfect dining destination no matter the season and an absolute must during the summertime. Inside the restaurant, the space’s elegant yet relaxed interior offers a New England-inspired decor reminiscent of Cape Cod and the Massachusetts islands.
Dining al fresco at Prime is an experience to remember. Their newly redesigned Cabana Bar is destined to be the “it” place to be this summer. In addition to the many events that will be held there this summer, the Cabana can be reserved for private functions, accommodating parties up to 50. The space itself has been updated with a custom bar from the Vermont islands of white solid core and backlit translucent white face panels integrate the bar with the rest of the décor - soft grays and blues.
Farmington, Connecticut; the land of colonial homes and rolling hills, horse farms, schools once attended by former First Ladies and now, home of Dom's Coffee, rated byArchitectural Digest as The Most Beautiful Cafe in Connecticut.
Remember when the word coffeehouse conjured visions of overstuffed, cast-off furniture populated by long-lounging “alternative” coffee-sippers? All that was missing was your local version of Phoebe Buffay crooning about her Smelly Cat. Gone are those days. A new, craft-caffeinated, curated, uplifting day has dawned in the land of this coffeehouse and many others.
Big pastry news just in from Stew Leonard's and The Hour.
Cannoli fans should head to Stew Leonard's to grab the store's newest concoction on the shelves in Danbury and Norwalk.
The Cannoli Chipwich is two freshly baked chocolate chip cookies with creamy cannoli filling piped between them; the edges are rolled in mini-chocolate chips and then the whole thing is dusted with powdered sugar.
The chipwich is the brainchild of Jake Tavello, Store Director at Stew's in Danbury and the grandson of store founder Stew Leonard Sr. According to a spokesperson, Tavello and the Danbury bakery team were discussing new ideas for the bakery and decided to pair two of the store's most popular items: chocolate chip cookies and cannolis.
A short while back, fellow CTbites writer James Gribbon sent me a text. He asked, “Where’s a good place to get breakfast in SoNo?” I replied with, “There aren’t many. SoNo Baking Company and SoNo Harbor Café. That’s probably it.”
Unless it’s a weekend and restaurants are serving brunch, breakfast in South Norwalk is scarce. I’m not talking wheat grass juice or a pastry at one of the Latin places on South Main Street, when I say “BREAKFAST” I mean eggs, pancakes, and bacon. I want a sit-down place where I can get wired on quality coffee and clean up maple syrup drizzles with that last chunk of sausage.
Donut Crazy, a local, family-owned eatery specializing in unique donut flavors (lovingly called Dailies and Crazies), today announced the opening of its newest location in Branford. Housed in the newly renovated 972 West Main Street, the take-out restaurant offers the full Donut Crazy menu.
Conveniently located in a bustling part of town, the approximately 500-square-foot store is dine-out only, but incorporates the same fun, funky atmosphere as Donut Crazy’s other popular locations. The comprehensive menu includes 45 varieties of donuts baked daily, avocado toast, breakfast sandwiches, and Dr. Smoothie products, as well as Rise Brewing Co.’s nitro coffee and chocolate milk on draft.
'Tis the season, but when you get tired of shopping, take a break with your family, and enjoy some leisurely holiday baking. Sweet Lisa’s Exquisite Cakes has mastered the art of gingerbread (as you can see above), and they have been kind enough to share their recipes for Gingerbread Cookie Dough as well as a special (slightly more structurally sound) Gingerbread for Houses. It's a fine line when it comes to gingerbread.
If you decide to embark on a house of your own, please share it with CTbites and send us a photo.
One of this year’s tastiest food trends is edible cookie dough. One could argue that cookie dough was always edible, but the term refers to the use of heat treated flour that eliminates bacteria and pasteurized eggs to reduce the risk of food-borne illness. It’s likely something you never thought about as a kid when you scraped the cake batter or cookie dough bowl clean while mom did all the baking. If you’re reading this in 2017, eating all that dough didn’t harm you one bit, and you’ve seen a cookie dough resurgence in the U.S.—in “edible” form, of course—at supermarkets, dessert shops, and food trucks. In Colchester, Connecticut, there’s a sweet shop that’s dedicated to cookie dough and other cookie dough related sundaes, milkshakes, and pies...DoughLuv.
Forbes magazine recently named local chocolatier, Truffle Shots of Essex, Connecticut among the country’s best chocolates for gift giving this holiday season. Forbes "loved the Fig and Balsamic shot—with aged balsamic and fig ganache as well as the Chipotle Cinnamon—dark chocolate ganache with a whiff of cinnamon and a slight kick from the chipotle."
Truffle Shots® brand chocolate truffles are the Chocolate Award-winning creation of mother-daughter chocolate lovers in Essex, Connecticut. The duo has replaced the chocolate shell of a traditional chocolate truffle with a sealed shot glass to create new levels of truffle indulgence.
The decadent, silky ganache of Truffle Shots® brand chocolate truffles melts on the tongue in sensory bliss in 30+ amazing flavors like Fig Balsamico, Tellicherry Cardamom, Caramel Beurre Noisette, Bumbleberry, Miel Habanero, Castelvetrano Olive, and Ginger, to name a few.
While many of our readers have family traditions when it comes to Thanksgiving, we, at CTbites, feel it is important to add a newcomer to the recipe box each year. For 2016, we offer you a classic developed by South End's Chef Nick Martschenko. His recipe for Maple Praline Pumpkin Pecan Pie may become your family's go-to dessert. If you decide to cook this in your home next week, let us know what you thought.
Donut Crazy, a local, family-owned eatery specializing in unique donut flavors (lovingly called Dailies & Crazies), announced a tasty new menu item called the “Cruffin.” The croissant-muffin crossover is the company’s way of celebrating the first sugar-filled year of its New Haven location near Yale University. The “Cruffin” will be available at all Donut Crazy locations for $4.25, starting on Friday November 3, weekends only and while supplies last.
The “Cruffin” has quickly become the food world’s newest bakery obsession, much like the “Cronut” before it. The buttery, flaky pastry is shaped like a muffin and filled with different flavors. Donut Crazy plans to offer coconut, dulce de leche, chocolate mousse, and pumpkin. More exciting flavors to come!
Stew Leonard’s Apple Pie Milk a la Mode celebrates the season with the flavors of crisp fall apples and Stew Leonard’s dairy-fresh vanilla ice cream. It comes straight from their award-winning dairy farms in upstate NY and is free from artificial growth hormones (rBST) and antibiotics. This milk goes from the farm to each of their stores in as little as 24 hours. Stew Leonard's Apple Pie Milk a la Mode will be available starting on October 30 for a limited time. It is sold in a ½ gallon glass container for $5.99.
