Enjoy this guest post by Amy Thomas, author of the recently-published book: Paris, My Sweet: A Year in the City of Light (and Dark Chocolate).

Trying to pick the best sweets in New York City no easy task. For me, it depends on so many things such as the neighborhood I’m in, the time of day, the season, my mood, and if I’m wearing an elastic waistband. But, it’s a fun and important exercise to conduct every few months as there are constantly new introductions around town. As of late, here are my Top 10 sweets (in no particular order).—Amy Thomas

Photo courtesy of Levain Bakery

Patisserie Claude

3. The chocolate bread pudding from Dessert Truck. I am a sucker for bread pudding and this version is warm and spongy with a beautiful molten middle that’s topped with crème anglaise.

The chocolate Elvis from The Spot.

Photo courtesy of City Bakery.

6 Macarons from Bosie Tea Parlor. The pastry chef, Damien Herggott, worked at Pierre Hermé for four years and with every bite of one of his delicate, double-decker treats, you know it’s the real deal.

Creme brûlée from Kee's Chocolates

8. The chocolate blackout cake doughnut from Doughnut Plant. Yes, it’s as dense and naughty as its name implies.

9 Tarte Tatin at Buvette. This lovely French-Italian bar in the West Village does everything right, and the tarte tatin, a French classic, is no exception. The contrast of the sweet caramely apples and refined crème anglaise is pitch-perfect.

Photo courtesy of DKA.

Learn more about Amy Thomas’s sweet tooth (and the fun she had living in Paris) in my Q&A on The Gourmet Food Blog at Dean & Deluca or visit her site, Sweet Freak.

This is the story of a girl who loves cake + the Statue of Liberty, a girl who also loves to paint, play games, put puzzles together and who loves the whale at the Museum of Natural History, the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park and running around the Egyptian wing at the Met. Since she was about two, S has waved to the statue whenever she sees her and often pretends to have “a torch, a book and a crown.”

For her 4th birthday on Monday, we took her to see Lady Liberty, playing tourists in our own city. The wind was furious that day, but we were determined and didn’t care much that we got splashed with water. On the way over we met a lovely woman who arrived in Ellis Island from Germany in 1928 and who worked in the Empire State building until 1945. Her 90-year old husband (they’ve been married 67 years!) sat quietly next to her while we chatted.

At precisely 10:59, the moment S was born in 2008, the ferry approached land, and S and I kissed.

We walked around Lady Liberty’s perimeter and tried taking many photos but the winds were mighty that day. Thankfully, we captured a few moments of our time there.

On the ferry ride back we met a lovely English woman who now lives in Switzerland, along with her daughter, an engineer. They were happy we shared our Carr’s “biscuits” with them.

It can be fun playing tourist in your own city.

Sipping chai tea—like mother, like daughter

Little S sipped chai tea with milk and honey. Along with my cup of tea, I devoured a sea salt caramel chocolate scone.

The next day I baked a cake for S’s birthday party at nursery school.

The whir of butter and sugar mixing together is a sweet site.

I made buttercream frosting using the requested color (I want blue! Choosing a “blue” that resembled the color of the Statue of Liberty was not planned, but perhaps an unconscious choice.), with non-toxic icing color I picked up at one of my favorite stores: New York City Cake & Baking Supplies.

The edible gold dust looks nice on teal. S agreed.

S, the now 4-year old girl who loves cake and the Statue of Liberty, made a wish and blew out the candles.

Traditional Vanilla Birthday Cake from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook
by Jennifer Appel + Alyssa Torey

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups of sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Make the cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and lightly flour three 9 X 2-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with waxed paper.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flours and add it in four parts, alternating with the milk and the vanilla. Divide batter among cake pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cake tester inserted comes out clean. Cool cakes in pan for 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on wire racks.

Traditional Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients
1 cup of unsalted butter, very soft
8 cups of confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Make the icing
Place butter in large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of sugar and then the milk and vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, until icing is thick consistency. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. Icing can be chilled in airtight container up to three days but use at room temperature.

My latest obsession, and I have a frequent buyer card to prove it: frozen yogurt from Culture: An American Yogurt Company. Since it’s two blocks away from where I live (and I work at home) you know where you can find me a couple of days a week: taking a short break and enjoying the original yogurt with bananas and caramel.

The yogurt (they normally have 3-4 flavors, which change day-to-day) and their toppings are the best I’ve seen. And what makes this yogurt place stand out from their counterparts is the store is an actual certified dairy. The yogurt, which contains live cultures, is made on site, and they have lots of organic and high quality toppings: tupelo honey, homemade caramel, coconut shavings, fruit and even combination toppings like “parfait,” which includes granola, fruit and raw honey and “key lime pie,” which has key lime filling and crushed graham cracker. Call me boring, but the bananas and caramel are a winning combination.

For an end of the summer treat, forego the frozen yogurt chains for this charming and simple shop with topnotch ingredients.

Culture: An American Yogurt Place/331 5th Avenue between 3rd + 4th Streets in Park Slope/718-499-0207

My breakfast of late has included coffee from The Roasting Plant, toast from Bread Alone that I top with a luscious, creamy brie I recently discovered. (For good measure, I eat some fruit as well. : )

Brie Le Chatelain is made in Les Vosges mountains in eastern France from a traditional French recipe that was passed down from generations of cheese makers. The milk is from cows that roam free on grassy hills and aren’t injected with rBST. But of course the taste is what matters most, and this silky brie is earthy, mushroomy and has just the right tang to go with my morning toast.

Bon appetit!

Le Chatelain is available at several food stores in NYC, including Zabar’s and The Food Emporium, plus various stores around the country.

Even though my toddler still has a few years until she heads to school, I still get that “back-to-school” feeling at the end of each August. I’m actually looking forward to packing her lunches one day, and I know many parents are currently thinking about lunch options. Which is why I want to share this new product with busy parents out there (and of course others who love jelly).

The French company Bonne Maman, the maker of fine preserves and jellies (black currant & mandarin are two of my favorite flavors!), is now making grape jelly. Inspired by Americans’ love of grape jelly, the company decided to make a premium rendition using muscat grapes. Parents can now feel good about the jelly they pair with peanut butter for this classic kids’ sandwich, as Bonne Mama doesn’t use high fructose corn syrup, glucose or the preservatives found in many popular brands.

I buy Bonne Mama products at Fairway in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Look for it at your favorite grocery store or visit Bonne Maman to purchase.

I am going to say something I’ve already said here: I’m so glad I live near Di Palo’s Fine Foods. If ever I were to move, this is one place in the neighborhood that I would miss.

Take the case of this cheese. I was eyeing it and asked one of the very friendly owners (who are brothers) for a taste. Passionate about cheese, of course he obliged. And fortunately for me, it was a steamy hot day and the store wasn’t crowded as usual. The Toma Piemontese, a soft cow’s milk cheese from the Piedmont region of Italy, is so incredibly creamy and buttery I couldn’t resist buying some to take home. There’s nothing like having good cheese to nibble on throughout the day as I play with my daughter.

Toma Piemontese is flown in from Italy and is available at:

Di Palo’s Fine Foods/200 Grand St (at Elizabeth)/212-226-1033

And you can always go next door for a bottle of wine.

Just in time for this hot, humid weather, New York City is experiencing an artisanal popsicle craze, which you may have read about in the New York Times. They’re popping up at the Hester Street Fair and at Chelsea Market, but the best I’ve tasted are at popbar, a tiny store on Carmine Street., a fitting setting for an Italian import.

There aren’t just any ordinary popsicle. These are made of gelato, sorbet and frozen yogurt, and crafted in small batches of the finest ingredients. Pick one from the case or get one custom-dipped in chocolate and/or pistachios or coconut or nuts. And there are flavors for every taste: mixed berry, coconut, coffee, banana and many more. The banana dipped in chocolate was my choice, a good one at that, and I will be back for other flavors all summer long. For all you moms and nannies out there, popbar is pleasantly kid-friendly (toddler S loved the chocolate dipped in chocolate) and just a skip from Washington Square Park.

popbar/5 Carmine Street near 6th Avenue/212-255-4874

Visit their site for more information.

Here's my daughter at the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park

I am going enjoy a walk in the park with my family. But first I’d like breakfast at home. Find out in my latest Dean & Deluca article what kind of breakfast I would love to be served on Mother’s Day. It doesn’t require any cooking, just some shopping and assembling.

Read my Breakfast in Bed article in Dean & Deluca’s Gourmet Food Blog.

Have you ever walked into a bakery and were unable to decide what to order? Well you won’t have that problem at Steve’s Key Lime Pie.

It’s easy to admire someone who’s perfected one thing and then built a business out of it. Such is the case with Steve. His key lime pies, a perfect balance of tart and sweet, are absolutely amazing—and that is all he sells in his Red Hook “waterfront bakery” housed in an old factory along the Gowanus Bay. He uses real, fresh squeezed key limes (yes, it’s true, some bakers don’t), real butter (why use anything else?) in the Graham cracker crust—all fresh ingredients.

When you go to Steve’s, the only choice you have to make is: 4-inch tart, 8-inch pie or 10-inch pie. Ah, if decisions could often be that simple.

Visit Steve’s site for more information.

P.S. After getting your key lime pie, check out the garden center on the far end of the building—it’s like walking into a beautiful jungle.

Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pie/204 Van Dyke St/Brooklyn/718-858-5333

To find your way to Key Lime Pie nirvana, this map is very helpful.

Have you heard of French pot-made ice cream? I hadn’t either until I was introduced to Graeter’s ice cream by a dear friend. French pot is a process of making ice cream only two gallons at a time in a French Pot Freezer, which makes ultra creamy ice cream.

I was wondering why I, an ice cream aficionado, hadn’t heard of Graeter’s and then realized it’s because Graeter’s is sold in Kentucky, Ohio, Texas, and I am in New York. But now they’re shipping their famous ice cream so we can all get a taste of their irresistible flavors. (And they’re shipping methods are very commendable; The ice cream arrives frozen.)

My favorite Graeter’s flavor is also their signature and best-seller: black raspberry chip. It tastes exactly like the fruit (which they get from Oregon farms), only sweeter, and the chocolate chips are made by one of the oldest chocolatiers and the inventor of milk chocolate, Peter’s Chocolates.

To order Graeter’s ice cream, visit their site.