Koreana Plaza Market Mochi: Inside the Koreana Plaza Market in Oakland is a small cash-only bakery with a variety of asian sweets, including lotus-paste-filled pastries (review forthcoming), pineapple buns, and almond cookies. I purchased a pack of two red-bean mochi (despite the oven-fresh sticker on the packaging, I'm pretty sure they were steamed). The mochi are about 125% the size of packaged mochi. Biting into a piece, I could instantly tell that it was very fresh. The glutinous rice flour had a bit more resis... (read more) 3.0/5.0
oakland sweets dessert japanese koreanaplazamarket mochi 3.0
Dandies Vanilla Marshmallows: Vegan marshmallows. Much more resilient than Jetpuffs, with a chewy but firmer texture. Stronger vanilla flavor as well, but tastes overwhelmingly sweet. Irregularly shaped- some are as big as jumbo-sized marshmallows, while others are like two stacked mini-marshmallows combined. At $5 a bag, they aren't worth the price. 2.5/5.0
berkeleybowl sweets dandies vanilla marshmallows 2.5
Cheeseboard Ginger Molasses Cookie: One of the seasonal baked goods available at the Berkeley pizza shop Cheeseboard, the ginger molasses cookie is a mostly chewy cookie with candied ginger scattered throughout and a pleasantly spiced flavor. Not particularly spicy or potent. It's certainly better than most store-bought cookies, but it isn't above average for fresh-baked goods. 3.0/5.0
sweets cheeseboard ginger molasses cookie 3.0
Bouchon Bakery Pumpkin Macaron: On my recent visit to Las Vegas, there seem to be Bochon Bakeries at every corner of my hotel. As I previously enjoyed pistachio macarons at their NYC locations, I decided to try their seasonal pumpkin flavor. The autumnal macaron is about the size of my palm and has a vivid orange shell that easily breaks to reveal a chewy, dark brown interior. Texturally, this pastry was very good, but it was unfortunately overly sweet on the whole. 3.0/5.0
dessert pastry lasvegas sweets bouchonbakery pumpkin macaron 3.0
Loacker Blackcurrant Quadratini Wafer Cookies: Generally, I'm a fan of the Italian brand Loacker, which offers square snack-sized wafers in a variety of flavors. I found the blackcurrant flavor to be especially good because they are actually more tart than sweet. The wafers are crispy and thin, and because they are thick, they feel like a substantial snack despite the bite-size package. Definitely one of the best Loacker wafers I've had. 4.0/5.0
recommended sweets berries loacker blackcurrant quadratini wafer cookies 4.0
Sevan Walnut Baklava: To accompany my previously reviewed soda, I purchased a walnut-flavored pastry from Sevan Bakery in Watertown. I usually find baklava to be overly sweet, and this one did have a very distinct honey flavor, but the pastry was exceptionally crisp and flaky, and the chopped walnuts balanced the sweetness of the dessert. One of the best baklava I've had to date. 4.0/5.0
recommended dessert sweets nuts sevan watertown walnut baklava 4.0