I'm surprised neither J nor I have more cavities. Let's just say that 1lb bar of Trader Joe's chocolate doesn't last very long in our household. We have a MAJOR sweet tooth and are so lucky to be surrounded by talented local bakeries. Our most recent discovery took us to Brunswick. If you are a regular at the Troy Farmer's Market you must already be familiar with dreamPuff Marshmallows and their unique take on the s'mores staple with flavors like chai and cardamom. Lucky for us, we didn't have to wait until Saturday to satisfy our need for a sugar rush.
We've been meaning to check out the shop for a long time now ever since trying the ice cream sandwiches from the summer Farmer's Market. Brunswick really isn't that much of a trek. dreamPuff Sweet Shop is located just beyond the border of Troy in a strip mall. Don't let the location fool you. Step inside and it's like the Willy Wonka of all delicious sugary things. Our eyes lit up by the sight of truffles, cheesecakes, pies, and cupcakes. J and I were overwhelmed as we were greeted by a vast display case of handmade chocolates and baked goods but Ginny, head dreamPuff maker, was happy to give us a tour of the confectionary.
She had us at "I like to make things with booze," and "There's real rum and lots of it," in the rum cupcake with banana buttercream and toasted coconut. Ginny, we like to eat the treats that you make with lots of booze. Of course we couldn't just get one cupcake especially when they are so pretty. I swear J loves chocolate more than I do and we couldn't pass on the chocolate cupcake, the raspberry truffle cupcake, and tis the season for all things pumpkin so we added a pumpkin cupcake too. I hope you're ready for a treat. These are no regular fluffy cupcakes. Holy butter. The frostings are creamy and buttery and almost as dense as the cakes themselves. The banana frosting on the rum cake was my favorite. None of that artificial flavoring, it was like eating banana bread in buttercream frosting form. We left a few flavors behind to make room for more goodies. After all, the first thing you see when you walk into the shop are the words "Treat Yourself" in giant letters, so of course that's what we did.
For good measure we added a couple of beer truffles made with Dogfish Chicory Stout. Yup, dreamPuff even makes sweets with beer and the selection alternates from week to week. The beer filling wasn't as strong as I was expecting but it was a delicate malty flavor that paired well with chocolate. Two just wasn't enough and we highly advise getting more. Before we went into diabetic shock, we just couldn't leave without the signature marshmallows. To round out our tour de boozy treats, we got a pack of the blackberry cabernet marshmallow. These handmade marshmallows are nothing like the store-bought version. dreamPuffs are light, fluffy, not overly sweet, and packed with flavor. The cabernet wine flavor really comes through! Did we mention there are boozy caramels too? Our only regret was not getting a few of the eggnog caramels made with Maker's Mark. Gives us something to come back to along with slices of pie. Ginny assured us that she makes a mean pecan pie. She is from the South after all.
We love the creativity and adventurous flavors coming out of dreamPuff Sweet Shop. There will always be the classic flavors but think and eat outside the box. You'll be surprised how fun it is to try new things.
J and I have been avid fans of TC Paris Bakery since their early days inside The Chocolate Gecko in Albany. We would stop by every other weekend for fresh flaky and buttery chocolate croissants and boxes of french macarons, not to mention the best creme brulee (torched to order!) and lemon tarts too. Safe to say we were regulars but how could we resist all made from scratch treats. Being in walking distance was dangerously delicious. It would be an understatement to say that we were devastated to find out that TC Paris was losing their space back in March and had to relocate. We were in withdrawals throughout the summer and while TC temporarily found a home at Fluffalicious, it just wasn't the same not being greeted by Chef Paul and crew.
We're so happy to report that TC Paris has found a permanent new home in Saratoga on Henry Street. It's a bit more of a hike for us to get our fill of treats, but it's one we're happy to make. We were honored to be invited to a preview of the new shoppe and every morsel we sampled was just as good as we remembered, if not better. TC takes pride in quality from ingredients to execution. The stars of TC Paris are the French macarons: delicate almond meringue cookies filled with light buttercream or chocolate ganache. These macarons have a light and crisp shell yet chewy center as you bite into the cookie and filling. They are delightful fun little morsels of textures and flavors ranging from chocolate made with Valrhona chocolate, salted caramel, and lemon to unique flavors like chocolate earl grey, chocolate rose, and ube purple yam.
Did we mention how good Valrhona chocolate is? TC uses the same quality chocolate in their croissants and no other croissants have lived up to TC's since. We're also happy to report that TC started making chocolate-dipped pretzels with the same Valrhona chocolate. If you need more of a chocolate fix, TC is now carrying a line of Neuhaus Belgian chocolates and truffles, and we can vouch for those too but the in-house scratch-made confections are what you really want to go for. Duchilly hazelnut pralines are also back and we can't wait to see the return of our old favorites and new favorites to come! Congrats TC Paris Bakery! The new space and renovations are beautiful. It's great to see TC in their own space. We'll be back in two weeks for the official opening! - J&R
