A Sugar-Coated Tour: The Best Sweet Treats in NYC
New York City: the melting pot of culture, diversity, and - you guessed it - a haven of sweet treats. From warm, gooey cookies to innovative ice cream scoops, the city's bakeries and sweet shops make it a food lover's dream. Let's take a sweet stroll through some of the top destinations for that sugar rush.
Milk Bar (Christina Tosi)
Founded by award-winning pastry chef Christina Tosi, Milk Bar is famous for reinventing classic home-style desserts with a fun twist. Known for their iconic "Crack Pie," now dubbed the "Milk Bar Pie," this buttery, gooey, oat-crusted slice of heaven is a must-try. Also, don't leave without experiencing their Cereal Milk Soft Serve, which genuinely tastes like the milk at the bottom of a bowl of cornflakes or their ‘Birthday Cake’ cake decorated with all those colourful rainbow sprinkles/ funfetti.
These sweet shops stay open until midnight so we were able to enjoy a cookie and birthday cake after a show on Broadway at their flagship store which is only a stone’s throw away (6min walk) from the Empire State Building.
Magnolia Bakery
No trip to NYC is complete without tasting the legendary Banana Pudding from Magnolia Bakery. This delicious dessert layers vanilla wafers, fresh bananas, and creamy vanilla pudding to create an addictive treat. I promise you; it tastes better than it looks when you first lift this lid. While Magnolia Bakery might have been made famous by Carrie and Miranda in "Sex and the City," enjoying a cupcake out the front of their Bleecker Street branch but its enduring reputation is sustained by consistent quality and mouthwatering selections (they’ve even named this cupcake ‘the Carrie’ since it appeared on SATC).
Peter Pan Donut and Pastry Shop
This Greenpoint-based, old-school bakery has a nostalgic atmosphere reminiscent of the 1950s. Serving up what many New Yorkers believe are the best doughnuts in the city, it's a must-visit when you’re in Brooklyn. The classic Red Velvet Donut or their renowned Honey-Dipped Donut will leave you with a satisfying sugar rush. And if you're a fan of filled donuts, their Boston Cream is sure to impress.
We visited on National Donut Day (any excuse to eat donuts really - 2nd June 2023 FYI) and enjoyed their special of the day; lemon drizzle along with a honey dip donut. These were AMAZING.
Oh and for the Spiderman fans out there; this is the Donut shop featured in the ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ movie.
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream
This NYC staple, which started as a food truck and morphed into a city-wide ice cream empire, offers an array of flavours to please both classic and vegan palates. Highlights include their Honeycomb, which has a light, crunchy texture and sweet honey flavour, and their Vegan Cookie Crumble Strawberry Jam, a delightful blend of creaminess and fruitiness.
We loved their malted cookie dough, honeycomb and cookies & cream ice cream served on a fresh waffle cone (the smell of the waffle cone being heated will hit you when you walk through the door and what a glorious, cinnamon-y smell that is). We visited their branch on Amsterdam Avenue which is a 10minute walk to Central Park. So why not grab an ice cream and go enjoy it in the park whilst watching the world go by?
Sam’s Fried Ice Cream
For an unconventional take on ice cream, Sam’s Fried Ice Cream is the place to go. Located in Chinatown, this shop wraps scoops of ice cream in a thin layer of pound cake, coated with breadcrumbs, and then deep-fried briefly. The result? A warm, crispy exterior that gives way to deliciously cold ice cream on the inside.
We experienced this deep fried ice cream ball at Queen’s night market (on Saturday’s). Don’t let the queue put you off; it’s so worth it and the perfect way to end the night.
FINE & RAW - Chocolate Factory
Chocolate lovers, rejoice! FINE & RAW specialises in crafting artisan chocolate that’s raw, vegan, and made with organic ingredients. Their Sea Salt bar, infused with a touch of sea salt to bring out the natural sweetness of the cacao, is a crowd favourite.
For us their nut butters are the real show-stoppers. We bought both their 70% dark chocolate hazelnut spread and 57% chocolate hazelnut spread and have been eating it by the spoonful since.
If you plan ahead you can email them to request a tour of their Chocolate factory located in Williamsburg or if you’re in the area go in and enjoy samples of their chocolate at their espresso bar. We had a cold ‘hot chocolate’ with the addition of their 70% dark chocolate hazelnut spread (we requested this because it was a hot day and are chocolate lovers - the more chocolate the better and they were more than happy to mix it up for us) and it blew us away!
Whether you're a local or a tourist, your time in NYC wouldn't be complete without a trip to these sweet treat hotspots.
Our Sweet treats in NYC map
How to use our maps
Click on the menu icon on the top left to show a list of all places on the map. You’ll find our notes by clicking on each place.
Click on the fullscreen icon on the top right to open the map in Google Maps.
Other places we didn’t get a chance to visit:
Dominique Ansel Bakery in SoHo - home to the original Cronut
Levain Bakery - famous for their chewy, soft and melty cookies
Junior’s restaurant - serving NYC and tourists a slice of New York cheesecake since 1950