Category Archives: Sweets

Alpha Bakery

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If your native language was Italian or Spanish and you aspired to start up a top-line, first-class bakery and food shop, you might consider naming it “Numero Uno” – but if your native language was Greek, you might opt for “Alpha.” And Alpha Bakery & Mediterranean Marketplace has succeeded in achieving that status.

Backstory: It’s the inception of food tour season and I always return for multiple visits to each neighborhood we cover to see what’s new and what’s departed. I was on the hunt for some seriously needed newcomers for my Flavors of Little Levant ethnojunket in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and I spotted Alpha at 7717 5th Ave.

Predominantly Greek products lined the shelves, but it was the ample array of freshly prepared dishes and baked goods that caught my eye. The Tolis family opened Alpha Bakery last October, but they’re hardly newcomers to the kitchen: they had been professional pastry chefs in Greece 25 years ago before they emigrated to America.

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Shown here is their Fried Codfish and Garlic Mashed Potatoes (Mπακαλιάρος και Σκορδαλιά – or Bakaliaros and Skordalia if the alphabet is Greek to you). Crispy exterior, substantial interior paired with the classic accompaniment.


The highlight that day was their Bougatsa (Mπουγάτσα) – flaky phyllo dough filled sweet semolina custard and dusted with cinnamon and sugar. Never had semolina custard? Definitely give this version a try.


Inside view revealing the delectable filling – and despite any expectation, it’s not excessively sweet. Worth a trip.

Alpha is truly a welcome addition to the neighborhood and yes, of course we’ll stop by on my Little Levant ethnojunket. See you soon!
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! ❤
 
 

In Just –

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– the proverbial blink of an eye, the weather changed from dark, bleak, frigid Winter to glorious, mud-luscious, puddle-wonderful Spring. And with it, the advent of food tour season!

I usually share photos of savory treats we enjoy on our ethnojunkets but pix of sweets less frequently. On an “Eastern European Food in Little Odessa” tour last year, one of my favorite guests was on a quest for a certain type of honey cake that she hoped we’d find at Tashkent Market. It was a wakeup call for me that I needed to delve into their selection of Russian and Eastern European cakes more thoroughly – hey, it’s tough work but somebody’s gotta do it 😉. So over subsequent visits, I decided to familiarize myself with just a few (ha!) of the dozens of varieties they offer. Some photos of my research:

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Spartak Cake – Layered with sour cream icing, topped with chocolate ganache.


Napoleon – Layers of thin, flaky puff pastry and pastry cream highlighted with sweet raspberries.


Éclair – Chocolate coated, topped with pistachios, loaded with a rich cream filling.


Vatrushka – A yeast dough disk filled with sweet cheese, often topped with cherries.


Chocolate Kartoshka – The Russian word for potato! Made from cake or cookie crumbs mixed with cocoa, sweetened condensed milk, and butter.


Sochniki – Crumbly shortbread cookies two ways: cheese and cherries.


Syrniki – From the Russian word for cheese, syr. Puck-shaped disks made from tvorog (similar to pot cheese). Inside perspective: raisin, sweetened condensed milk, and Nutella flavors.


Honey Cake – The inspiration for this post. Layered with honey infused cream.

But since a picture isn’t worth a thousand calories, please join me on one of my ethnojunkets! Visit my Ethnojunkets page to check out the comings and goings of my food tours!
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! ❤
 
 

Homemade Christmas Cookies, Day 5 – Linzer Cookies

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Linzer Stars

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Finely ground almonds figure into in the sweet, tender dough; the filling is made from red currants that I bought when they were in season and preserved in anticipation of this maniacal operation. Why maniacal? Look closely and you’ll see that the powdered sugar blankets only the outer section of the star, yet the inner red star shines snow-free.
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Follow along to see how I do it:

Start with solid backs.

Add preserves around the perimeter but not in the center. (Neatness doesn’t count.)

Match tops to bottoms.

Let it snow, let it snow, etc.


Squirt a blob of preserves into the cutout.

Now here comes the maniacal part: For each cookie, use a toothpick to draw out the five points of the star.

Et voilà!

The cookies are complete and packed up. Here’s the negative space that was left behind!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
🎅🎄☃️❄️
 
 

Homemade Christmas Cookies, Day 2 – Biscotti

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Biscotti

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These twice-cooked treats (aka cantuccini) are laden with toasted almonds and dried cherries that I simmered in Amaretto. Delicious dunked in coffee for breakfast, wine for dessert (as they do in Italy), or cocoa for snowstorms.
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Stay tuned: more cookies to come!
 
 

Homemade Christmas Cookies, Day 1 – Identity Crisis Cookies

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When I bake Christmas cookies, it’s the same cast of characters every year. Not that this old dog can’t learn new tricks, it’s just that after I’ve made my signature treats, I usually don’t have enough energy left to take pictures of them. (Although somehow I do manage to muster the energy to consume them!)

So here are some past photos of those goodies. Enjoy!

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Identity Crisis Cookies

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So named because I couldn’t decide whether to make chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin or toasted coconut pecan and since I had all of those on hand…well, you get the picture.
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More to come….
 
 

Panettone! Pannetone! Pannettone!

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One of these things is not like the others, or so the song goes. In this case, the outlier is the first Panettone, the only orthographically correct version of the subject of this post. To tell the truth, the two imposters share the spotlight only by way of capitulation to less-than-forgiving search engines (and not as a sly reference to the 90s R&B/soul group) because it is my mission to ensure that everyone falls in love with this gift to the culinary arts as deeply, passionately, and yes, obsessively as I have.

You’re all familiar with panettone, right? That Italian (Milanese, specifically) sweet, fruity, fluffy cake that’s usually consumed for the holidays (Christmas, specifically) but can be enjoyed year-round by ardent aficionados (me, specifically).

If you’ve read my story, An Eggnog Excursus, you know that part of my obsession stems from the fact that this bewitching beverage evocative of joyous childhood memories is only available for an all-too-brief period each year. Unlike eggnog, some brands of panettone are available year-round, generally dozing in supermarkets and even bodegas, but they tend to be lackluster as compared with the treasures that miraculously appear during the holiday season. It’s like envisaging a standing rib roast for Christmas dinner and then being served pot roast instead. It’s not the end of the world, but it is a world away from what you had been eagerly anticipating for the better part of a year.

So in an effort to assist with your choice of panettone from the myriad available this time of year, please check out this deep dive into Italy’s sweet Christmas present to the culinary world!
 
 

Happy Diwali!

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Dear Friends,

I can no longer keep this to myself. I am an addict, hooked on mithai. What’s that? You don’t know about mithai? Mithai are Indian sweets and since Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, is upon us, I can think of no better time than now to tell you my tale. So gather round your diyas and check out my post “Indian Sweets 101: Meeting Mithai” right here on ethnojunkie.com!
 
 
दिवाली मुबारक
Happy Diwali!
 
 

My Heart With Ukraine

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If you read me, you know that one of the ethnojunkets I offer is “Exploring Eastern European Food in Little Odessa,” named for the port city on the Black Sea in southern Ukraine. In the latter half of the last century, many Odessites who emigrated to the US came to Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach neighborhood, hence the name.

You also know that I developed a distinct section of my website dedicated to Ukraine and its cuisine after Russia’s invasion in February, 2022 – not their first.

If you’ve visited that corner of my website, you know that it’s dedicated to my friend Olya who lives in Ukraine and endures the consequences of the war on a daily basis. To me, Olya represents all the brave, stalwart, resilient, heroic, beautiful people of Ukraine. She knows that my heart is steadfastly with Ukraine.

And if you’ve explored my epic post about ethnic ice cream, you’ve read that Lasunka (Ласунка) is the leading brand of ice cream in Ukraine.

Now, why am I telling you all this?

Because if you knit all of these threads together, you’ll understand why I nearly broke into tears of joy when I discovered this ice cream product from Lasunka on my Little Odessa tour. Olya is undoubtedly familiar with the brand and I’m sure she’ll be pleased knowing that we have this very special treat in the US.

Naturally, I took these photos on Brighton Beach in Little Odessa.