Pastry Road Trip: Serious Sweetness at The Cookie Jar, Sioux Falls SD

CakeSpy Note: This month I drove to and from Chicago on a Pastry Road Trip: here's the beginning of several installments detailing the deliciousness I discovered!

I am officially in love with The Cookie Jar in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Why?

It starts, of course, with the decor, which is a strange sort of retro 50's diner look--but I got the distinct impression that this was not executed ironically. It makes the space seem as if it's been there for a very long time--though according to their site, they've only been open since 2002.

But the rest of this love story is all about the sweetness. You can tell right away when you approach the bakery case that this place means business. They have row after row of fat, dense cookies in a variety of flavors, some sandwiched with a generous dollop of frosting; their case also dedicates a notable amount of space to decadent bars, including Seven Layer bars, pumpkin bars, enormous brownies, and Special K bars.

The CakeSpy selections included a chocolate creme sandwich cookie, a Special K bar and an apple-raisin sour cream bar.

The cookie sandwich was rich, with pillowy cookies studded with chocolate chips and a frosting which tasted vaguely like Oreo filling; it was clear immediately that while this was not a refined or sophisticated dessert, it was nonetheless a deeply satisfying, extremely nostalgic treat.

The Special K Bar (which, as I learned, is quite common in Midwestern bakeries) was bar none (get it?) the best one sampled on this trip, rich and chewy and peanut buttery--it even inspired me to try out my own version at home, which I wrote about on Serious Eats!

The sour cream bar, which Mr. CakeSpy tried, was decadent, with the sweet fruit nicely complemented by the tangy sour cream in the filling, with a nice added texture and flavor contrast from a crispy oaty topping.

Now, I hope I'm not coming off as overly dramatic, but I feel as if it is my public duty to tell you that if you happen to find yourself in Sioux Falls, you must visit The Cookie Jar. But don't just take my word for it: Roadfood loves it too!

The Cookie Jar, 125 West 10th St., Sioux Falls, (605) 978-0991; online at cookiejarsd.com.

Sweet Art: Infinite for Illustration Friday

This week's Illustration Friday theme is "Infinite", and it got me thinking about how variations on a theme can really be quite infinite. Case in point: Cuppie the Cupcake. How many places has this little cupcake been? Why not continue these amazing adventures by hanging out with an unlikely new buddy, what I hear is the beast of the moment in hipster circles: the narwhal?

It's true: there are really infinite variations.

Cake Byte: NY Times Article Makes Sweet Cupcake Commentary

What can I say? After multiple readers sent me this article about cupcakes all over the world, I simply had to share it. As one reader aptly put it, "Maybe all those U.N. and other diplomatic meetings would accomplish more towards world peace if cupcakes were on the table.... Cupcakes conquer the world!"

Read the full article here!

Puff Daddy: Reese's Puffs Bars with Buttercream Frosting

So, I recently received a very large parcel of boxes of cereal from General Mills with which to try out some recipes for consideration for the Betty Crocker Halloween recipes section of their site. Naturally, I immediately set out to find as many delicious recipes as I could for baked goods which include cereal. One recipe for "Chewy Cereal Bars", which called for Grape-Nuts, intrigued me, but I suspected the recipe could be improved upon: first and foremost, by using Reese's Puffs instead. After making some other alterations to make the recipe uniquely my own, I can say that it's a pretty delicious end result, like chewy blondies with little crispy explosions of peanut butter and chocolate. Top 'em off with some buttercream frosting (and maybe even double deck 'em and decorate them for Halloween or the occasion of your choosing) and you've got yourself a cereal winner.


Reese's Puffs Bars

Ingredients (bars):

• 1/3 cup butter
  
• 1 cup Reese's Puffs Cereal
  
• 3/4 firmly packed brown sugar
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
  
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  
• Optional Halloween garnish: candy corn and mellowcreme pumpkins
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan. In a medium saucepan, melt butter; once melted, add cereal and incorporate for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
   
2. Remove from heat; stir in brown sugar until incorporated. Add egg and vanilla, and stir until completely blended.
   
3. Add flour and baking powder; stir until completely blended.
   
4. Spread into greased pan, and bake about 20 minutes or until golden around the edges. Let cool completely, and then frost. If desired, cut the batch in half and create double decker treats and slice them into thin fingers; if desired, garnish with candy corn and/or mellowcreme pumpkins.
   

Ingredients (frosting)

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  
• 6 cups confectioners' sugar
  
• 1/2 cup half and half
  
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  

Directions:
Cream the butter and about 4 cups of the confectioners' sugar until smooth and creamy; add the vanilla and the rest of the sugar bit by bit until the frosting reaches your desired consistency (you may not need all of it). For orange frosting, add about 1 drop of red and 4 drops of yellow food coloring and mix until the color is even; frost the cooled bars. Do not freeze or chill this frosting.

Pastry Road Trip: Deliciously Dense Donuts at Wall Drug, South Dakota

CakeSpy Note: This month I drove to and from Chicago on a Pastry Road Trip: here's the beginning of several installments detailing the deliciousness I discovered!

Wall Drug is a tourist trap of epic proportions: you've barely entered South Dakota when you start to see billboards proclaiming "Wall Drug--Only 500 Miles!". From that point on, every few miles you'll see another Wall Drug sign or billboard, some advertising products or services, some simply updating you on how much closer you are.

By the time you've actually reached Wall, South Dakota, you'll be so curious that you've basically got to stop.

Of course, I had a reason beyond mere curiosity: I had heard the donuts were fantastic.

I pulled into Wall at about 5 p.m. and unfortunately the "Donut Factory" section of Wall Drug had already closed for the day, but there were still fresh donuts (and ice cream and cookies too) available in their cafe. I picked up two cake donuts: maple frosted and vanilla frosted.

I offered to share with some of the little critters nearby, but it seemed they had no stomach for donuts.

How to describe these donuts? They were extremely dense--none of that light-as-air business here. The cake was very moist and pleasingly greasy, but tastefully so--it didn't leave an oily slick in your mouth. The frosting was rich and flavorful--the maple had a deep, earthy-sweet flavor and the vanilla was surprisingly thick and rich--and it was soft and held together beautifully (nothing is worse, to me, than donut frostings that are hard and flake off!). To put it in a nutshell, these donuts tasted very old school. In a good way.

Wall Drug, 510 Main Street, Wall, SD; 605-279-2175. Online at walldrug.com.

Bonus! Though I couldn't find their donut recipe, the Food Network does have a pie recipe donated by Wall Drug; check it out here!