While the Statue of Liberty and the lights of Times Square are worth a look, what really makes us want to stop and stare is the creative eats and treats that the Big Apple dishes up on a daily basis. If you’re heading for Manhattan any time soon, make sure you leave plenty of time in your itinerary to hunt down our favourite desserts of the big city.
Stacked Waffle Cone | Ice & Vice
Who said ice cream was the only thing you could put in a waffle cone? Not Ice & Vice, that’s for sure. Mix up your scoops of ingenious ice cream flavours with ice cream sandwiches and – wait for it – cones topped with slices of pie!
Don’t worry that you’ll end up with the whole thing in your lap, because the scoop artists here are masters of ice cream architecture. You will, however, need a spoon (or maybe a knife and fork).
Ice Cream Taco | 10 Below
Finally, someone saw our love of rolled ice cream and waffle cones and came up with a way to combine them; rolled ice cream tacos! At 10 Below, not only will your ice cream be created on a frozen slab right in front of you, but it will then be served hugged by a freshly-cooked waffle taco, and loaded with all the toppings you could dream of (toasted marshmallows and tiny teddies atop s’mores ice cream is our pick). We’re pretty sure we don’t need to taco you into this one.
Crazy Shake | Black Tap
There’s freak shakes, and then there’s Black Tap’s monstrous creations, which come adorned with so many toppings you won’t believe you can drink them with a straw. Skip the fries with your burger and instead leave room for The Cookie Shake, a vanilla shake which comes topped with an ice cream sandwich, extra cookies, chocolate chips and a vanilla frosted rim. Slurrrrrrrp.
Uni-cone | Taiyaki
Is it a fish? Is it a unicorn? No, it’s a taiyaki soft serve in a Japanese-style fish-shaped cone, complete with a unicorn horn! If the unicorn craze really grabbed you by the horns, you’ll want to bite into this dreamy pastel creation ASAP. While you’re there, nab a taro-flavoured unicorn float, which comes complete with an inflatable unicorn cup holder.
Crack Pie | Momofuku
If you’ve never heard of Momofuku Milk Bar’s crack pie, you’ve clearly been living under a rock candy, because this addictive treat is kind of the cocaine of the dessert world. An oatmeal cookie crust is filled with a gooey sweet and salty filling (it’s basically butter and sugar – all the important food groups) and served sprinkled with icing sugar. We dare you to stop at one slice.
Ultimate S’more | Dominique Ansel
Know what a s’more is? It’s basically the USA’s greatest invention – a graham cracker, chocolate, and marshmallow melted together into gooey treat. Because dessert master Dominique Ansel is never satisfied with the original (remember cronuts? They were him), the version you’ll get at this famous NYC spot comes with homemade cookie, sea salt milk chocolate, chocolate whiskey ganache, caramelized chocolate and a giant honey marshmallow that’s torched to order. We’ll take five, thanks.
Cookie Dough | Dō Cookie Dough Confections
Eating raw cookie dough is actually the best part of baking cookies, right? Dō thought so too, so they just skip baking them entirely. Here you can get scoops of nothing but cookie dough in a myriad of flavours (with no raw egg, so it’s safe to eat, ok mum?), and add all the mix-ins you want. They even do take home tubs if you want to save some for later – but we warn you, they won’t make it all the way back to Australia.
Cookies | Levain Bakery
No lie, these are THE best cookies you’ll ever eat in your life, and not just because they’re almost the size of your hand. Whether you like ‘em crisp and crunchy or soft and gooey, you’ll want to go back for seconds of these babies, which are so thick that they manage to be both. A crispy crust, a warm and oozing interior, and flavour so rich you’ll struggle to get through two (but you will), they come in classic flavours like dark chocolate peanut butter and oatmeal raisin.
Banana Bread Pudding | Magnolia Bakery
Sex and the City might have put Magnolia Bakery’s cupcakes on the map, but these days it’s their banana pudding that’s winning them Insta-fame. Vanilla wafers, fresh banana and creamy vanilla pudding get whipped together into a cup full of heaven, with daily and seasonal flavours like peanut butter and pumpkin gingersnap. You’ll go bananas for it, we promise.
Pack lightly, foodies – you’re going to be packing a few extra kilos on the way home.
