Your favorite confection?

[chocolate chick]

Okay, I gotta know...when you need to indulge...what confection (chocolate or other) do you go for?

[Will Owen]

A couple of years ago I bought several boxes of Trader Joe's chocolate truffles to send out for gifts...and then put them away on a bottom shelf and forgot about them until six months or so later. As this included a few hot months, they were well and truly fused together. So, just for grins, I put one of the boxes in the fridge, and a day or two later busted off a few chunks with a table knife and tried them. Delicious!

Since then, I have kept a box of old melted-together TJ's truffles in the back of the fridge, and whenever I'm feeling snackish along around bedtime I know just where to look.

[nicki]

Madeleine Cookies-the lemony kind.

[PseudoNerd]

in no particular order:

Jin Patisserie truffles

Jean Paul Hevin choolates and chocolat chaud

macarons, palmiers, almond croissants at La Duree

pots de creme

red/white bean and/or paste (which I used to dislike), especially the red bean donuts at Cake Houses Wien and the Galleria

"sool" dduk: white Korean rice cakes flavored with alcohol.

Tohato "Harvest" biscuits

just about any filling (creamy, fruity, etc.) of baked goods-- I normally don't like cake, tart shells, cookies, etc., but will have a bite or two of the (rice, wheat, etc.) flour-containing parts of the aforementioned items

[acme]

dulce de leche by itself or over vanilla ice cream

bubba's chocolate cake pudding (recipe in "forrest gump my favorite chocolate recipes") served with a big glass of really cold milk

walkers' liquorice toffee

red bean buns

[chocokitty]

Fudgey brownies
Chocolate tart
Molten Chocolate Cake or Chocolate souffle
French macaroons
The Nutter Butter Cookie from Bouchon Bakery
Chocolate babkas - good one's, of course (i.e. Moishes Bakery)
La Maison du Chocolat's or Kee's chocolates
Japanese confections - particularly mochi from Minamoto Kitchoan
Chinese lotus paste buns

[kim shook]

Buttercrunch
Brittles
Brownies
Peanut Butter Cookies
Cadbury Flakes
and these things: http://recipecircus.com/recipes/Kimbe...

[kerwintoronto]

Japanese chocolates
Good 'old chocolate cake (but good).
Chinese egg tarts
Portuguese custard tarts
chocolate/chocolate/chocolate

[Gooseberry]

I never grew to like Chinese egg tarts, but I love Pasteis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts). It's strange; I feel like they are distant cousins, but the Chinese version's filling seems bland to me, compared to the creaminess of the pasteis (whose pastry - crispy/buttery - is hard to beat). If you HAD to choose one over the other, which would you go for?

[applehome]

Japonais Bakery's (Brookline, MA) Azuki-Cream pan, which is actually a cream puff with anko (sweet azuki bean paste) added. This is the reason I have such low regard for Beard Papa's ubiquitous junk. (Also my mom's favorite dessert to make was cream puffs - she was making French pastries in Japan before ww2, and of course, they go back much further, to the Meiji era.)

Another favorite from my youth that I make once in a great while is Shiratama - served cold with anko.

The commercial daifuku's are ok in a pinch - they'll keep a craving at bay.

[cheryl_h]

Chinese egg custard tarts, halva, just about anything with nuts.

[galleygirl]

OOooohhh, how could I forget halvah??? Still, fits under the Middle Eastern sweets category.....

[liu]

For you LA Hounds -- the best halvah I have had was found at the Hollywood Farmer's Market (Sunday) at a stand; the brand was called "Mother's" or "Mom's"...anyone know this brand and where else to find it?

[anonforthis2]

Good halvah is so good and one of my favorites.

[chica]

Mochi - the dry and ice cream versions.

Brownies made from Trader Joe's truffle brownie baking mix.

Any Valhorna and Vosges chocolate truffles and bars, and Vosges toffee brittle.

[chocolate chick]

Oh chica, a woman after my own heart. Vosges is fabulous! Where have all the chocolate lovers gone? I also LOVE toffee, brittle, buttercrunch...YUM!

[chocolatetartguy]

My mother's Russian Tea Cakes and my best friend's wife's shortbread. You say retail? Sticky buns from the Cheeseboard in Berkeley.

[Louise]

Oh, those Japanese confections. I could (and have) eaten a box full.

Coffee cake as sold at Peets.

Croissants as sold at Pasta Shop, think they are from Semifreddis. Indescribably buttery with some shatteringly crisp outside and soft, slightly chewy inside. The ones from La Farine just don't do it.

Lately I've lost the taste for chocolate, and totally crave caramel and cinnamon, esp. if gooey, crumbly, or flaky.

[galleygirl]

Any Middle Eastern sweet that's saturated in rosewater syrup, and NOT baklava...usually some kind of semolina squares that taste of perfume, sometimes those little rolls filled with pistachios and sticky stuff...

[shirlotta]

annin tofu with fruit, any sorbet except raspberry, molten chocolate cakes, peach cobbler, anything with red bean paste, mochi, pretty japanese confections. yummmm.

[liu]

Shirlotta -- are you in Los Angeles? Have you been to Jin's Patisserie on Abbott-Kinney in Venice?

[shirlotta]

no, unfortunately i am not in los angeles! i'm in new york. i'm sure your asian pastries are much better, given that previous visits to la have proved that your chinese restaurants are a million times better than in new york.

[Dommy]

Lemon Bars!! :)

--Dommy!

[liu]

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh.......lemon bars........!

But they must be really good ones (of course!!). There are some "out there" that feign to be, but they are gelatinous AND flavorless. They MUST be made with real ingredients: lemon, lemon juice, lemon rind, and more lemon!

[welle]

have you tried Larabars with lemon bar flavor? - surprisingly good and tastes very much like a real lemon bar

[liu]

Yes. I keep them in my car for after the gym. I do like the lemon one.

I don't generally like the so-called "health" bars because they contain other things, but the Lara bars are really pure. Also, upon a recommendation from this board, I just bought a specialty Clif bar, the Clif Nectar bar. I think this is the organic line of the Clif bars, and these contain nothing but real items -- similar to the Lara bars. I have yet to taste it. Have you tried these?

[welle]

I love Clif Nectar bars, I've like them all (too bad they're not as popular as Larabars and not many stores carry them), maybe not the Walnut Chocolate flavor - I usually eat them while hiking, and I think I crave fruit more than chocolate, and only that flavor doesn't taste much like fruit (though they're all marketed as '2 servings of fruit').

[liu]

Welle -- Do you have Whole Foods near you? This is where I found at least 4 flavors of the Clif Nectar bars.

Happy trails to you!

[ericalloyd]

fresh rainbow cookies, haagen dazs black raspberry chip ice cream, applegate farm toasted almond ice cream, my mil's carrot and chocolate cakes.

[Seth Chadwick]

Turkish Delight.

An acquired taste, but I love the gelatin and the pistachios and the powdered sugar.

Yum.

[Non Cognomina]

I had Turkish Delight prepared by a visiting pastry chef from Turkey a few years ago. I was an instant fan, but have not been able to replicate it or find its equal!

[limster]

Cannelés de Bordeaux. Kueh Lapis. Onde-onde and other varieties of Nyonah kueh (little cakes or sweets).

[Non Cognomina]

I love a good napoleon, and only indulge when I have the opportunity to eat a VERY GOOD one. Gramercy Tavern had one on their dessert menu last summer. After several disappointing attempts at Payard in New York, I found a fantastic one at Patisserie Poupon in Baltimore. I'm always on the lookout for a good one! Anyone have a recommendation for good napoleons in the SF Bay area, specifically the North Bay?

[mrsmegawatt]

Chinese custard tarts, tiramisu or manju (rice cake stuffed with sweet red beans)!!!Yummy. Makes me think of my Obachan!