NYC's 5 Best Pumpkin Treats & Desserts For Fall 2013
Don't just carve pumpkins this fall—gobble them. The desserts described below blend the season's most versatile vegetable with sugar and spice and everything nice. It seems the seasonal pumpkin flavor has taken off over the last few years. Get them while you can. By Jessica Allen.
More: NYC's 7 Best Boozy Desserts
What's in a name? At Prohibition Bakery, the answer is everything. This self-described boozy bakery on the Lower East Side requires customers to show ID before ordering its mini-cupcakes, since most have alcohol. The Saucy Pumpkin (pictured), for example, contains toasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin, sage, chocolate, and Oktoberfest ale. The Shiny Apple makes another perfect fall treat: it mixes apple with cheddar, cider spices, and moonshine.
More: NYC's Best Creative Slices Of Pie
You can never go wrong with a classic, and the pumpkin pie sold regularly at the Union Square Greenmarket will fill you up, make you smile, and perhaps even take you back to Thanksgivings of your youth. Since 1949, this Hudson Valley farm has been growing fruit, making cider, baking pies, and conjuring up lots of other deliciousness. Get the goodies, including apple pie and cider donuts, on Wednesdays and Saturdays at the greenmarket.
One Girl Cookies makes every single edible thing on offer by hand, including delightful pumpkin whoopie pies. At the original Cobble Hill location in Brooklyn, the walls are aquamarine and covered in vintage family photos, the Stumptown coffee is fresh, the baked goods come served on real plates, and the whoopie pies (also available in chocolate) get put together with cream cheese frosting. The DUMBO location sells the same treats in addition to savory snacks, beer, and wine.
"Life is delicious, dig in!," reads the lid of Blue Marble's pumpkin ice cream. The scoops available in Prospect Heights, Cobble Hill, Tribeca, and other outposts around the city don't come with mottos, obviously, but they share the same rich creaminess and intense flavor. It's a little bit spicy, a little bit sweet, totally organic, made with dairy from pasture-raised cows and actual pumpkin as well as ginger, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg.
If you'd rather eat your pumpkin dessert with a knife and fork, a frilly napkin by your side, then head to Lady M, an uber-elegant bakery on the Upper East Side. Its pumpkin nuage is one part pie and one part cheesecake, adding up to something wholly unique and incredibly decadent. Made from real pumpkin, the filling includes cinnamon and cream cheese, and gets spread on a crushed graham cracker base.
