From bûche de noëls to stollens to panettones, European holiday dessert traditions are front and center this gift-giving season, available at some of New York City’s top restaurants and markets. Below, we compiled a mix of cookies, pastries and expert chocolate confections to consider for holiday entertaining; each pairs especially well with a snowy day and roaring fire.
il Buco Alimentari, NoHo
Available now for pick-up or local delivery.
Il Buco Alimentari’s front pastry area is now rife with biscotti ($10-$12/bag). Head baker Sheena Otto gave the classic Italian cookie a holiday facelift, with two new flavors: dried cherry-star anise-walnut; and dark chocolate-pistachio-currant. She also just started making almond cookies, too.
Brasserie Fouquet’s, Tribeca
Available December 14-25 for pick-up, call 917-965-2584 one day ahead to order
Chef de cuisine Christopher D'Ambrosio is in charge of the seasonal sweets at Brasserie Fouquet, within sleek new Parisian export and MICHELIN Guide Hotel, Hotel Barrière Fouquet's New York. For his dessert box ($40), he wanted to highlight peak season citrus; expect pastries like a bûche de noël with lemon meringue, a bergamot-accented madeleine, and a lemon curd tart.
Tin Building, South Street Seaport
Available now for pick-up or national delivery
Just over a year ago, one of New York’s most acclaimed chefs, Jean-Georges Vongerichten of iconic French dine dining boîte Jean-Georges, opened a lusty gourmet market at the Seaport. Now, his team there is working on holiday confections, including two types of chocolate bark ($50). With a 62% dark Valrhona chocolate base, the 10-inch by 10-inch squares come topped with crushed red and green candy canes, while the other is decked out with assorted dried fruit and nuts.
The Musket Room, Soho
Preorder now for pick-up
"As a family tradition, my mom would pop open some Pillsbury cinnamon rolls and have them baking while we were opening our Christmas presents every year,” recalls The Musket Room executive chef Camari Mick. In tribute, Mick is rolling out Camari’s Christmas Rolls ($56), her own take flavored with cinnamon, cardamom and allspice. The eight rolls come topped with vanilla-orange icing.
And for those inclined to try their hand at baking this season, click here to read our exclusive interview and recipe with Chef Camari.
abcV, Union Square
Pre-order starting December 12 for pick-up, $88
Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s beloved, perennially-packed plant-based fixture abcV has retooled its popular vegan chocolate into a holiday log for eight to 10 guests. The Vegan Black Forest Yule Log by pastry chef Ashley Drum is comprised of dark chocolate cake, chocolate ganache, whipped cream, a chocolate-coconut crémeux, with amarena cherries.
Una Pizza Napoletana, Lower East Side
Available now for pick-up
Chef Anthony Mangiri, the wizard behind Una’s ethereal fluffy, chewy Neapolitan pies, has teamed up with Verona, Italy-based confectionary Infermentum for the second year on an extra chewy and moist sourdough panettone ($80); this year the Italian Christmas bread comes studded with dark chocolate and freshly candied lemon. (Fun fact: this is Infermentum’s only U.S.-based collab product.)
Koloman, NoMad
Available December 1 (Thursday-Sunday) for pick-up, $12 each
Some of Austria and France’s most popular pastries will be on offer during the holidays thanks to the handiwork of Emiko Chisholm, pastry chef at European-minded Koloman. Swing by to try Chisholm’s sweets from Lübeck marzipan bars (caramel, chocolate, apricot jam), to raspberry linzer tortes, to apple strudel.
Gabriel Kreuther, Midtown
Preorder now for pick-up or local delivery, $80
Chef Gabriel Kreuther knows a thing or two about chocolate; in fact, the chef has his own signature Kreuther Handcrafted Chocolate line. And for the holidays he’s offering a classic French Christmas log: the chocolate, caramel, praline-filled bûche de noël feeds six to eight guests and comes decorated with edible mushrooms and holly.
Frenchette, Tribeca
Preorder now for pick-up
One of the city’s most celebrated French restaurants is getting in the holiday season with a bevy of desserts. Executive pastry chef Michelle Palazzo will be selling a chocolate and hazelnut cream bûche de noël ($110), and a sweets tin ($65) with gingerbread and buckwheat/chocolate chip cookies, marshmallows, chocolate bouchons and more. She also has a stollen in the mix.
Agi’s Counter, Crown Heights
Preorder December 8 for cookie tin pick-up
Nothing screams the holidays like a a cookie tin with caraway shortbread, mandel bread, raspberry linzer torte cookie, Hungarian walnut and Hungarian kifli cookies. 3 different varieties of rugelach, 3 each (9 total in a tin for $25) cranberry port and candied orange, classic chocolate, and warm spices & walnut.
Restaurant Yuu, Greenpoint
Available now for pick-up; email (info@yuunewyork.com) or send the restaurant a message on Instagram to order
Fresh off earning its first Michelin star, six-month-old French-Japanese tasting menu haunt Restaurant Yuu will be offering one holiday dessert. Pastry chef Masaki Takahashi (previously of globally-renowned Narisawa in Tokyo) created the brown spice-enriched, 600 gram stollen ($45) that’s packed with dried oranges, figs, apricots, raisins, prunes, and toasted almonds and walnuts.
Aquavit, Midtown
Available now for pick-up; order here
Chef Emma Bengtsson of midtown’s elegant Nordic restaurant Aquavit just announced that she’ll be offering a classic cake from her home country, an extra-light, not-too-sweet Swedish princess cake ($45). The eight-inch, green marzipan-wrapped confection comes decorated with pink roses (colors are actually customizable) and is layered with whipped cream, vanilla pastry cream, raspberry jam, and sponge cake.
King, Soho
Preorder now for pick-up or nationwide delivery
The King fruitcake ($110)––a dark and dense dessert adapted from the version co-owner Jess Shadbolt’s mother makes every year in the U.K.––is imbued with holiday essence: quince, walnuts, brown sugar, Cassis, citrus zest and brown spices galore. Says Shadbolt, “We are still in debate as to whose cake is the best!”
