With Thanksgiving a little more than a week away, at least a few of you might be starting to figure out your Thanksgiving eve plans i.e. how to procure everything needed for dinner with the least resistance and crowds possible. And while Magnolia isn’t the tops on our bakery lists, may I present their pies for Thanksgiving ordering. Between Rockefeller Center and Grand Central, it would be easy to pick up your pie on the way our of town. A few weeks ago, I tasted their pumpkin and black bottom pecan, and was pleasantly surprised. Both were thoroughly enjoyable and I wouldn’t mind either after gorging myself on turkey and stuffing. A regular sized pie goes for $24, and Thanksgiving day ordering ends on Sunday.

Magnolia Bakery, 1240 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, (212) 767-1123

That’s not a peanut butter sandwich, it’s a slice of peanut butter and jelly cake ($3.50). The peanut butter cake was surprisingly moist (not dry like, ahem, certain cupcakes) with a lightly sweetened, nutty flavor. I wouldn’t have minded some more peanut butter-buttercream in the middle with a dollop more grape jelly. At $3.50 this is bigger than a cupcake, but not quite the enormous layer cake portion you get or $4.50. If you’re a pb fan, this is a twist on a classic worth trying.

Time is also running out for their seasonal strawberry ice box cake. For $4.50 you get an enormous hunk of strawberry whipped cream covered chocolate wafers. This is without question my favorite item on the menu at Magnolia. The dessert itself is simple to make at home, but the chocolate wafers are like cookie unicorns, I’ve never seen them in the city so to me it’s totally worth it to buy a slice. The staff couldn’t tell me exactly when this would be retired, but did promise that peppermint ice box cake would be on the horizon, so if you’re an icebox cake fan looking to get a last taste of summer, I’d recommend hitting up Magnolia stat.

Magnolia Bakery, 1240 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, (212) 767-1123

Cupcake haters best start scrolling now because there’s serious cupcake action happening in midtown today. Sprinkles, the LA cupcakery that’s about to invade NYC is planning on giving away cupcakes in Times Square (yeah, good luck with that). Follow them @sprinklesmobile for details on when/where the giveaway is going down. Yesterday, they ran out of 1000 cupcakes in under an hour. Elsewhere in midtown Robicelli’s has their once- a-year Mint Julep cupcakes (hello, bourbon-mint cake & buttercream with hand candied mint leaf). You can snag some for Derby day at Schnitzel & Things (3rd Ave. btw. 45+46th). Lastly, Magnolia is currently offering “the Japan cupcake,” (chocolate cake, vanilla frosting with a raspberry “to signify the ‘rising sun’ symbol known as the Nisshoki.”) These cupcakes are $3 and $1 goes to the Japan Society’s earthquake fund (regular cupcakes are $2.75). Available at both the Rock Center and Grand Central locations.

Sadness is showing up on the last day of Flex Donuts, hoping for one last hurrah with their spiced chocolate goodness, only to see a sign saying “Out of Doughnuts.” That is a sad sign. One look to the left reminded me of the paradox that is Magnolia Bakery (in the Grand Central Food Court.) Knowing I was not going to be getting a cupcake, I took a gander at the display case to see if anything else tickled my fancy: personal chocolate pudding pie, anyone?

Magnolia’s claim to fame shouldn’t be its cupcakes, it should be everything else they sell. I’ve had a few of their awesome puddings (banana FTW,) slices of their cakes (I take payments of icebox cake,) even a brownie once-all of it was delicious and well above average. This day I needed some chocolate, but wasn’t in the mood for a large portion and that’s when I spotted their mini graham cracker crust pies ($3.) Their chocolate pudding was excellent-creamy and dark with no chemical aftertastes, and decadent enough that you don’t need much more than the pie. The whipped cream on top and graham cracker bottom both complemented the chocolate well. It’s a sad world when I’ve become a quasi-Magnolia fan…

Related:
The Magnoliafication of Midtown Continues

Photo courtesy of Bloorozez

Things have gotten so bad that even Magnolia Bakery (on 49th & 6th) has to resort to offering free samples to drum up business! Don’t ask me why I was in there… I didn’t buy anything, but I took a free sample of carrot cake. I’m not going to lie- their cupcakes may be mediocre but that carrot cake freebie was goooood.

Awhile back one of the Profiled Midtown Lunch’ers posed a question about Midtown desserts that got me thinking. “What if I just ate desserts for my $10 dollars? What can I get with that?” I know how this must look- guy forgoes street food, pizzas, or a hearty sandwich in place of… banana pudding. Might as well trade in my fantasy basketball team for the current issue of Vogue or spend my Saturday nights watching Sex and the City instead of catching up on Heroes and Chuck. I don’t really have a response, so I’ll get started on the actual eating…

First up was Magnolia’s Bakery on 49th and 6th Ave. You could probably spend ten dollars here without going anywhere else. Some of you might take exception to their cupcakes, which sometimes lack moistness. Instead, try the banana pudding which is on-par with most other cupcakeries in the city. It’s rich, lucious, and velvety. It’ll remind you of Ivanka Trump, and it’ll disappear just as fast as she did during that free food giveaway.

Moving on from the banana pudding, you can head down to ‘wichcraft in Rockefeller Center (there are other locations in Midtown). I’m not sure they always have this brioche cinnamon bun, but it’s quite delicious. Think of it as a softer version of Cinnabon (also in Rock Center), except it’s smaller. It might be half the size of a Cinnabon but it’s worth it. The brioche has a texture that’s more pleasing than your typical cinnamon roll, and it’s covered in frosting so you really can’t go wrong. For $2.71 (tax included), this snack doesn’t dent your pocket books too much.

With $2.79 left, I was going to call it at day. There was already too much sugar running through my system at that point. But with options totally wide open I couldn’t resist one more. You could go super fancy and get a tiny macaron at La Maison Du Chocolat. Or you can do it ghetto fabulous style and get yourself a frosty from Wendy’s and a Krispy Kreme donut. I got my KK donut on from an Au Bon Pain. It was a cream filled donut with chocolate frosting. Like most KK donuts, this yeasty creation was light on the inside. The frosting wasn’t that chocolaty but I didn’t care since this was the third dessert of the meal. I had to skip the frosty because it was getting about time to get back to work, but it certainly fits within the budget.

The takeaway from all of this is that you can, in fact, have four sweet items for your lunch. I’m not sure if you would want to do this every day, or even every week for that matter. But it’s doable, and that’s what’s important. This trip was limited to the Rockefeller Center area, but you could actually do this around food cart alley, or in the K-town area where you can add Red Mango/Pinkberry into the mix. The possible paths to early on-set diabetes are endless. Perhaps the most comforting idea to take away from this is that during the economic downturn, you can still count on desserts to be moderately priced and satisfying.

THE +

• Mmmm… sweet tooth
• I love dessert, so why not spend all my lunch money on dessert?
• Cupcakery is in my vocabulary and banana pudding rocks
• I practically live in the Rockefeller center as it is, so might as well, right?

The -

• Yo, where’s the real food?
• Didn’t your mother tell you to eat a balanced meal for lunch?
• As a future father, I have to be responsible and clogging my arteries with sugar AND fat is not good (looks at Zach)
• Sweets don’t do it for me

Photos and post by Danny from www.foodinmouth.com