Jersey Shore Coffee Bar Expresso-s Itself with Amazing Pastries

Betsy and I are pretty demanding when it comes to breakfast pastries. We’re not going to force feed ourselves flour, butter and sugar at 9 am in the morning, unless the baker has done something special with it – to make it worthy of adding more fat to our waists and glucose to our blood sugar.

Recently, we stumbled upon a terrific little coffee house at the Jersey Shore that makes killer expresso and rich, bold coffee; served with a slice of heaven on the side. The Turnstile Coffee Bar on Route 71 in Belmar knows what good is and serves it up with excellence.

Go for the coffee, but do not overlook the pastry showcase that - to some - may look small, unimpressive and marginally stocked. Good things DO come in small packages and in this case, small showcases.

Understand that Turnstile is not your average coffee house to begin with. It is one of only a handful of ‘specialty coffee’ businesses in central Jersey. ‘Specialty coffee’ refers to a niche market in the coffee industry that focuses on a higher quality coffee than what is typically available in most grocery stores, cafes, and restaurants.

Well, these coffee bean perfectionists also know their bakery products. While they select, roast and grind their own specialty coffee, they sell baked goods made at the famous Balthazar Bakery, which has wholesale and retail locations in Englewood, NJ and New York City.

OMG! The Sticky cinnamon buns Turnstile has chosen to offer their customers are among the best we have ever tasted, anywhere. They are just the right blend of ingredients that makes them a good cup of coffee’s best friend. You have to heat them up a bit before sinking your teeth into them. Once heated, the inside of the bun melts into a delicious filling that is neither; overly sweet or disappointingly doughy. Not sure how else to describe the taste, but unique and amazing.

Balthazar offers no recipes for their sticky buns or other pastries and does not ship products to retail customers. They do have a wholesale division that sells to restaurants, catering halls and - fortunately for us - coffee establishments like Turnstile.

So, unless you are up for a very long ride to Englewood or into New York City, you just may want to venture ‘down the shore’ for a great cup of coffee and something terrific to go along with it. Look at patronizing the Turnstile Coffee Bar as a way of Restoring the Shore by enjoying a Sure thing!

When is Brittle not Brittle? When It Is a Munchy, Crunchy Chocolate Cookie Instead

I’m a traditionalist when it comes to certain foods that have a storied past. The history of Peanut Brittle, for example, is almost legendary and it is one of those foods that shouldn’t be toyed with.

Nowadays, you can find also sorts of Peanut Brittles and some – except for the purist version – have not a single peanut to be found. Today, you can get your Peanut Brittle with cashews, pistachios, almonds and even macadamia nuts. You can even get a Brittle that is really not a Brittle at all.

Betsy and I were skeptical about “Brownie Brittle” when we found it in the aisle of a Fairway store in northern New Jersey. First of all, Betsy won’t put anything in her mouth thicker than a dime. She is terrified over the thought that she might break a tooth or two. So, Brittles of any kind are usually off limits for her.

When I spotted “Brownie Brittle” on the promotional end of the cookie aisle, its very “Hersey-like” packaging caught my eye. On closer inspection, it seemed as if this was a Brittle that even someone with fragile teeth like Betsy could love. “Brownie Brittle” appeared to be some kind of thin cookie masquerading as Brittle.

I soon convinced Betsy to toss a bag of the stuff into our shopping cart; along with the other dozen or so goodies we loaded up on during that trip. Look...WE'RE FOODIES...remember?

So you want to know who tore into the package first, eh? You might have guessed it was me. After all, I often double as Betsy’s appointed “food taster;" making sure that what we have bought is something she will like and – more importantly – it is something she will be able to SAFELY chew.

“Brownie Brittle” immediately passed muster with me. It was love at first bite. Its combination of rich chocolate flavor and light crunch makes this one a winner. When I broke the news to Betsy that could munch instead of crunch, she was more than elated. When she actually sampled a square, she knew we discovered something very special. “Brownie Brittle” is officially and unequivocally DELICIOUS!

So, what is the back story on this goody?

According to the company website, in 1992, “Sheila G. Mains, better known in the food business as Sheila G, took a treasured family recipe for fudge brownies and baked her way into a thriving business.”


Apparently, she once baked regular brownies – not Brittle – for some of the finest restaurants and theme parks in the U.S. You know...the thick and chewy kind. But, her love for all things crispy led her to developing a new treat with that same rich chocolate taste, but also with an amazing crunch.

The story goes on to explain that “like many brownie aficionados, Sheila is particularly fond of the crispy edges. In fact, on many an afternoon she would walk through the bakery gathering the brittle batter off the sides of the sheet pans as the brownies cooled in their racks.” She soon figured out how to create a whole pan of crunchy edges – “Brownie Brittle,” which comes in chocolate chip, salty caramel and taffy crunch.

A bag of Brownie Brittle has about 4 one ounce servings equal to about 120 calories with 6 grams of fat. Not too bad for something that is so tasty and satisfying.

Each bag runs less than $4.00 in the supermarket. It is being sold to many mainstream supermarkets like Wegmans and Acme; as well as some food warehouses like Costco. After making a few calls in my local area it appears that many grocers have not yet made it available on their shelves. So, ask about it if you don’t see it.

On the company website, there are many recipes for treats you can make using “Brownie Brittle”, but there are no recipes for how to make the item itself. This one looks like it’s comes out better from a package than from one of your burnt cookie sheets.

So are Betsy and I alone in our praise of these treats? Apparently not! The web is full of “Brownie Brittle” lovers like us. This customer almost screamed out her review with the following:

“OMGGGG!!!! These things are delicious!!!!! I saw them on Wendy Williams show when she was talking with this lady about healthy snacks and the women had the brownie brittle up there ....I had went to BJs and they happen to have them. I have purchased 3 bags so far and now I have to hide them because my daughter loves them too...”

And, this story has an even sweeter ending. Brownies + Cookies = A Perfect Match. Brownie Brittle is matching funds raised at Cookies for Kids' Cancer events in May, up to $25,000! Not THIS is a company with good taste and social responsibility to match.

Sacrebleu! New Orleans' Beignets are Heaven

They are not donuts and don’t even have those telling holes in the center. Yeah, they are soft like donuts. They also covered in a ton of white, velvety powdered sugar, as many donuts are. And, they go great with coffee. Err, coffee of the chicory variety, that is. Does this give you a hint as to what kind of pastry we are talking about?

Beignets have been popular in New Orleans for 300 years and are traditionally enjoyed as a dessert alongside a piping hot cup of French-style chicory coffee.

These donut-like treats were brought to Louisiana in the 18th century by the French and quickly integrated themselves within home-style Creole cooking. Early Beignet recipes often featured banana or plantains as an ingredient.

Today, Café du Monde is a popular New Orleans food destination specializing in Beignets with powdered sugar (you get three per order) and coffee with chicory, of course.



The oldest and most popular Café du Monde (there are now 8 locations in and around New Orleans) is located in the French Quarter of New Orleans and is basically an outdoor café with some inside seating. As a building, it is fairly non-descript. But as a tourist destination, it is on everybody’s itinerary – especially those with tired feet and an appetite for sweets.

In fact, you really haven’t gotten to experience New Orleans until you’ve won the rubber match in the battle for the third Beignet on the plate. These fried pastry darlings are, indeed, worth fighting over.

On a recent four day visit to the “Big Easy” we stopped at Café du Monde five times. The last time was a pre-airport run for goodies to bring back home. A serving of three standard Beignets cost a meager $2.00.

Café du Monde sells their Beignet mix in a box, but we’ve never been able to duplicate the exact same look and taste experience of the real deal.

If you look hard enough the pre-packaged mix can be found at some gourmet stores and supermarkets in many areas. Or, you can order it online from Café du Monde ($3.36). Once you have your box in hand, you will need to pull out all of the following equipment just to get started:

Box of Cafe Du Monde Beignet Mix
Temperature Controlled Frying Pan/Frying Skillet works best
Fry Basket (to retrieve the finished Beignets)
Spoon (to stir the water and mix into a dough)
Mixing Bowl
Measuring Cup
Rolling Pin (to roll finished dough into a flat sheet)
Pizza Cutter (to cut dough into squares for frying)
Vegetable Oil/Louanna Cottonseed Oil is recommended
Powdered Sugar (to use as topping for finished Beignets)
Flour (to keep dough from sticking to rolling pin)
Water

You think making Beignets at home is easy? Think twice. If your Beignets do not get puffy and look flat, your frying oil temperature was too low to adequately cook the dough. Try again - this time - using small pieces of dough and let the fryer temperature rise to a full 370 degrees Fahrenheit before you toss your beignets into the sizzling oil.

Better to judge Café du Monde Beignets by trying them on location in NOLA, first. A great Beignet tastes like a never ending warm funnel cake. You can watch them being made on location on this short video: WATCH BEINETS BEING MADE

Perhaps, what is most amazing about Café du Monde is the amount of business they are able to generate with a very limited menu. The Original Cafe Du Monde is a traditional coffee shop. Their menu consists of dark roasted Coffee and Chicory, Beignets, White and Chocolate Milk, and fresh squeezed Orange Juice. The coffee is served Black or Au Lait. Au Lait means that it is mixed half and half with hot milk. And, of course there are the Beignets covered in powdered sugar. In 1988 Iced Coffee was introduced to the cafe. Soft drinks also made their debut that year. That’s it.

As for their operating hours? They are always open. According to their website, Café du Monde “is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It closes only on Christmas Day and on the day an occasional Hurricane passes too close to New Orleans.” Hurricane Katrina couldn’t even blow the confectionary sugar off one of these delicious pastries! Well…there was some minor damage to the building. But, it came back quickly.

A fellow tourist says this about his Café du Monde experience:

“Yeah, it's touristy as hell, but you HAVE to visit at least once!!

You HAVE to get the white powdered sugar all over you (and your friends).
You HAVE to spend the extra change to get the disposable paper hats to take silly pictures in.
You HAVE to go and get cafe au lait and beignets at 2 AM after a night of drinking.

It is a must!!”

We make it a point never to argue against good advice.