"pastries" news and stories

Interesting map over at Bostonist. It shows the number of Dunkin' Donuts locations within a 5 mile radius of the downtown area. Seems that there are 50 of them! Of course, that was when this map was posted on April 26. I'm sure another dozen or so have opened up since then. It sort of gives you a comforting feeling, if you live in Boston. Not sure how many Starbucks locations there are.

Speaking of Dunkin Donuts, have you seen the new ad with Rachael Ray. Ugh. Are they trying to drive customers away? I don't need her to come up to the counter and order a bagel and coffee and give an insincere "delish" to get me to come in. I already like the place.

So I was drinking a nice hot cup of Dunkin' Donuts hot chocolate the other day (probably one of the last of the season as the damn temps keep going up and up), and I noticed their newish logo (on the right). It needs work.

I mean, I love the slogan, "America Runs On Dunkin'." It's not only catchy, but it firmly establishes DD's national presence very quickly. And the logo is a clever idea. But let's take a look at the four panels one by one and see if we can make the logo even better.

I mentioned a while back that I could no longer find Kellogg's Nutri-Grain bars at any of the supermarkets in my area, and several of you left comments and sent e-mail saying you couldn't find them either. I'm pretty sure they're not being made anymore (though Nutri-Grain does have various breakfast pastries). Now I think I've found a great substitute.

Quaker has just released their own Breakfast Bars (so new they're not on their site yet), and in the same flavors that the Nutri-Grain bars came in, blueberry and banana muffin! The verdict? They're quite good. They're smaller and not as moist as the Nutri-Grain bars were. These have a slightly tougher, toastier look and feel to them, but I like them a lot.

Note to Quaker: don't discontinue these! Or, if you're going to, give me a heads up so I can buy several cases from you. Thanks.

The problem with drinking coffee to get your daily caffeine fix is that some people don't really care for the taste, even if it comes in the form of a sweet, milky mocha latte from the nearest coffee bar. Energy drinks partially solved the problem by adding more sugar (or artificial sweeteners) to cover up the taste, but a molecular scientist, Dr. Robert Bohannon, has come up with what he thinks is an even better way to catch a buzz. He has come up with a way to add caffeine to baked goods.

Buzz Donuts and Buzzed Bagels are the first of what will probably be many caffeinated pastries. Bohannon originally had some difficulty in disguising the taste of the caffeine, which has a very bitter flavor on its own, but once he got the flavoring under control, he was able to add quite a lot of caffeine to his products. Each one contains the equivalent of two cups of coffee, or about 100mg per pastry.

Bohannon has already approached Krispy Kreme, Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts about selling his pastries.

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If you know how to bake really good chocolate chip cookies or everyone loves your lemon bundt cake when you bring it to parties, odds are that you've had at least one or two people tell you that you should go into the business of baking and open a bakery. Perhaps you've even thought about it on your own a few times. It'll be easy, right?

"Easy" is subjective, so you can judge for yourself. Egullet has two threads that chronicle members starting their own bakeries. One of the threads followed every detail that went into building (physically) a Portland bakery, attracting a clientele and working through the first year of he business. Unfortunately, Criollo Bakery has now closed, but the level of detail and dedication that went into it was phenomenal and truly awe-inspiring for a would-be baker.

The second thread, a newer thread, follows a couple that moved from San Francisco to New Jersey with dreams of opening their own bakery. With pastry backgrounds, a generous relative who is happy to help them with accommodation, and a lot of hard work, they are just starting out on their journey to open The Sweet Life Bakery. So far, after only a couple of months, it sounds like they are really building up momentum. It's another interesting read, especially since it will be on-going as their journey progresses.

[via browniepoints]

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