Baked goods reach impressive heights in the desert. We have so many folks who make great sweets here, so many talented artisans who know just what to do with dough, sugar, and an oven (or fryer). Here, we list three places in metro Phoenix where you will find irresistible sweets. And for these, we went off the beaten path in a quest to satisfy your sweet tooth with something new.
Caspian Food Market in Scottsdale
Caspian Food Market is a treasure trove of groceries and prepared food from the Middle East and other largely Islamic lands once part of the Persian Empire. The market's flavor apex, though, is dessert. Caspian Food Market sells two kinds of sugary fritters, both made of wheat-flour dough fried and soaked in flavored syrup. The first, called zolobia bamie, is shaped like a date with furrows. When you bite in, so explosive is the surge that the fritter's middle seems to be hollow and filled with syrup. The other fritter is jalebi, which looks like a tiny, thin funnel cake. It's a little hypnotic to peer at a tray of jalebi with its interwoven, bird’s-nest laces of fried dough. The dough, fried to hardness, shatters to your bite, brown laces saturated with sweet syrup and heavy with almost meaty oily decadence. Both fritters boost the argument that Arab desserts are the world’s best.
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Challahday-AZ in Phoenix
"Every day is a challah-day," goes the motto of recently launched baking endeavor Challahday-az. A pair of hobby-now-professional bakers helms the operation, which runs in the kitchen of Temple Chai in north Phoenix. Sharon Salomon and Benita Sonabend have decades of experience baking challah, and they take pride in the recipe they've perfected. "Our challah will never be a yellow rubber band challah that comes out of a plastic bag," Salomon says, decrying the state of store-bought versions. The duo has used various fillings for their braided bread, including strawberry jelly, potato purée, and even Nutella. As the seasons change and Jewish and non-Jewish holidays come and go, Challahday-az will offer matching variants of challah, but a base of standard versions will be available for order year-round, including plain, everything, and chocolate chip.
Andreoli Italian Grocer in Scottsdale
When you think of great Italian desserts, your mind probably zips to sweet staples like gelato or tiramisu, or maybe something more obscure like semifreddo or zabaglione. But if you’re in the mood for something cool, delicate, and a little more offbeat, don't overlook sfogliatelle. These humble clamshell-shaped pastries are about the size of a baseball, vaguely triangle-shaped, and piped full of lightly sweetened ricotta. Some sfogliatelle in America are filled with a more éclair-style cream, but not at Andreoli Italian Grocer. Here they remain impressive but modest, stuffed with ricotta and candied citron that adds a wildly fragrant and elusive flavor to this unsung Italian pastry.
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