El Zocalo Tortas and Bakery

 

El Zocalo

The nice young woman behind the counter warned us that the tortas might be bigger than we were used to, but I was skeptical.  Minutes later, I learned my lesson: biggest Mexican sandwich ever = no room for dessert.  

It hurt even to look at the racks of fresh cakes, cookies, and breads surrounding the dining room.  And I'm not the first to feel that way, judging by the fact that El Zocalo pre-packages to-go cups of its tres leches, diced cake soaked in evaporated and condensed milk, mixed with pineapple chunks and strawberry gel, topped with whipped cream, sprinkles, and a strawberry:  dessert for the road.

El Zocalo Tortas and Bakery

701 S 38th St
Tacoma WA 

253/474-9000 

Valerios

Ube Halaya
Valerio's Tropical Bakeshop, $6.50

When you've grown up associating bright colors with bland sweetness (think cupcake sprinkles or grocery store frosting) the riotous colors at Valerio's Tropical Bakeshop are unexpectedly flavorful.  The golden yellow that makes rolls and pies shine like small suns comes from shreds of cheese, pats of butter, or salted egg yolks.  Shades of green are contributed by leaves including bamboo (used as wrappers) and pandanus (most often used as an extract), both of which impart an exotic aroma.  The root vegetable ube is an intense shade of purple that makes ube-based treats like ube halaya pudding ($6.50) a visible and indispensable feature of special occasion buffets. 

Putsinta ($1.99/4) are Valerio's mash-up of two Filipino favorites:  soft, fluffy puto rice-flour rolls and and chewy kutchinta rice cakes.  Here the purple marbling comes from festive food coloring, rather than actual ube.  


















Maruya ($1.25) are fritters of ripe mashed banana, fried until golden and dusted with sugar. 

The addition of lye water gives the sticky rice in suman sa lihia cakes ($1.50) a creamy color and extra-chewy texture; enfolding the rice in bamboo leaves before steaming adds aroma and a tidy, environmentally-friendly wrapper that makes suman a cinch for picnics (like the cemetery-side meals enjoyed during the Undas holiday).  

Valerio's rainbow-colored offerings also include pan de sal, biko, ensaymada, buko pie, egg pie, cassava cake, and sapin-sapin.  

Valerio's Tropical Bakeshop
1368 Southcenter Mall Ste 150
Tukwila WA
206/246-6166

Budapest Bistro and Schnitzel House

 
















Cheese Pocket and Almond Cookie (top)
Cheese Strudel (below)
Budapest Bistro and Schnitzel House

Growing up in Hungary in her grandparents' home taught Elizabeth Muszka a particular kind of self-reliance.  Since there wasn't much money to spare on restaurants or fancy ingredients, Elizabeth learned young that in order to eat well, they had to cook well. 

Today the owner of Mukilteo's Budapest Bistro and Schnitzel House specializes in Hungarian, German, and Gypsy dishes--and in cooking well.  Starting with traditional recipes and simple ingredients, Elizabeth lavishes attention on each item. 

The pastry case stuffed with fresh zserbo (apricot-walnut-chocolate pastry), dobos torte (layered sponge with chocolate and caramel), sour cherry cake, German chocolate cake, strudels (below), and cookies (above) is even more of a marvel when you consider that the strudel dough alone takes three hours to make.  

 
















But for ex-pats who hunger for something other than home cooking, Elizabeth also stocks a large selection of packaged European candies and treats (below).   

Budapest Bistro and Schnitzel House
12926 Mukilteo Speedway
Lynwood WA
425/513-9846

Hotteok and Bungeoppang

Hotteok and Bungeoppang
"Ho Duck" stall, $1 each

Look to the left as you enter the Boo Han Korean Market in Edmonds and you'll get one of the best deals in town on dinner and a show--assuming you can justify having waffles or pancakes for dinner. 

While you wait and watch, the cook in the "Ho Duck" stall crafts two of Korea's best-loved street-style sweets.  The eponymous hotteok (above) are crusty, golden pancakes of yeasted wheat and rice flours, filled with caramelized sugar and nuts.  It's a simple enough operation but made mesmerizing by the cook's practiced moves and enviable patience.  

 

The hotteok start out as a ball of sticky, bubbly dough.  The cook kneads it a little, then fills a dent in the center with a a mixture of brown sugar and crushed nuts.  He pinches the dough closed to seal in the filling, then uses a special metal tool to flatten the ball on a well-oiled griddle.  

 

Once the hotteok are underway, it's time to get going on the bungeoppang.  "Fish bread" is really more of a fish-shaped waffle, cooked a whole school at a time in fancy high-volume griddle.  To get exactly the right amount of batter, the cook spoons a little into each fish-shaped void, then tops it up with a seam applied with a squeeze bottle. 

On top of each batter cloud goes a dollop of sweetened red bean paste.   

 

Then the lid is closed up to seal the waffle around the filling.  As soon as the cook deems them ready, he uses a small metal hook to flicks them out of the iron and into a waiting box; it's not at all unusual to order six or a dozen at a time.  

Boo Han Korean Market 
22618 Hwy 99
Edmonds, WA
425/778-7400

Buko Pandan Polvorones

Polvorones
Aling Conching at Seafood City, $1.99/10

Based on a Spanish cookie named for its dusty texture, these Filipino polvorones are bite-sized blocks of compressed flour, milk powder, sugar, and butter, given a faintly tropical flavor with the addition of buko (young coconut) and pandan (screwpine) extracts. 

Bløtkake

Bløtkake
Nordic Heritage Museum, $4

In honor of the Syttende Mai constitutional holiday, many Norwegians work up an appetite by parading through the streets carrying the national flag, then sit down to a well-deserved slice of bløtkake, the beloved "wet cake" whose patriotic layers of white sponge, whipped cream, and strawberry jam echo two of the Norwegian flag's three colors. 

Cle Elum Bakery

Torchetti
Cle Elum Bakery, $.90/each

Founded in 1906, the Cle Elum Bakery still relies on its original brick bread oven and several of the recipes the original brought with him when he came over from Italy.  Among these, the popular torchetti cookie:  "Italian Pastry made with Butter, Yeast, and Spices.  Enjoy with Coffee, Tea or dipped in Red Wine."

The Osmanovich family bought the bakery in 1947 and it is still run by their descendants.  They were probably responsible for introducing the "divinity" cookie ($.75/each), a meltaway cloud of shortening, powdered sugar, and nuts similar to cookies found in Russia, Greece, and Mexico.  

Cle Elum Bakery 
501 E 1st St 
Cle Elum, WA
509/674-2233
 

Xôi Sầu Riêng and Xôi Gấc

Xôi sầu riêng and xôi gấc

Deli Chu Minh, $1.75/each

Deli Chu Minh in Seattle's little Saigon neighborhood sells a variety of sweet and savory products featuring its own housemade tofu, as well as selected Vietnamese treats from local producers.  Made by Cô Thu Ba, these confections combine xôi, steamed sticky rice, with two potent flavorings. 

Golden yellow xôi sầu riêng is flavored with durian, the huge spiky fruit that's both a delicacy and an outlaw in Southeast Asia.  Known as "the King of Fruits" for its compelling flavor, it is also, in many areas, banned from hotels, buses, and subways due to its penetratingly fetid aroma. 

Rusty red xôi gấc also features a regional fruit.  An off-the-charts carotene content gives the pulp of the gấc or "baby" jackfruit an intense red color; the fruit stains any dish to which it is added (and also to the cook's hands, clothes, kitchen walls, etc.).  Because bright red is the color Vietnamese most associate with luck and celebration, xôi gấc is a staple of New Year's tables and wedding buffets.   

Deli Chu Minh
1043 S Jackson St
Seattle, WA
206/228-5449

Honey Coconut Marshmallows

Honey Coconut Marshmallows
Sweet Coconut Bakery, $7.75/bag

A single bag of fresh honey coconut marshmallows from Hazel Lao's Sweet Coconut Bakery can cancel out a lifetime's reluctant memories of stale, chalky Stay Pufts.  Hazel uses honey instead of corn syrup, and dusts her marshmallows with velvety shredded coconut instead of cottonmouth-inducing starch.  The plus-sized squares are as plump as a toddler's tummy, meaning that you don't have to dissolve them in cocoa or melt them over a fire to render them edible. 

Abu Afif Sweets

Assorted nougat
Abu Afif Sweets

Established in Baghdad in 1973, Abu Afif Sweets makes a wide range of traditional Arabic pastries and candy.  The descendants of founder Mounir Jamal's have continued to expand into new markets, adding more modern sweets such as chocolate to their offerings at a growing number of retail stores. 

Luckily at least a few of Abu Afif's fresh sweets travel well, making plastic-wrapped bites like those pictured a great souvenir of the region.  On the top left is a square of something that may be called helawa (I'm guessing--it's not identified by name on the Abu Afif website), pistachios held together by a dense, chewy, slightly sticky, and translucent brown gel.  To the right, the same helawa is surrounded by milky nougat and a strip of qarmar-el-deen, a tart apricot fruit leather.  On the bottom is a ball of the same nougat simply caked in pistachios. 

Versions of nougat have been made and enjoyed throughout the Arab world for centuries.  In Iraq it's known at min el sama (or mann al-sama, etc.).  In Iran, it's gaz, derived from from gaz-angebin, a reference to an indigenous tree.  White, nut-studded panish turrón was probably the product of long-ago Moorish settlement, and it likely influenced the development of Italian torrone. 

Since nougat is such a tradition in the Middle East, I wondered why all of the recipes I found online called for corn syrup, a relatively modern ingredient.  Wikipedia to the rescue!  The sap that gives gaz its name is found on the plant but doesn't come from it:  "The sticky white substance, exuded from the anus of the last instar nymph of a small insect which lives on the plant, is collected annually and is combined with other ingredients including pistachio or almond kernels, rosewater and egg white."  Corn syrup is a modern substitute for the insect excretion. 

Norwegian Heritage Day

Rømmegrøt
Leif Erikson Hall, $4

Although the programming at the annual Norwegian Heritage Day at Seattle's Leif Erikson Hall focused on parades, prizes, dances, and speeches, it was sometimes be hard to hear what was happening over the sounds of crispbreads being crunched, lutefisk being sampled, and spoons scraping the bottom of bowls. 

Visitors to the upstairs lunch buffet could cap off a light meal of soup and open-faced sandwiches with one of the most stupefying desserts ever created.  Rømmegrøt is literally "sour cream porridge," a soup of sour cream, whole milk, and butter thickened with flour, seasoned with salt, and dressed for the table with melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon.  It's an historic and traditional Norwegian dish, eat both as a meal in itself, and as a special occasion dessert.  

I could barely keep my eyes open after finishing my bowl, an one woman I spoke with suggested that might have been part of the point.  During Norway's short but glorious summers it was common practice to send young people out to country to keep an eye on the grazing herds.  Back in their camps for the evening, a bowl of sleep-inducing rømmegrøt served as dessert might have helped to discourage the young people from engaging in any late-night hanky panky. 


















At the Kaffestua downstairs, a busy team of volunteers offered made-to-order Norwegian treats.  Lacy krumkake wafers ($.50/each) were cooked in a special iron, then wrapped around conical wooden forms while still warm and pliable. 

Another specialty iron produced Norwegian waffles ($.50/section or $2/whole) with a distinctive heart shape.  

Over at the lefse station, rounds of dough were rolled out paper-thin, griddled until puffy and covered in brown patches, then covered in butter, sugar, and cinnamon and rolled into tubes for convenient snacking.  

The volunteer pictured made it look so easy that I imagined she must have been making lefse since infancy--but not so.  She explained that rolling out the dough was considered by her family to be such an important task, it was only entrusted to the most mature and responsible women.  Her own grandmother refused to teach her the secrets of the rolling pin until she was married with children of her own. 

Cakes of Paradise

Rainbow Cake
Cakes of Paradise, $3.95/slice

Sink your fork into a little Aloha at either of Cakes of Paradise's two area locations.  Hawaiian baker Mary Buza-Sims' personal recipes were the starting point for this family business now run by her nephew and two sons.  The light, flavorful cakes feature tropical flavors like pineapple, passion fruit, and coconut.  Three-layer Rainbow Cake combines strawberry, lime, and orange cake, with guava, lime, and passion fruit topping.  You can pick up a slice or order a full sheet, which comes decorated with a fresh orchid. 

Cakes of Paradise 
Georgetown
6322 6th Ave S
Seattle, WA
206/763-1151

East Valley Business Park
281 SW 41st Street
Bldg # 13 East
Renton, WA
425/282-4972

Survival Crackers and Shelter Candy

Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum

Built in 1902, Fort Worden is one of three bases that make up the Northwest's "Triangle of Fire," an interconnected artillery system designed to repel any attempts at a sea invasion of the Puget Sound.  Although the Fort was decommissioned in 1953 without a single aggressive shot ever having been fired, today's Fort Worden State Park and museums contain countless reminders of just how tense times could get for the hundreds of men once stationed in the Fort's damp concrete bunkers. 

While sweets can often appear frivolous, a couple of displays at the Coastal Artillery Museum remind us that as sources of quick, comforting energy, sweets are ideal to have around when the s**t hits the fan.  The Museum's mock fallout shelter is stocked with 31.5-pound tins (photo above) of 756 long-lasting "Bulgur Type" survival wafers; they're made from wheat, shortening, and salt--with a generous amount of corn syrup to make them more palatable. 
 
The Museum also displays small cubic "Carbohydrate Supplements" (photo below):  "In addition to the three types of survival crackers there was also a Carbohydrate Supplement which became known as 'Shelter Candy' and is shown above.  This came in two flavors, Cherry and Pineapple, and was basically hard sugar. "

Other displays reveal that even everyday life at Fort Worden had its sweet side.  One case contains illustrated cookbooks designed for military mess halls; the books are opened to recipes for cinnamon rolls and "sugared snails."  A collection of souvenir menus testify to the lavish nature of the Fort's annual Christmas feast;  the dessert section of each menu features up to a dozen different cakes and pies--along with fruit and cigarettes. 

Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum 
Fort Worden Building 201
200 Battery Way
Port Townsend, WA 
360/385-0373

Pippa's Real Tea

Scone and clotted cream
Pippa's Real Tea, $2

In the ranks of things that taste better than they sound, clotted cream is right up there with fish fingers.  Thick and insanely rich, this luxurious spread is a staple treat in Britain's dairy-farming regions. 

There are a couple of ways of making clotted cream, the easiest being to slowly reduce cream until it's as thick as spackle.  A friend's grandmother used to make a new batch nightly, setting the saucepan of cream in a bain marie over low heat before going to bed; she woke each morning to find the perfectly thickened cream topped with a golden crust of crystallized milkfat--as cheerful and more reliable than the morning sun!

There are even more ways of enjoying clotted cream, in or on baked goods or ice cream, in fudge, on fruit...An Afghan version is mixed with tea and aerated to yield a fuschia beverage enjoyed on special occasions. 

At Pippa's Real Tea in Port Townsend, a container of clotted cream accompanies small, fresh scones and strawberry jam.  You can also order a pot of one of Pippa's dozens of loose-leaf teas to create the classic mid-afternoon snack known in England as a "cream tea."   The farther you get from Devon and Cornwall, the greater your risk that the "cream" component of a cream tea will whipped rather than clotted--but Pippa's doesn't disappoint!

Pippa's Real Tea
636 Water St
Port Townsend, WA
360/385-6060

Pastry by Anca

Shortbread
Pastry Design by Anca, $4.75/bag

Anca Hasson has been making Port Townsend a sweeter place since first starting to sell her pastries at the local farmers market in 2007.   As a child in Romania, Anca entertained herself by making desserts out of the limited ingredients available under rationing; as a young adult she was studying nursing in Alaska when a part-time job at a bakery reignited her childhood passion. 

Today Anca's products are available from many Olympic Peninsula outlets, including the Chimacum Corner Farmstand, Port Townsend's Co-op and Farmers Market, and the Tyler Street Cafe, a downtown PT restaurant owned by Anca's husband, John.

Her massive, tender shortbread cookies (above) come in a range of flavors, including espresso-pecan, and lemon with cornmeal. 

 The chocolate ganache cookie ($2.50 at Tyler Street) has a delicate crust, a gooey chocolate core, and a belt of buttery chopped pistachios. 

The pine nut cookies ($5.25/bag at Chimacum Corner) are perfumed pillows of egg white and almond flour studded with extravagant quantities of toasted kernels. 

Pastry Design by Anca
40-C Seton Rd
Port Townsend, WA

(360) 440-7534