Dreaming of apple cider doughnuts? Rich chocolate whoopie pies with buttercream filling? Slow-cooked peanut butter fudge? How about a waffle cone of cake batter ice cream topped with chocolate chips and crumbled chocolate chip cookies?
Get ready to hit the road and feel like a kid in a candy store. Here are some New England sweet shops to rival Willy Wonka’s factory.
Atkins Farms in Amherst is known for making one of the best apple cider doughnuts in New England — but Atkins is no one-trick pony. The bakery department serves homemade pies, doughnuts, Danishes, turnovers, apple fritters, cinnamon buns, cupcakes, cannoli, eclairs, and dozens of cookie flavors, including butterscotch, hermit, pistachio, maple walnut, and lemon drop. Meanwhile, the candy department offers piles of nostalgic penny candies, varieties of chocolates to make your head spin, almond bark and dozens of varieties of homemade fudge, including chocolate peanut butter, praline, butter pecan, mint, sea salt caramel, chocolate raspberry, mocha cappuccino and Oreo. (1150 West St., Amherst. 413-253-9528, atkinsfarms.com)
At Emma Jean’s Cupcake Factory & Ice Cream Shoppe in Fairhaven, a nearly overwhelming menu of sweets includes cookie-dough filled cupcakes, chocolate-covered strawberries the size of your fist, frosted eclairs nearing the size of footballs, Almond Joy-filled cupcakes, chocolate-covered bacon, chocolate-covered devil dogs, peanut butter chunk cookies, boxes of homemade chocolates, and “Monster” candied apples dipped in caramel, splashed with homemade chocolate, and covered with any combination of chocolate chips, homemade butter crunch, nuts, or crushed candy bars. There’s also an insane amount of old-school penny candy. (115 Huttleston Ave., Fairhaven. 774-206-1132, totalconfections.com)
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Just Like Mom’s Pastries makes pastries just like mom, if mom were an Oompa Loompa. Sweets include brownies and blondies topped with candy, seven-layer bars, magic bars, hermits, cheesecakes, and a variety of gluten-free cakes, including Ultimate Chocolate Peanut Butter and Mint Surprise Mud Brownie. (353 Riverdale Road, Weare, N.H. 603-529-6667, justlikemomspastries.com)
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The Granite State Candy Shoppe makes its own chocolate; slow-roasts small batches of nuts; hand-dips chocolate candies, and slow-cooks its fudge — including chocolate, peanut butter, and maple nut flavors — with sweet cream and butter. You’ll find chocolates in the shape of moose, lobsters, even chocolate trout catching gummy worms. Specialty sweets include caramel patties, coconut almond delights, nut clusters, chocolate-covered pretzels, almond butter crunch, homemade nonpareils, and dark chocolate-dipped Twinkies. Homemade ice cream flavors include blueberry cheesecake, cake crunch, maple pecan, and mint Oreo. (Locations at 13 Warren St., Concord, N.H., 603-225-2591, and 832 Elm St., Manchester, N.H., 603-218-3885, nhchocolates.com )
What if you made a pizza, but instead of pizza dough, you used chocolate chip cookie dough? And instead of tomato sauce, you used frosting? And M&Ms, chocolate chips, and sprinkles stood in for pepperoni? You’re not dreaming — it exists. Grab a slice at The Moose Cafe in Tiverton, R.I., where other treats include peanut butter balls, ice cream cakes, and more than 300 flavors of ice cream, including almond fudge, oatmeal cookie, apple pie, vanilla malt, pear, honey almond, banana fudge cheesecake, German chocolate cake, eggnog, and, yes, chocolate moose tracks. (1160 Stafford Road, Tiverton, R.I. 401-625-2442, themoosecafe.com )
Do you laugh in the face of plain doughnuts? Try Union Square Donuts for flavors like maple bacon, sea-salted bourbon caramel, or brown butter hazelnut crunch. (20 Bow St., Somerville. 617- 209-2257, unionsquaredonuts.com ) Ma’s Donut Shop in New Bedford is an old-school hidden gem. It has no website, but it does have a cult following of diehard doughnut-lovers who will wake up at dawn on a Sunday to snag a fresh-from-the-oven chocolate frosted. (1972 Acushnet Ave., New Bedford. 508-995-5521)
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Maine is known for its potatoes, so it figures that they’d also make one helluva potato doughnut. It’s worth the drive to Portland for a stop at The Holy Donut alone. The made-from-scratch spud-based sweets can be as healthy or as indulgent as you want them to be — from vegan cinnamon to the bacon-cheddar filled, dark chocolate toasted coconut, or the Holy Cannoli, a cannoli in potato doughnut form, with ginger glaze, filled with ricotta. Some 16 flavors rotate daily and the best selection is before noon. Each location closes upon selling out. (194 Park Ave., 207-874-7774; 7 Exchange St., 207-775-7776, Portland, Maine. theholydonut.com )
Another reason to drive to Portland: The Standard Baking Co., where standard fare includes coconut macaroons, chunky chocolate rye cookies, pecan and brown butter cake, molasses spice cookies, and pear torte. (75 Commercial St., Portland. 207-775-7776, standardbakingco.com )
If maple syrup is your weakness, a creemie is worth the trip to the Green Mountain State. The native-to-Vermont creemie — or creamee, or creemee depending on the shop — is essentially a richer, creamier soft-serve ice cream flavored with the amber nectar of the gods that is real Vermont maple syrup. Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks in Montpelier is known for its version. You can also find maple candies and maple kettle corn. (1168 County Road, Montpelier. 800-242-2740. morsefarm.com.)
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At Coffee Time Bake Shop, you can get a turtle cheesecake with pecans, chocolate, and caramel; a s’mores doughnut; a chocolate buttercream cupcake, but the specialty is the Bismarck: an addictive combination of light doughnut shell filled with raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, or lemon jelly and whipped cream, dusted with powdered sugar. (96 Bridge St., Salem. 978-744-0995, www.coffeetimebakeshop.net.)
For knock-your-socks-off whoopie pies, you’ve got choices. At The Whoo(pie) Wagon, specialty flavors include the decadent chocolate s’mores whoopie pie — marshmallow filling, dipped in dark chocolate, and smothered in graham cracker crumbs — or the Holy Whannoli!, a cannoli made from a whoopie pie. (44 Main St., Topsfield. 978-887-0795, thewhoopiewagon.com ) Making Whoopie in Franklin offers Oreo, mint chocolate chip, Snickerdoodle, and vanilla bean among others. (1 Crossing Plaza, Franklin. 508-530-2004, makingwhpie.com )
Wicked Whoopies, which made Oprah magazine’s “O List,” offers some 25 varieties, including black forest, orange creamsicle, and a Whoop-de-doo! — a whoopie drenched in milk chocolate. Get them fresh. (Locations at 621 Maine Ave., Farmingdale, Maine, and 32 Main St., Freeport, Maine. 877-447-2629, wickedwhoopies.com )
The artisanal Chococoa Baking Co. — which has also made the “O List” — bakes all-natural, preservative-free, locally sourced whoopies. Go for a chocolate cake whoopie with espresso buttercream or pumpkin cake with pumpkin ginger buttercream, along with loads of gluten-free varieties. (50 Water St., Newburyport. 978-499-8889, chococoabaking.com )
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Zeb’s General Store, a New Hampshire sweet-shop must-stop, offers such nostalgic sweets as Turkish Taffy, dozens of varieties of penny candy, giant swirly lollypops, along with chocolate-covered potato chips, pretzels, gummy bears, and graham crackers; locally-made fudge, maple candies, maple sugar nuts, and retro glass-bottled Coca-Cola. (2675 White Mountain Highway, North Conway, N.H. 800-676-9294, zebs.com )
Lauren Daley can be reached at ldaley33@gmail.com.