Dessert. You either love it (the taste, the rush) or hate it (waistline inflation). But humans seem to crave it, and sweet things in general. And for good reason.
Ever since the discovery and domestication of sugarcane in New Guinea around 6,000 B.C., humans have fixated on the pleasures of sugar, an obsession that evolved into the worship of Belgian chocolate and Mackinac Island fudge. But why?
Some scientists suggest (trust the science) that early humans who ate the most sugar (from fruit, in those days, not Skittles and fried Jell-O) lived longer and had more babies. Sugar is essentially an addictive longevity and fertility drug. And no wonder. Sugar provides a burst of energy; reduces stress by decreasing levels of cortisol, the stress hormone; and elevates your mood by inducing the release of dopamine, the neurotransmitter that sparks feelings of pleasure. Sweets activate the same receptors in your brain that morphine, heroin and sex do. Plus, unlike the aforementioned, it’s legal in virtually every guise.
Sugar is one of life’s great pleasures, often generating visceral cravings for the stuff.
Food companies know this. That’s why they put it in everything from breakfast cereals and fruit snacks to ketchup, salad dressing and canned soup.
In this sense, Collin County can be both a blessing and a curse. We have some of the most crafty sweetness artisans in Texas, maybe the world. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s dive into the many modes and the madness of local sugar crafts. There’s no better way to spend holidays.
Better Than Sex — A Dessert Restaurant
1010 E. 15th St., Plano
469.925.5141
We’ve always believed that anyone who says that Texas barbecue, caviar, cowboy rib eyes and dessert are better than sex isn’t doing it right. Yet this place boasts about it, a least the dessert part. It’s splashed in red and black, with hearts chiseled out of wall plaster over a used brick canvas. It’s decked out in crystal chandeliered low lighting (it’s hard to see your fork). The walls are decked out in images of fishnet-stockinged legs and entwined derriere-scapes. There are lots of flickering candles, and the restaurant is backdropped with music designed to spark biblical “be fruitful and multiply” sacraments.
Think of it as a sweet tooth bordello. You can sip craft cocktails with monikers like Minty Moaner, My Hubby’s Nuts and Hand Crafted Lickers. The subtlety overwhelms. We wet our whistles in this libidinous glacé orgy with the “G-Spot,” a golden splash of 100% Cabernet Blanc in a caramel-rimmed wine glass. We clinked that with a little circa-2010 politics — the Teabagger, a swirl of house-made sweet Texas tea locking lips with Jim Beam in a glass rimmed with crushed Lemonhead candies. We finished off with a delicious wedge of Popcorn Pimp Cheesecake: a vanilla bean cheesecake on top of a sweet sugar cookie dough crust, all dotted with pieces of salted popcorn chocolate bark — sweet and salty sass on hyperlust.
The servers come equipped with flashlights to spotlight your indulgence as they describe it with some well-rehearsed dingy talk: “Spend a lot of time on the tip [of the cheesecake, mind you] as you slowly work your way to the base. Try not to choke.” Our highly tuned reflexes wouldn’t let us.
Chocolate Moonshine
941 Garden Park Drive, Allen
972.332.8440
Chocolate Moonshine is a tribute to the illicitness of the cacao seed. This place is like a jewelry-box tribute to chocolate cravings; a showcase of micro-batch Belgian chocolate boasting zero trans fats, wheat or egg, and most of it gluten-free. Yet those who actually care about such chocolate details are worthy of scientific study. The truffles, dubbed “Moonshine Bars,” are painted in French cocoa butter, and the fudge is handcrafted in copper kettles yielding smooth and rich creamy finishes. Chocolate Moonshine even has alcohol-infused editions, which put the shine in the Moonshine chocolate experience. We sampled the dark toasted almond, sea salt caramel, cabernet and black cherry bourbon chocolates. All were impossibly creamy, slipping down the throat like a layer of silken luster.
Cocktail Creamery
205 E. Virginia St., McKinney
508.446.7103
The Cocktail Creamery’s quest is to craft “the finest super premium homemade ice cream.” The proprietors “amplify this already incredible edible” with an infusion of fruit wines and premium liqueurs prior to freezing. That makes for 99-plus flavors of spiked freeze cream dreams — the perfect antidote to holiday stress. As a bonus, they compose hooch-inspired poetry on a chalkboard at the entrance. “Roses are red, BB King played the blues. Ice cream is better when you add booze.”
Meditate on that. We sampled the Salted Butter Caramel Crazy laced with Baileys salted caramel cream liqueur and Smoky Joe’s caramel bourbon whiskey — a potent punch of cool. We paired that dollop of sweetness with a flight (yes, flights of ice cream) of intoxicating and refreshingly cool sorbets: very cherry wine, lemon cherry bomb, blue Hawaiian daiquiri, and mamasita mojito. Can’t get enough of that? Cocktail Creamery also has a bar featuring beer, wine and cocktails, for a two-fisted boost of cool booziness.
The Donut Kitchen
7250 Virginia Parkway, Suite 140, McKinney
214.592.0088
A dynamic outpost for fried ring cakes, the Donut Kitchen takes these law enforcement staples to the next level — serious works of art, some sporting glamorous decor. These doughnuts are well worth the expense in calories and waistline expansion — a tasty twist on the traditional donut experience. We sampled a glazed croissant donut, chewy and moist with a dough profusion that hits the spot. Be sure to try the mochi donuts crafted from mochigome flour, derived from a short-grain japonica glutinous rice. They’re a series of dough balls stuck together in a circle, resembling a baby’s teething ring, making for a treat that’s crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. We sampled a lemon version with sassing icing drooling over the sides and an edge crowned with a lemon macaron. You can get your savory on here too, with kolaches — Czech pigs in a blanket with juicy sausage swaddled in classic kolache dough.
Emporium Pies
107 S. Tennessee St., McKinney
214.491.1577
This quaint little pie shop was launched by three sisters, Landon Perdue, Jen Abohosh, and Addie Roberts. The first location was outside of an old remodeled 1930s Victorian bungalow in the Bishop Arts District in Dallas. They’ve expanded their pie virtuosity to Deep Ellum, Fort Worth, and downtown McKinney. The handcrafted pies are seasonal and are designated with names like The Drunken Nut (butter, bourbon, brown sugar, and Texas pecans), Lord of the Pies (apple), Dr. Love (red velvet cheese), Cloud Nine (creamy butterscotch custard and brown-sugar meringue) and Cherry Bomb. We sampled the Lord of the Pies and the Cherry Bomb, fruit and flake explosions in the best of diet-denotation weaponry. You can order and ship these crusty delights for the holidays. But beware: some of their fan favorites are waitlisted.
Lolli & Pops
2601 Preston Road, Stonebriar Centre Mall, Frisco
469.362.5707
Tucked in the upper level of Stonebriar Centre, Lolli & Pops shovels sweetness by the ton. There’s a flock of these hypercandy marts across the U.S. — eight in Texas — billed as an “encyclopedia of the world’s finest candies and confections,” a bold adage that flirts with understatement. Visitors can gorge on all manner of caramels, chocolate bars, gourmet chocolates, gummies, cotton candy, old-fashioned candies, macarons, jellybeans, popcorn, sweet snacks, truffles, cocoa and boozy candies (of course) like sparkling rosé Champagne gummy bears. You can also pluck from a wide variety of gift options, such as bundles of macarons, candy charcuterie kits (with golden serving tongs), fillable candy jars, cotton candy marshmallow boxes, and build-a-box truffles. We sampled a pair of creamy macarons (cookies ’n’ crème and salted caramel) and a gigantic devilishly good peanut butter cup — steroidal sweetness that turns Reese’s a bright envy shade of green.
Sugar Ray’s Bake Shop
4021 Preston Rd, Suite 624, Plano
972.403.9200
A boutique of sweets founded by Rachel Barbaro Arrieta in 2013, Sugar Ray’s Bake Shop is a bold entrepreneurial endeavor. She started out baking for friends and family before word of sweetened mouth took over, leading to a brick-and-mortar outlet serving cakes, cupcakes, cookies and macarons. In 2019, Barbaro Arrieta competed on Sugar Rush, a Netflix baking competition series — specifically, Sugar Rush Christmas — where her team captured a victory. Though she’s never taken a cooking class in her life, Barbaro Arrieta conducts macaron workshops, limited to six, that include popcorn, self-crafted macarons, and wine. Her macaron flavors range from pistachio and bourbon pecan to lavender and lemon bar. Cake flavors also cover an enticing gamut with flavors like vanilla lavender, orange dreamsicle, cookie dough and tiramisu. We sampled a decadent red velvet cupcake, a dreamy thing to slip between the lips, massage the tongue and soothe the throat.
