My New Orleans Bites: Sweets Around the City

There is always room for sweets and that couldn’t have been more true than on our trip to New Orleans.  Here are a few spots we managed to squeeze in between the delicious meals we devoured.

District: Donuts. Sliders. Brew. was a cute spot in the Garden District to stop for a cup of cold brew pulled from the tap as well as gourmet donuts.

The flavors change daily and ranged from some good old classics like cinnamon sugar and glazed to the adventurous like 5 spice and strawberry basil.

We helped ourselves to a nutella mousse after watching the bakers in the back of the store brulee the bananas.  It was just the perfect sweets for our cold brew.

Noodle & Pie showed up on our radar as we were searching for something sweet after our crawfish feast.  The casual Asian noodle spot near Tulane featured a small menu of house baked pies.  The butterfinger pie was a lovely balance of salty and sweet, a great take on the candy bar.

The seasonal strawberry pie far exceeded our expectations with its sweet lightness.  The pie allowed the fresh fruit to shine through and we found ourselves fighting over the last bite.

We were in dire need of a refreshing snack break after a long day of bike riding when we found ourselves in front of Hansen’s Sno Bliz at the riverfront.  The line was long but from speaking with a regular in line, there was never not a line at the neighborhood family owned staple that just celebrated its 75th year in operation.  More importantly, the icy treat was worth every minute in line.

The family still worked the counter and that hot early summer day we found the granddaughter and great grandsons holding down the fort.  There was nothing fancy about Hansen’s process of churning out one snow cone after another but numerous bottles of syrup and gigantic blocks of ice.

In addition to the classic fruit flavors, there are toppings that you can add onto the cones like the crushed pineapples that I added to my coconut flavored cone.

More exotic flavors like Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk was also a hit with us.  The sweetness was just subtle enough making it still a refreshing snack.

This brought us to the ultimate sweet treat of New Orleans, a plate of fluffy crispy beignets from Cafe du Monde.  We arrived early on Monday morning hoping to beat the crowd but no such luck.  The famous spot in the French Quarter was already packed with tourists seeking a bite of the beignets and a sip of the cafe au lait.

After some serious stalking, we managed to find a spot at the edge of cafe and place our order with a waitress.  Not knowing whether or not she fully understood our order, there was nothing for us to do but wait.  Luckily, the wait was short and just like that, our plate of piping hot beignets and cafe au laits landed at our table.

There was nothing to dislike about the pillows of pastry covered with copious amounts of powered sugar.  We washed it down with sips of the sweet and smooth cafe and just like that, the beignets disappeared, as fast as they had arrived.  The whole experience felt almost surreal, leaving us with only a dusting of powered sugar and the delicious memories of the light golden beignets.

District: Donuts.Sliders.Brew | 2209 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70130 | http://www.donutsandsliders.com/

Noodle & Pie | 741 State St, New Orleans, LA 70118 | http://noodleandpie.com/

Hansen’s Sno Bliz | 4801 Tchoupitoulas St, New Orleans, LA 70115 | http://www.snobliz.com/

Cafe du Monde | 800 Decatur Street, New Orleans, LA 70116 | http://www.cafedumonde.com/