Nearly everyone does. But that's so, yesterday. Many of the best bakeries in NJ are family-owned establishments that have … All rights reserved (

The pastry shop’s struffoli are baked, making them lighter and airier than the fried version. The Artist Baker offers baked-not-fried mini applesauce doughnut rounds with an apple cider and butter glaze. That, dear reader, is a gift! "It's kind of like a mistletoe," Morello said.

Cost: $27, serves eight; $37, serves 16 to 18. Cost: $50.Another holiday dessert option is croissant bread pudding with toffee sauce. Driving all over New Jersey in search of the state's best bakeries seems like an impossible mission - for everyone but Pete Genovese. "Thank that customer for the chocolate ganache tart with peanut butter mousse that's encased in a chocolate crust decorated with little gold leaves, plus two green branches and two cranberries. Cost: $12 for a dozen. The latest update for The Best Gluten-Free Desserts in NJ is written by Lindsay Podolak. This treat is originally from Naples and made of deep fried sweet dough rolled into marble-sized balls.
Owner and pastry chef Andrea Lekberg recommends breaking off pieces and dipping them into a cup of warm milk spiked with a teaspoon of molasses. Cost: $30.Place all of your orders before Dec. 21 for pick up between Dec. 22 and 24. The bakery's stollen is made with a dense yeast sweet bread filled with candied fruits and spice; it has a marzipan center. Place your order before Dec. 20 to ensure yours is ready by Christmas.

And while you're there, might as well pick up some Italian fig cookies and vanilla-butter-flavored Italian knot cookies, two popular treats for Christmas.You can have a gingerbread house. And the Caramelia Mont Clanc Log features caramelia and chestnut cream with crispy pearls and candied chestnuts. Celebrating Hanukkah? No problem.

Cost: $15.95. Palazzone 1960 sells approximately 10,000 panettone cakes, some imported from Italy, some … The top is beautifully decorated with dots of icing, swirls of whipped topping, delicately frosted snowflake cookies, bright, juicy berries and sprigs of rosemary.Russian honey cake was originally made for Russian empress Elizabeth Alexeevna.

Be it a dense stollen, an elaborate Yule Log, a treacley tart or a crumbly cookie, holiday treats are what keep our spirits up and our sweet tooths rejoicing. Balthazar will be open on Christmas Eve from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and closed on Christmas Day.Can't commit to one cake or pie? She claimed to hate the taste of honey, but fell in love with this cake after a baker in the Imperial kitchen made it for her.Owner Emil Freeman credits the sharp sour cream flavor and, of course, the sweet golden honey for giving the cake its “incredible taste and flavor.” Cost: $39.99.In France, nearly every patisserie offers a Bûche de Noel, or Yule Log, which traditionally is made with basic yellow sponge cake spread with chocolate buttercream, then rolled up to look like a log. I cannot live without baked goods, and if you're reading this story, I'm guessing you can't either, especially this time of year, when they are must pick-ups for that big family get-together.Bread, doughnuts, pastries, cakes, cupcakes, cookies -- if they disappeared from the face of the earth, I'd move to another planet.Which is why our latest food showdown -- a search for the state's best bakeries -- had me both excited and fearful.Excited, because I'd spend nearly a solid week eating my favorite food ever.Fearful, because how would I possibly survive a glaze-galore, sugar-saturated week?When the going gets tough, the tough reach for another doughnut. Cost: $6.Or, you might want to pick up his just-for-the-holiday chestnut-and-caramelized-hazelnut brioche.

A fork is scraped across the top to make the cake look more like a log, and often powdered sugar is sprinkled to resemble snow. The best dessert shops in Bergen County NJ specialize in delicious, custom cakes. "We sell it to many of our restaurant clients." Or cookie.We received thousands of tips for hundreds of places via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook and on nj.com, and it wasn't easy coming up with this list, believe me. The ruby-red high heels from Sook Pastry are so charming, you may not want to actually eat them. Palazzone 1960 sells approximately 10,000 panettone cakes, some imported from Italy, some made in-house. "It was the best thing she had ever had, she said. Suissa Bakery, 57 Pacific St., Newark; (973) 589-1927.

The order deadline for a box of 12 cupcakes is Dec. 21 at 5 p.m. The best … 109 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield, NJ. Whether you need cakes for weddings, birthdays, sweet sixteens, baby showers, or bar/bat mitzvahs, northern NJ … Ready for the boozy?

It was one of her customer's. "She said, 'Put it on your Christmas menu,'" Morello recalled. Cost: $40, serves six.Choc O’ Pain also offers a few tartes, including chocolate ganache and hazelnut tarte, apple tarte tatin, pear almondine tarte, and cranberry pistachio tarte. Of course, some logs sprout marzipan mushrooms and fresh berries.That's all fine. Cost: $40 to $45, serves 10.Café De Royal’s Russian honey cake is a stunning centerpiece for any dessert table. He makes a mousse, which he pours into a mold in the shape of a log that he then freezes and eventually sets on a layer of sponge cake. (Inside, you may just find your "green" via mint mousse.) Cost: $28.If it's Hanukkah that you're celebrating, the shop offers chocolate rugelach ($3 each; $15 for five), babka (cinnamon, chocolate and cranberry-almond, each $15) and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts that are not fried but baked; call for prices).Would this list be complete without a few options from arguably North Jersey’s best bakery? The cake, she added, looks like a big snowball.