Foreign Grocery Friday: The 'Sconset Sweets of Nantucket
When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!
This week we've been doing our part to help you enjoy the notoriously expensive summer vacation destination of Nantucket, MA. The island may have no shortage of multi-millionaires wearing Nantucket Reds, spending the season in their fourth home, but it does have a shortage of yummy baked goods.
There are no Panera Breads, Le Pain Quotidiens or other chain bakeries on the island. What it has are small, independent bakeries that run out of the good stuff before noon. We stayed on Nantucket with a descendent of the very first settler, and this man who knows the island inside and out recommended we hit Nantucket Bake Shop, a short bike ride south of town on Orange Street.
There we discovered delightful little powder sugar-coated 'Sconset Sweets, a local pastry named for another town on the island.
The taste: A family friend of ours used to always make little powdered sugar walnut cookies every Christmastime. They'd be flaky and nutty and a perfect accompaniment to spicier holiday coffees. 'Sconset sweets remind us very much of those, though the Sweets are very sweet indeed with their walnut paste filling and cakey dough crust.
They're like if ruggelach and apple strudels got together and did the nasty to have a cute baby. Best eaten outside so the sugar doesn't get everywhere, though we can picture them making excellent hostess gifts and nibbles at events.
The price: 1 is $1.95, but a baker's dozen is $23.40
Where to find it: As we said, you can get these pastries at the Nantucket Bake Shop just south of Nantucket town. It's walking distance, better biking distance and very quick driving distance, though there's no easy parking.
[Photos: Jaunted]
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