’Tis the season to celebrate, and nothing says the holidays like sweet treats to grace your table. Fortunately, the Vineyard offers plenty of options, whether they are made specifically for the holidays or are among our bakery’s regular offerings. Either way, they are great to enjoy or to gift to others.
The Black Dog Bakery Café, at 509 State Road in Vineyard Haven (508-696-8190), offers a wide variety of Christmas treats. There are two sizes of the classic yule logs and cupcakes decorated with holiday motifs, including a chocolate one topped with vanilla buttercream shaped like the Grinch. If muffins are more your style, you’ll find green pistachio and red velvet options. For something spirited, there is eggnog cheesecake made with real eggnog. Christmas cookies include reindeer, snowmen, and snowflakes. Want something for your pooch? There are candy canes, Santa Clauses, and shark-shaped dog biscuits. A smaller selection of holiday offerings is available at the Black Dog Water Street Bakery, which opened in 1973, at 11 Water St., the site of the former Vineyard Haven Firehouse.
Just up the block is Sweet Bites, at 32 Beach St. in Vineyard Haven (508-684-8257). Known for its homemade goods, this bakery and café features Brazilian fare. There are brigadeiros –– fudgy little balls similar to chocolate truffles but without the hard shell. Made with sweetened condensed milk and butter, they are velvety, creamy, sweet, and irresistible. Bolo de cenoura com brigadeiro is a Brazilian carrot cake featuring moist blender-mixed carrot cake topped with rich, fudgy chocolate brigadeiro frosting. Their custom cakes include vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, and carrot cake, with intriguing fillings such as strawberry Nutella, raspberry mascarpone, and Oreo cream cheese.
As you continue into town, you’ll find Delicious MV at 22 Main St. in Vineyard Haven (508-693-2223). Here, you can enjoy tempting French pastries. Pre-order custom cakes such as three leches, brigadeiro chocolate cake, Black Forest cheesecake, Equator strip cake, coffeecake, carrot cake, Boston cream pie, Hoff’s apple-caramel tart, chocolate cream tart, “mini carrot cake bomb,” and white chocolate mousse. The petit tea cakes are great for sampling a variety of flavors. Gluten-free desserts include “chocolate trilogy,” cheesecake, and macarons. Delicious MV also makes a pastel –– a crispy fried pastry filled with Nutella and strawberries.
Vineyard Grocer, at 294 State Road in Vineyard Haven (508-693-2000), is offering a holiday stuffed panettone with a choice of vanilla cream and Nutella, Kinder Bueno chocolate, vanilla cream and strawberries, or Brazilian chocolate and coconut fudge. They also have a variety of unusual pies. Their creamy banana-caramel pie features a cookie crust, fresh bananas, dulce de leche, flan, and whipped cream. Other options include banoffee pie, lime pie, and mixed-berries pie. You will also find passionfruit mousse, with or without ganache, lime mousse, and mixed-berries cheesecake.
Morning Glory Farm, at 120 Meshacket Road in Edgartown (508-627-9003), was established in 1975. It started baking its family recipe for zucchini bread in the 1980s, when there was an abundance of zucchini. Morning Glory’s scratch-baked goods are made with organic, locally sourced grains. The offerings vary daily, but they often include apple, pecan, and apple-cranberry pies. You will also find cookie flavors such as “starry night,” chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, pecan sandies, ginger snaps, buckwheat chocolate chip, and snickerdoodle.
In Edgartown, Espresso Love at 17 Church St. (508-627-9211) offers red velvet chocolate-chip cupcakes with buttercream frosting and Christmas-colored sprinkles. Puppy Cavallo of Soigne, at 190 Upper Main St. (508-627-8489), makes tiramisu and decorated holiday cookies. For a personal touch between store-bought and homemade, Rosewater, at 20 South Summer St. in Edgartown (508-627-1270), is selling sugar-cookie decorating kits.
Up-Island, the Orange Peel Bakery, at 22 State Road in Aquinnah (508-645-2025), is celebrating the holidays with gingerbread with a sticky cranberry topping, pear sour-cream coffeecake, apple-cranberry pie, Christmas cookies, and a few other surprises (open through Dec. 21).
No matter what you choose, these delicious treats are the perfect way to celebrate the season.