Dining Out: Delicious Pastries at Kristen's Bakery & Bistro

I make LOTS of trips to Keene - as in several plus during the spring and summer months for softball.  Hubby and son play in a men's league and she plays in a women's league.  They were actually playing side-by-side last night: felt like I was trying to watch a tennis match with catching who was where!  Anyway, this equals LOTS of trips there at dinner time.  This summer it means bringing various good food along and trips to different places than we've gone in the past all for THIS blog!  Done for you, my wonderful readers, in the name of foodie research.  It's a tough life, but we'll do our best for you.

Shauna & I sampled the treats at a bakery in Keene recently.We found this wonderful little shop, Kristen's Bakery and Bistro on Washington Street in Keene.  If you are familiar with the city (located in southwestern NH and home of the HUGEST pumpkin festival ever!!!), rather than going around the circle, head out Washington Street, as if you were going to Rt. 9.  It's a stones throw from there and on the right-hand side.

We walked in and immediately felt comfortable.  There are lovely little tables on both sides as you enter and a direct path to the sweets case in front of you.  It was our first time visiting and the kind young woman could tell we were new, so she left us alone to admire all that was in front of us.  We were in for a sugar fix a bite for mid morning snack so we needed to assess our options.

There were plates of peanut butter and chocolate brownies, raspberry and apricot squares, chubby whoopie pies, cheesecake treats, caramel-chocolate- walnut brownies, jars filled with a half dozen different kinds of cookies and baskets of donuts.  We ogled the loaves of fresh bread and wished we were there at lunch time when we looked at the menu on the chalkboard with soups, sandwiches and baked potatoes.  The flavors of coffee called out to me, as well, but I'd had my fix for the morning already.

 
We had a chance to sample the two different fruit squares (raspberry and apricot) they had under glass for inquiring minds to try.  Being a fruit lover, I enjoyed both: nice taste of raspberry and apricot and just the right sweetness in the base. Having tried them, we were free to decide what else spoke to us.  

We decided on the caramel-chocolate-walnut brownie and one of the sugar covered donuts.  This was due to the fact DD is supposed to stay away from chocolate (in it's richest form) for a bit, due to a concussion she found herself with this week and the reason she was home from college!  (She'll be all good soon.) 

Lovely choices on our part.

Let's start with the donut.  They had them sitting out in a basket on the counter, ready to pop in a bag or on a napkin for you.  May I say you NEED a napkin?  The sugar/cinnamon/spiced it was covered in went everywhere, but in a good way!  We found ourselves trying to catch the crumbs and licking our fingers!  Oh, and by-the-way, they were HUGE!  Awesome...

Our other choice was the chocolate-caramel-walnut brownies.  Shauna said they were like "blondies" - something they have at St Anselm's, I guess.  The base was like a blonde brownie, then there was a layer of chocolate chips and caramel sauce, covered with walnuts.  They topped it off with more of the base layer, drizzled with chocolate.  Are you drooling yet?  We were.

Since this was our first trip out together, we didn't get everything right.  She took some great pictures (see above) and we jotted down lots of notes to tell you about what we had, but it wasn't till there was just one bite of each left (oops, sorry Whitt...) that I realized we hadn't photographed our treats!  ARGH!!  We are such beginners!  So.... here's what was left once we realized our error.  Oh... unless it was some thing Freudian and meant we'd have to go back...again... for more... YAY!!  Another blog post in the making - sweet!

Thanks for stopping by today!
Carrie
PS.  I would like to mention that there were women there on their way to a catering event with platters of the most incredible looking foods walking by us!  I'm guessing that if they cater for you, it's GOOD!