Life is full of reasons to indulge in sweetness and sugary treats. We celebrate good things with treats and cope with unfortunate things in the same way. Despite our best efforts and new Hollywood diet crazes, baked and chilled confections are part of life. Lucky for us, downtown Annapolis features numerous ice cream shops, chocolate specialty stores, and places to find sweet treats. Regardless of your mood, a trip to a sweet shop downtown is worth it.
Annapolis Ice Cream Company is a staple in the downtown sweet scene. Established some years ago by a husband and wife who live locally, Annapolis Ice Cream Company has been a favorite for quite some time. The store prides itself on only providing real ice cream. In other words, the ice cream sold there is made of cream and not filler ingredients. This integrity holds up across the flavor board with ones like coffee that’s made with brewed coffee, and blackberry cobbler, which has bits of blackberry cobbler laced throughout. Aside from thirty-six flavors of ice cream available at all times, Annapolis Ice Cream Company provides ice cream cakes suitable for parties or a large serving for one. Visit the folks in the store with your sweet tooth aching. The store is located at 196 Main Street. The website will also showcase all the flavors on-hand: www.annapolisicecream.com.
Closer to the Harbor, Annapolitans and visitors choose to stop into Kilwins. Though Kilwins is a franchise (unlike most of the other sweet spots in this guide), the fact that the owners are local make it feel homegrown. Known for its impeccable fudges that come in small pieces, Kilwins is ideal for indulgence on a manageable level. Even still, Kilwins sells their fudge by the half-pound, so sharing is also feasible. Flavors like butter pecan, chocolate peanut butter, turtle, and sea-salt caramel fudges are incredibly tempting. Intricate shapes of chocolate-covered candy, pieces of caramel candy, salt water taffy, candy-coated apples, brittle, and toffee are also available for purchase by the piece or by the pound. Finally, ice cream in rich flavors can also be found at Kilwins. Need a gift, pronto? Kilwins sells baskets suited for various occasions, filled to the brim with–what else?–candy and chocolate. Visit the fudgery at 128 Main Street or on the Web at www.kilwins.com.
At 130 Dock Street, Storm Bros. Ice Cream Factory does a great business, often with lines outside the store. Shakes, sundaes, and ice cream are the specialties there, but of course, the flavor choice is always left up to you. As far as sundaes and shakes go, flavors of hot fudge, pineapple, marshmallow, strawberry, hot butterscotch, maple walnut, and chocolate are available. Malts and ice cream floats also come in these flavors. Ice cream comes in over thirty flavors: chocolate chip, cookies and cream, fudge ribbon, moose tracks, vanilla, rum raisin, and pistachio almond. Sugar free, sherbet, and frozen yogurt varieties are equally as enticing. Prices are determined by the scoop but guests can also purchase by the pint. Certainly visit the store and try the merchandise, but in the event you need more info, go to www.stormbros.com.
JoJo’s Cupcakes and Cream (pictured above) provides exactly what you would guess: colorful cupcakes and homemade ice cream. This store came to downtown Annapolis last summer and continues to provide thirty-two flavors like banana pudding, birthday cake, cappuccino crunch, peach, and play dough. Brownies, cookies, and other toppings can be added to enhance the ice cream. JoJo’s also has milkshakes, banana splits, ice cream floats, smoothies, and sno cones. The cupcakes come in tempting flavors: chocolate bourbon, apple, pumpkin, butterscotch, lemon, carrot, and red velvet. To see the complete list, go to www.jojoscupcakesandcream.com. Or, to purchase from the store, go to 188 Main Street.
My Favorite Muffin is relatively new to downtown Annapolis, but the store located at 138 Main Street is now an integral part of the tasty options. This “All Day Bakery Cafe,” is the spot for baked goods: fancy muffins and fresh bagels. The cream cheese is even made in-house. My Favorite Muffin is the type of place to go study, conduct a book club meeting, or catch up with friends for hours on end (with tasty baked goods and coffee in hand, of course). This bakery is a franchise yet owned locally. Visit the store with friends and family or on your own to try the specialty muffins. Go to www.myfavoritemuffin.com to learn more about the menu.
Sofi’s Crepes at 1 Craig Street provides perfected crepes–one of the most challenging dishes to pull off. Sofi’s Crepes provides sweet and savory crepes, though the sweet ones are what we cherish the most. The filling is what makes the crepe sweet; try ones with orange marmalade, chocolate-hazelnut spread, cinnamon, homemade butterscotch, caramel, or fruit preserves. These sweet beauties come dusted with confectioner sugar and are inexpensive at $4 for most variations. Visit Sofi’s online too, at www.sofiscrepes.com.
It’s never a bad time to taste some sugar and chocolate. Make a date to go bakery hopping soon.
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