Halloween is the holiday for candy and sweets, and even if you’re not trick or treating, we’ve got some new sweet spots for you! Belkys Nerey is on a sugar high in tonight’s Style File.
Kids, rejoice! Key Biscayne is having a sugar rush.
Gigi Alibhai: “We have about 180 to 200 different candies.”
Welcome to the island’s new candy land, called Smooshies.
Gigi Alibhai: “I noticed there was something missing for the teenagers and the kids of the island.”
At this adorable candy shop, which is dotted with hot air balloons and vintage planes, you can scoop up anything, from gummies and jellies…
Gigi Alibhai: “Tubs with taffies, so come in and shower yourself with taffies!”
To throwback nostalgic candies like Sugar Babies and Pez dispensers.
Gigi Alibhai: “We sell everything by the weight. You can pick and choose what you want to eat.”
There are gourmet chocolates, like salted caramels and sugar-free goodies, too. But Gigi says she wants Smooshies to be more than a candy shop. She wants it to be a place for parents and kids to hang out together. She even sells educational toys, most of them made in the U.S.A.
Gigi Alibhai: “A place where you come and you’re a child again.”
It gets even sweeter in Hollywood for authentic pastries that will make you feel as if you’ve escaped to Denmark. Check out the Danish Pastry Company on Tyler Street.
Philipa Friedrich: “Everything we have here is made in Denmark. Formed by Danish pastry chefs and shipped in frozen, and then we bake it fresh throughout the day.”
Frank Strocchia: “This is the best-kept secret in Hollywood.”
There are 25 different types of light-as-a-feather pastries filled with lots of good stuff.
Philipa Friedrich: “Custard cream, almond paste, remounce or chocolate. One of our best-sellers is called the maple pecan plait. Maple filling and pecans on top, then we finish it with even more maple syrup.”
Other customer favorites are the cinnamon swirl, chocolate croissants filled with Belgian hazelnut chocolate, and this black and white pastry bar. So what makes these the real deal? About 27 layers of dough in each pastry.
Katherine Gaston: “It’s tender, sweet, buttery, little flaky.”
Frank Strocchia: “They make your taste buds dance!”
The bonus at this shop: relaxing, classical music and organic Italian coffee.
Katherine Gaston: “I studied in Rome for a year, and the cappuccino is more like the one I had in Europe. Coffee, top notch, and a nice atmosphere.”
Prices for the Danishes are $2.50, and over at Smooshies they have a “Candy Happy Hour” for the kids on Tuesday afternoons where candy is 25 percent off.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Danish Pastry Company
2031 Tyler St, Hollywood, FL 33020
(954) 362-4366
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Smooshies Candy Store
260 Crandon Blvd.
Key Biscayne, FL, 33149
Phone: 305-361-9393
E-mail: sweets@smooshies.com