Today in Dessert: Vendy Awards, Schweddy Balls, More Sweets for St. Marks Place

Ben & Jerry's

Earlier today, the Vendy Awards announced their dessert-award nominations. They include Miss Softee, Woolys, La Bella Torte, Cupcake Crew, and FitR favorite La Newyorkina. We haven't tried any of the others and are obviously biased, but then so is everyone who voted for these folks as finalists. The winner will be announced on September 24.

But we are a little confused by the Miss Softee nomination, considering that Miss Softee herself no longer drives a truck full-time; as her Vendy Awards bio states, she only does special events and food tours. Regardless of what you think (thought?) of her ice cream, this seems a bit wack, particularly as there are full-time ice cream trucks like Coolhaus doing such creative and high-quality work.

One thing you likely won't ever find on a New York ice cream truck menu is Schweddy Balls, the pop-cultural homage from Ben & Jerry's. The just-launched ice cream is, of course, an homage to the Saturday Night Live skit in which Alec Baldwin tells "The Delicious Dish" hosts Molly Shannon and Ana Gasteyer about his evocative creation. Ben & Jerry's version entails "vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum ... loaded with fudge covered rum balls and milk chocolate malt balls." Nice, but still not enough to drive the image of perspiring nether regions from our psyche.

There's no telling what they'll be serving at the new dessert shop that EV Grieve noticed on St. Marks Place. Its windows are plastered with a large image of a chocolate bar and the words "coming soon." Given its location next door to Jane's Sweet Buns, it would probably behoove its owners to stay out of the booze-soaked breakfast-pastry trade.

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