Adam & Eats: Paul’s Bakery

Editor’s note: Adam Brandt is a graduate from the Cobra Kai School of Culinary Callousness, where he received their highest award, the Red Apron of Merciless Eating. Aside from eating and talking about eating, he makes pots, paintings, prints, books, photographs, and generally, a big mess. He has been the studio assistant at Mudpuppy Pottery for almost nine years and is attending a local university in a desperate attempt to earn a biology degree.

After the past two weeks, I’ve had my fill of burgers. That is why I went hunting for something sweet this week. I racked my brain trying to come up with a solution and finally one came to me like a sugary light bulb clicking on in my head.

Located on Main Street, a little way from downtown, is Paul’s Bakery. Paul’s has been satisfying the sweet tooth of the River Valley for more than 50 years and the high bar of quality they have always remains just as high today as when they first opened. Their little shop not only caters to those of us who crave sweet pastries after weeks of eating meaty sandwiches, but also to anyone wishing to find supplies for their birthday party or wedding reception.

A good portion of the shop is devoted to party favors and decorations as well as tchotchkes (one of my favorite words). As exciting as all of these party decorations are, the really beautiful things in Paul’s bakery are the glass fronted display cases filled with delicious pastry goodness. Beyond the cases filled with tasty treats is the land where the magic happens, the kitchen. While gazing longingly at cupcakes with kittens on them, your eyes always tend to drift to the back where an army of people is busy making, building, frosting, icing, sprinkling, and decorating these things that will very soon be in your mouth.

The anticipation is a killer.

On that note, let’s get on with the show so that we can run off afterwards and slip blissfully into an insulin coma. Recommendations all depend on how many cavities you want.

For those of you wanting to blow all of your teeth completely out with one big shotgun blast of sweetness, I recommend the cookie sandwich. These back-to-back scrumptious chocolate chip cookies are straddling a decadent helping of some amazing butter cream icing. That is your best bet for “holy friggin’ crap” sweetness at Paul’s.

On the opposite end of the spectrum there are the pecan sandy, the date bar, and the raspberry drop. This threesome of cookies forms what I like to call the “Grown-Up Cookies.” Subtly sweet, crumbly, and ideal for dipping in coffee these cookies are perfect for the young at heart.

Enough about cookies, the donuts and other “breakfast” pastries at Paul’s are the best in Van Buren and definitely rival most of those in Fort Smith. Their plain glazed donut is an object of perfection and the éclairs are heavenly.

As wonderful as most of the pastries are, there are some that are not so hot. There is one in particular that is enormous and ultimately disappointing. I can only refer to it as a puff cake and it consisted of a flaky puff pastry filled with marshmallow cream and topped with chocolate fudge icing. In theory, this sounds awesome, but in execution it just ends up being overly sweet and extremely messy like a Great Dane who thinks it’s a lap dog.

Well, I hope I’ve got your teeth itching for some of Paul’s wonderful sweet confections. If you are lucky enough to catch them right before they go on vacation, you can get some pretty sweet deals. Get it? Pretty sweet. Oh, never mind.

Until next week, good eating to you and yours.

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Adam also has this thing called Sandwich Control.