The Ultimate Brooklyn Bakery Crawl

New York City can be polarizing. It's the city of hopes and dreams, and the city where hopes and dreams can come to die.

But one thing we can all agree on? Its got some great sweet treats.

Seriously. Even if your hopes and dreams are crushed, there will be a cookie on every corner calling your name to cope.

In fact, there are SO many reputable bakeries / sweet shops that it can be difficult to conquer all of them. Not impossible, though.

Hence my Brooklyn Bakery Crawl!

(Ok...we only conquered 6 bakeries technically...but that's 6 more than I had conquered the day prior).

I've carved out what is truly MY dream day. Lots of walking through Brooklyn. Lots of unique sweets and treats. Lots of warm, happy bellies on a cold, cold day.

And because I am a woman of the people, I figured I'd share it with you all here!

Consider this your guide, consider this a review, consider this a light read for your morning inspiration (A full step-by-step guide will be at the bottom of this post!)

The Crawl-Ground Rules:

We decided that on this crawl, we'd be trying things we could only get at each specific store. That means for the most part, no classic croissants, no plain flavors. We wanted to sample things that they'd be known for.

Oh, and for the sake of our stomachs, we'd limit ourselves to one item per store...fine, maybe two.

Stop 1: Radio Bakery

Because where else would you start?

Radio bakery is often voted as the best bakery in NYC. They're known for their beautifully concocted pastries and incredible focaccia sandwiches. They have mastered the art of pastry and offer both the classic croissants and fun flavor twists.

Because we wanted the ultimate pick, we arrived right when they opened around 7:30am. There was no line at the time, but we also definitely weren't alone!

The selection:

-French onion soup croissant

-Early grey morning bun

The Review:

-Soup croissant: beautiful lamination, beautifully caramelized onions, all pocketed in a gooey gruyere béchamel. A bit savory for 7:30am, but there are no rules when it comes to deliciousness.

-Morning Bun: Again, beautiful flakiness. Surprisingly mild yet punchy flavor. Delicate and coated with plenty of earl grey sugar.

The Rating:

French Onion Soup Croissant: 7.8/10 (probably a 10/10 around 12pm onward)

Morning Bun: 8.5/10

Our tastebuds were tingling, but we had no time to waste - stop #2 is just a few blocks away!

Stop #2: Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop

Radio bakery's (somewhat) neighbor. Perhaps one of the most well-known, old-school donut shops in NYC. Peter Pan Donuts has been around since the 1950's, and from what I can tell the prices haven't changed much either. I freaked when I saw $1 coffee...thank goodness some sacred things still exist in this city!

This place is cash only, no frills, strictly business (yet still friendly, personable workers).

The Selection:

-1 classic honey dip donut

-1 hot coffee, splash of half and half

The Review:

I mean, what's better than a good yeasted donut. It tasted fresh, it was pillowy soft, and the sweet honey glaze gives it the Peter Pan signature. The coffee was both a great hand warmer and a great pick-me-up.

Rating:

9/10 because when you do the classics right, it's just right.

Coffee in hand, we hiked about 30 minutes to the next destination.

Stop #3: Birdee

After trekking to Williamsburg, we were ready for both a bathroom break and another sweet treat. Birdee caters to both!

Birdee opened somewhat recently (April 2025), and has an assortment of coffees, pastries, and apparently some amazing sandwiches and breakfast burritos. They opened in the Domino Sugar Factory near the water, and have some menu items such as a tuna melt croissant sandwich that I will have to return for.

The Selection:

-Churro croissant

-Iced chai latte

The Review:

The chai latte was pretty standard, pretty solid, not much to report. The churro croissant was a "swirled" croissant, dusted head to toe in cinnamon sugar and topped with a big dollop of salted dulce de leche. You can tell there was some serious love put into this croissant. While I admittedly prefer more of a "sticky bun" situation than a drier, sugar-coated croissant, this was still very enjoyable. If you like cinnamon sugar donuts, you'll LOVE this twist.

The ratings:

7/10 for me, 10/10 for the cinnamon sugar lovers.

We had a much longer trek ahead of us for the second half of this crawl, but at this point we needed some "rest and digest" time. We walked about an hour to Brooklyn Heights, then the crawl carried on.

Stop #4: Ferrane Bakery

Also newer to the scene (opened in May 2025) is Ferrane Bakery. They are known as a Swedish bakery with Moroccan and Eritrean roots...how fun is that!

This place was BUSTLING by the time we arrived. They are known for a variety of pastries (and apparently make a pretty mean cardamom/cinnamon bun), but we were there for one thing and one thing only:

The Selection:

-Princess cake

The Review:

For those that are unfamiliar, a princess cake is a traditional Swedish layer cake. While the mini size did not have a classically domed top, all the other elements were present: sponge cake, raspberry jam, pastry cream, whipped cream, a green marzipan top, and a pink marzipan rose.

And all I can say is...wow.

It's light, airy, and the perfect balance of sweet, tart, and rich. The layer cake was fluffy, the jam and pastry cream were PERFECT, and what's more fun than a cute marzipan rose?

Plus, it was a deviation from our breakfast pastries, so variety was happily accepted.

The Rating:

9/10, craving one of these right now!

Our next stop was once again a mere few blocks away.

Stop #5: L'appartment 4F

Also located in Brooklyn Heights, this place is THE place. They went viral a few years back for their mini croissant cereal, made out of buttery, flakey, baby croissants. Their classic croissants are pretty bomb, too.

Owned by Ashley and Gautier, Gautier truly brought a piece of France with him to New York. The smell of butter infects your lungs upon arrival and it is truly magical.

To many people's surprise, we actually didn't get a croissant when we were here. Confession: I've had them many times before, and they do live up to the hype. But we figured we'd use this time to try something new...forgive us.

The Selection:

-Spicy tomato focaccia

The Review:

I've never had a bad item here, and I certainly never will. But this may very well be my favorite thing I've ever had from there, as well as my favorite thing from this crawl. Yes, it's savory, and so some may argue it doesn't count. But WOW I don't care.

The focaccia itself was airy, bubbly, and tangy (almost as if it was made from sourdough...cannot confirm or deny). You can tell they have some HAPPY dough brewing back there. The tomato, spicy oil, and perfect sprinkling of flakey salt on top made this incredible. Plus it was a pretty hefty hunk!

The Rating:

9.5/10 (taking off half a point because I accidentally bit into a mega spicy section, but that's really on me)

At this point, we were getting pretty full. Our legs were pretty tired. But we knew we had to end with a bang, and that we had just enough pep in our step to make one last pit stop...about a 45 minute walk further. God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers.

Stop #6: Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pie

That's right, we trekked all the way to Red Hook, just in time for the best key lime pie shop to open up.

Authentic is in the name for a reason: Steve does NOT play around when it comes to his key lime pies. He (or perhaps his team) freshly squeezes real key limes for every single batch, and reportedly only sources the highest of quality of ingredients. Basically he does (mostly) one thing, and he does it REALLY well.

The Selection:

-The raspberry-chocolate swingle

The Review:

A deviation from the OG, but still the same key limey goodness, only elevated. Steve takes a mini pie, freezes it, adds raspberry, then dips the whole thing in Callebaut Belgian Dark Chocolate. YUM.

It took some adjusting for me to acclimate to the taste of chocolate, lime, and graham cracker crust, but I'd imagine this to be incredible in the summer. Everything tastes fresh, refreshing, and truly one-of-a-kind. I will be back for a classic key lime pie some day soon, but what a fun treat this was.

The Rating:

9/10 (12/10 for key lime lovers, again these ratings are all subjective)

And there you have it! The ultimate Brooklyn Bakery Crawl. And what a thrill it was.

If you want to take this trek yourself, here's the deets:

• Start at Radio Bakery

  • Located at 135 India St, Brooklyn, NY 11222

  • Open 7 days a week, 7:30am-3:30pm

  • Recommend: anything, truly anything

• Walk ~10 minutes

• Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop

  • Location: 727 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222

  • Open 7 days a week, hours vary between 4:30am-7pm!

  • Recommended: Honey Dip Donut, Apple Fritter, $1 coffee

• Walk ~30 minutes

• Birdee

  • Location: 316 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249

  • Open 7 days a week, 8am-5pm

  • Recommended: Churro Croissant, Breakfast Burrito, Tuna Melt

• Walk ~1 hr (or bike, train, uber...you do you)

• Ferrane Bakery

  • Location: 57 Clark St, Brooklyn, NY 11201

  • Open 7 days a week, 7am-6pm

  • Recommended: Princess cake(!), cinnamon bun

• Walk ~10 minutes

• L'Appartement 4F

  • Location: 115 Montague St, Brooklyn, NY 11201

  • Open 7 days a week, hours vary between 8am-6pm

  • Recommended: Also ANYTHING, but heavy on the focaccia

• Walk ~45 minutes

• Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pie

  • Location: 185 Van Dyke St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

  • Open 7 days a week, hours vary between 11am-7pm

  • Recommended: The Raspberry-Chocolate swingle, or the classic...because duh