A Sweet Goodbye to 2009: My favorite desserts of the year

With 2009 coming to an end tonight (thank GOD), I felt it imperative to say a final farewell with a tribute to my favorite desserts of the year. It’s seems appropriate, doesn’t it? Desserts are the perfect way to cap off a meal (for those of us who like – nay need – to juxtapose savory with sweet), so it clearly follows that they should similarly be the perfect way to cap off a year.

Or at least this is what I told myself when I made the executive decision to not include any sweet bites (other than Canelé’s French toast) in my “Top Ten Bites of 2009.”

In other words, I cheated.

But for good reason, which in my semi-deluded world makes it perfectly acceptable since intentions are weighty clauses in both murder cases and life.

“But officer, I didn’t mean to stab him – he simply got up and ran straight into my knife!”

When I began formulating yesterday’s list, I quickly realized that given my propensity to favor the sweet side of the spectrum, were I to include desserts, there would be no room for savory entries, and I would therefore be neglecting to pay tribute to a year’s worth of notable eats that deserve to be heralded for their impact upon my tongue.

This would not do.

So I decided to make two lists – one devoted to the food that I eat so I can get to dessert, and one devoted to those sweet bites that are lining my imagined version of heaven. (Clouds made of ice cream, chickens made of chocolate, rivers that swallow up chubby little kids named Augustus who try to deprive me of the aforementioned chocolate, etc.)

I also decided that since I was already breaking the rules, I might as well go ahead and include twelve desserts instead of the more numerically pleasing ten. This is not the “Late Show with David Letterman;” this is “Diana Takes a Bite,” and I prefer to work without limits. And, incidentally, co-workers I want to sleep with.

Finally, it bears noting that I didn’t include any chocolates because were I to include the tasty offerings from Compartes, Valerie Confections and others of their ilk, the entire list would then be devoted to the contents of my snack drawer at work.

Again, this would not do.

As such, the following twelve desserts are what remain after filtering out items like the Compartes’ pear and cheese truffle, Valerie Confection’s chocolate toffee almond bar, and Trader Joe’s chocolate covered sea salt turbinado almonds. It's a pictorial montage of why I can never ever retire my running shoes.

2009, I bid you adieu.

Sprinkles' Seasonal Eggnog Cupcake

Marche Moderne's Espresso Cheesecake

Osteria Mozza's Rosemary Olive Oil Cakes

SusieCakes' Carrot Cake

Tavern's Snickers Bar

Bulgarini Gelato's Yogurt w/ Oil

LudoBites 2.0 Panna Cotta w/ Caviar and Caramel

Grace's Salted Caramel Doughnuts w/ Bourbon Pecan Ice Cream

Huckleberry's Salted Caramel

Joan's on Third's Lemon Bar

Corkbar's Banana Bread Pudding

Cube's Persimmon Pudding