Coffee & Treats in Allen

Visit Shoemaker & Hardt Coffee House and Country Store and you’ll be transported to a turn-of-the-century general store—that is, if the whole world back then happened to smell like coffee. The historical storefront is lined with a collection of antiques, from Coca-Cola ephemera to taxidermy; inside, staffers mix up mochas and top off cappuccinos with foam. The menu also includes teas, hot chocolate, and specialty flavored lattes, such as English Toffee and the Chocolate Grasshopper, a chocolate-peppermint concoction that can double as a conscience if you pour it over a Pinocchio. In addition to antiques and drinks, Shoemaker & Hardt also collects marbles, candles, and old-fashioned candies.

A marriage of former teacher Tiffany Key's passion for cooking and her creative inclinations, Haute Mama Dessert Company crafts sweet confections inside a colorful shop layered in hot pink and leopard print. Key’s eye for color informs Haute Mama’s decadent cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and other sugary morsels, which come in a rainbow of rotating flavors that draw on the chef’s southern culinary upbringing. Each batch of treats, including gluten-free and vegan goods, comes wrapped in Haute Mama's distinct pink, brown, and leopard packaging. Bright ribbons fall across the shop’s precisely designed corporate baskets, while artfully arranged spreads cater to larger events such as banquets, birthdays, or tea parties celebrating a stuffed animal’s newest litter.

The light goes on in 12 Bagels’ kitchen early each morning, and it’s not because the ovens can’t sleep. The staff shuffles into the kitchen well before the first customers arrive, making fresh bagels in flavors that range from sweet chocolate chip and cinnamon sugar to savory cheddar cheese, egg, and sun-dried tomato. The menu also includes flavored cream cheeses, bagel sandwiches, and freshly brewed coffee.

Colorful parcels fly out of Sweet Shoppe DFW's kitchen, each packed with freshly baked desserts. Within the kitchen, chefs dip fruits and truffles into pots of melted chocolate, and cupcakes, pies, and pastries rise in the oven. For weddings and special events, the bakers frost gourmet cakes in custom designs, such as a racecar for a child's birthday or an issue of Reader’s Digest for an adult’s birthday. Shoppers can order treats through an online system, which allows users to easily specify flavors, desired themes, and special instructions.

Andrea might have never started Cake Ballers were it not for a curious request from her brother. On a visit home from college, he asked Andrea, a consummate baker, to try her hand at whipping up a batch of treats he had stumbled across at school. Though the first few rounds came out misshapen, after repeated attempts, she finally mastered the formula. Today, Cake Ballers' customizable confections, served with or sans stick, emerge piping hot and perfectly spherical from Andrea's home oven. In flavors that range from chocolate fudge and cookies 'n’ cream to blueberry muffin and strawberry, the delectable delights sport frosted frocks in the client's chosen color scheme. Snackers can match their pops’ hue to their school colors, their team colors, or the color of their favorite red dwarf star.