Coffee & Treats in Newton

Two-dozen frosted sugar cookies ($10/dozen) solve many of the problems associated with cookies, including scarcity, rareness, and shortage of cookies. Connie's chewy, sugary rounds are crafted from her grandmother's time-tested recipe and contain no preservatives. Sink teeth into a variety of bright frosted shapes, such as a spooky ghost or flip flop. All of Connie's cutout sugar cookies are freshly made when ordered; the dough is hand-rolled, hand-shaped, and hand-decorated by real human hands. The bakery asks for a minimum of two days to fill your order, so make sure to call ahead.

Named Best Bakery in 2013, for the fourth consecutive year, by The Best of Wichita, W.O.W. Cakes' expert baker and decorator, Pam Pletcher, concocts artful gourmet confections slathered in copious quantities of house-made toppings and homemade buttercream. Bakers craft more than 50 flavors of cakes and cupcakes–including 12 gourmet cupcakes–easily accommodating requests for coconut wedding cake topped with chocolate fondant or red velvet birthday cake filled with bavarian cream. Alternative recipes turn treats into gluten-free and sugar-free of time-tested favorites to accommodate special diets or throw dessert-sniffing detectives off track. Imaginative bakers transform cakes into pieces of art with hand-piped chocolate, sculpted frosting, and strategic props, and have used their skills to transform a simple sheet cake into everything from a ski boat to a flame-licked barbecue grill.

Though the journey of a Sweetly Scrumptious dessert almost always ends with an empty cupcake liner or an undressed cake-pop stick, it begins with ingredients culled from local distributors. These ingredients make their way into more than 30 flavors of cupcakes, cake balls, and cookies baked in small batches throughout the day. While waiting for the next fresh batch to pop out of the oven, the bakery’s crew devises new flavors to add to the menu. The results can be sophisticated variations of classics—the cinnamon-dusted carrot cupcake comes to mind—or new inventions entirely, such as the lime-margarita cupcake rimmed with green sugar sprinkles and blended upon request.

Groupon is a combination of the words group and coupon. Each day, we offer an unbeatable deal on the best of Wichita: restaurants, spas, sporting events, theater, and more. By promising businesses a minimum number of customers, we get discounts you won't find anywhere else. We call it "collective buying power." If you want to get the deal, just click BUY before the offer ends at midnight. If the minimum number of people (15 for today's deal) sign up by the end of the day, you'll be emailed a gift certificate the next morning. You can print your Groupons or redeem them with our iPhone app. Use them whenever you want until the deal expires—today's expires in January. If not enough people join, no one gets the deal (and you won't be charged), so invite your friends to make sure you get the discount!

Watermark Books and Café offers hungry bellies food and drink while hungry brains guzzle books. The eclectic selection includes classic tomes (Watermark's summer book club is focusing on the Brontë sisters), modern fiction, and nearly any other pages ever sewn between a cover (click here to search for books). Beatrice and Virgil, the new book by the author of Life of Pi, makes a superb companion to critiquing Watermark’s chicken-salad translation of The Iliad (served with tarragon, chopped green onions, and walnuts). Or stay awake while hunting for staff picks with a caramel latte ($2.95/12 ounces, $3.95/16 ounces) with as many as a dozen extra shots ($0.75 each), or a specialty drink ($3.75/$4.75) such as the Jane Eyre, which mixes chocolate, coconut, and almond flavors with steamed milk and espresso.

Nestled amid a row of orange-bricked storefronts in the Old Town district, Cero's Candies peeks its glistening chocolate eyes out from beneath a green- and white-striped awning. Cooking up decadent, gourmet chocolates since 1885, the charming confectionery weds rich, buttery caramel centers to delicate draperies of milk or dark chocolate. This deal's exclusive assortment box also includes delectable milk-chocolate-coated turtles, containing a pecan core, and coconut haystacks. Indulge Dad's sweet tooth this Father's Day with the 21-piece box, or add a touch of opulence to an afternoon spent soaking in a kiddie pool with a mouthwatering caramel display. Schedule a tour for your clan of six to 20 budding candymakers to watch candies being made when you stop in to pick up your assorted box.