Coffee & Treats in Thomasville

Playing mad scientist with both pastries and palliatives, TipC animates its often-arid namesake with alcohol infusions, adding extra bliss to bite-sized desserts. The bakery's flavor-synergizing shamans craft all edibles from scratch and have been known to showcase concoctions as outlandish as the Pool Boy, with a mix of coffee crème liquor and orange rum; the Devil's Red Velvet, a dervish of Godiva liquor, crème de cacao, and red velvet cake; and the Dirty Rich, infused with lemon vodka, peach schnapps, and aloofness. Although tastes of alcohol tickle partakers' tongues with each bite, mouth parties hosted by TipC are subdued and dignified soirees—the included liquor has no effect on the body, and the marinated mouthfuls are appropriate for all ages.

Conveniently located in the 140-store Cary Towne Center mall, the DQ Treat Center offers a cool respite for shoppers tired of fitting-room lines and surly sales clerks. Celebrating its 25th year, the signature Blizzard's chunky charms are as inescapable as ever, with classic candies such as Butterfinger, Oreos, and Snickers and newer flavor options like Strawberry CheeseQuake blended to unmatched thickness with creamy soft serve ($3.19–$3.89). The Peanut Buster Parfait ($4.19) slathers vanilla ice cream in fudge and peanuts for an appealingly layered delight. This location harnesses the relentless power of the DQ Blizzard alongside the brightly colored grace and dignity of Orange Julius smoothies ($4.49) and fruit drinks ($3.19–$3.79) to create a sweet treat superpower.

The Blushing Bakeshop specializes in delightful, gourmet cupcake creations crafted to please even the most discerning sweet teeth. A stalwart stack of eight regular flavors dominate the menu, and each week two rotating flavors are introduced for a dash of the unexpected. Moisten your mouth for a choice of four cupcakes with human names. The Shannon is a crowd-pleasing standby, vanilla cake topped with milk-chocolate buttercream, while the Bella Lucia has a crown of stracciatella buttercream over vanilla cake with a Nutella center.

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Chocolate Pops' selection of sweet, savory, and seasonally inspired treats includes chocolate turtles ($2 each), chocolate-dipped marshmallow peeps ($4), giant gumballs that can be used as cannon fodder, and a movie-night snack box with chocolate, popcorn, and Twizzlers ($10). Brightly wrapped gift bags (starting at $12) burst with Chocolate Pops' namesake: creatively crafted chocolatey pops. Picking out the superb sweet sustenance for a special occasion, midday pick-me-up, or android brain refueling is fun due to the welcoming atmosphere and friendly service at Chocolate Pops, which is a family-owned business that abides by the way of the Jedi.

All Blue Ridge's 13 daily flavors of ice cream are scooped by hand, in order to avoid the lingering metal taste and brain freezes caused by robot servers. Flavors are constantly changing; some favorites include Brandy Alexander, coffee Oreo, cake batter, and dulce de leche. Gelato flavors morph and evolve as well, from tropical lime one day to honey lavender the next. One-scoop servings of ice cream are $2.40, whereas single-shot gelato is $2.80; put a bigger sweet tooth down with a double-barreled cone of ice cream for $3.60 or gelato for $4.20. Pour scrumptiously molten toppers such as caramel and hot fudge over your frigidly solid-state cream or gelato for a $4.25 sundae, or get the biggest bang for your buck with a large sundae for $5.25. One daily sorbet and sherbet flavor is also available, and you can upgrade your delivery device to a waffle cone for $1 extra.