Get Baked: The Best Bakeries in Rhode Island for Sweet and Savory Treats

Where to find the best breads, desserts, pizza strips, zeppole, baked goods and more.

Locate the bakeries with the help of the Get Baked map and go on a food tour for all your sweet and savory cravings.

Monkey Bar
Sweet Cakes, 1227 Kingstown Rd., Peace Dale, 789-5420, sweetcakesbakeryri.com
Is it a house-baked Mounds bar or is it a monkey bar? These multilayered squares come packed with a chocolate cookie crust on the bottom and chocolate chips combined with a blanket of sweetened condensed milk and shredded coconut, with more flakes dusted on top. It’s like a homemade version of a favorite candy bar with extra crunch.

Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treat
Bake My Day, 24 North Union St., Pawtucket, 374-2747
As if giant Rice Krispies treats weren’t decadent enough on their own, this Barbie-pink Pawtucket bakery gets a little nutty by incorporating peanut butter into the rice krispies and marshmallow mixture, slathering another layer of PB on the surface and then topping the treat with peanut butter cups. Known for creating dessert bars for parties, the bakery also offers chocolate- covered pretzels and cookies.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Brownie
Wildflour Bakery and Cafe, 727 East Ave., Pawtucket, 475-4718, wildflourbakerycafe.com
Vegans and gluten-intolerant folks can indulge without worry at Wildflour, where the gluten-free and plant-based chocolate brownie is even better than traditional versions. “The brownies are made with a creamy tofu base, which gives them a fudgy consistency and holds in the moisture,” says head baker Kyndal Kennett. The gooey, rich squares come in both chocolate and chocolate peanut butter versions (though PB is not gluten free).

Fruit Tarts
Pastiche, 92 Spruce St., Providence, 861-5190, pastichefinedesserts.com
A local dessert legend, Pastiche is known for its tasty tarts — the famous custard fruit tart topped with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, mango and kiwi (varies by what’s available by season) in the warmer months, and the cranberry raspberry tart when winter sets in. The buttery tart shell is hugged by lemon-zested custard, topped with a fresh local cranberry and raspberry compote, and garnished with fresh raspberries and candied lemon zest.

Oatmeal Sandwich Cookie
Little City Coffee and Kitchen, 170 Mathewson St., Providence, littlecitypvd.com
The new kid on the block, Little City Coffee and Kitchen is making sugar-laced waves in downtown Providence. The bakery is sandwiching two house-baked oatmeal cookies with scratchmade fluff buttercream that almost always sell out fast. If you are too-late-you-missed-it, the backup plan is pretty sweet, too: brown butter cardamom pound cake with blood orange glaze, cranberry white chocolate orange cookies, savory shortbread, a vegan gingerbread cake and more.

Individual Cheesecakes
Beehive Pantry, 87 Gooding Ave., Bristol, 396-9060, thebeehivepantry.com
Beehive Pantry makes the cutest single-serving size cheesecakes in weekly changing flavors like Dunkaroos and oatmeal cookie. For when you don’t want a full-sized cheesecake, these personal portions are perfect for indulging every once in a while. Also, don’t miss the special Saturday doughnut day.

Maritozzi
Groundswell Cafe and Bakery, 3883 Main Rd., Tiverton, 816-4256, groundswellcafegarden.com
Italian sweet cream maritozzi buns feature light fluffy pastry filled with abundant whipped cream and dusted with powdered sugar. The bakery adjacent to this chic garden and home decor shop in Tiverton Four Corners handcrafts everything from apple crisp muffins and giant cookies to ham-and-cheese-stuffed croissants and doughnut specials. Sit outside by the fire pits while sipping hot cocoa and coffee, or wine and beer, and munch on baked goods in a winter wonderland.

Cream-Filled Desserts
Wright’s Dairy Farm, 200 Woonsocket Hill Rd., North Smithfield, 767-3014, wrightsdairyfarm.com
Wright’s Dairy Farm is the cream of the crop for cream-based desserts. From the food memory-forming strawberry shortcake dessert to Boston cream pies, cream puffs, chocolate eclairs and more, this farm sources its milk for cream from its own herd of cows and bakes fresh baked goods every morning before the sun comes up.

Sfogliatella
Scialo Bros. Bakery, 257 Atwells Ave., Providence, 421-0986, scialobakery.com
Scialo Bros. Bakery made the ultimate comeback from extinction to breathe new life into old-family recipes such as sfogliatella, which is a clam shell-shaped pastry filled with semolina filling. Let’s just call it a dessert stuffie, okay? The 1916 Federal Hill institution founded by Luigi Scialo continues to be run by his daughter, Carol Gaeta, even after it was bought by a new owner. It’s back serving the best Italian baked goods to generation after generation.

Baklava
Aleppo Sweets, 107 Ives St., Providence, store.alepposweets.com/baklava-menu
Sink your teeth into the traditional Syrian pastry made with chopped pistachios, walnuts or almonds tossed in orange blossom water and layered between crispy phyllo dough, drizzled with simple syrup and dusted with more crushed or sliced nuts.

Pastel Vasco (gâteau basque)
Madrid European Bakery, 199 Wayland Ave., Providence, 409-2300, madrideuropeanbakery.com
Savor the traditional dessert from the Northern Basque region of France that features a cookie-like crust filled with pastry cream. Take a whole cake or build a box of treats from the display case filled with chocolate eclairs, apple cake, slices of tarta de Santiago (almond cake), chocolate-ganache raspberry-layered cake and more.

Sweet and Savory Scones
Sweet Althea’s, 542 Kingstown Rd., Wakefield, 932-9473, sweetaltheas.com
When you want something crisp and sweet (or savory) to go with your morning coffee, Sweet Althea’s scones settle the score with seven to nine different varieties scratch-baked in house every day. There are four staples like the cheddar scallion, pumpkin cinnamon, raspberry and peanut butter banana chocolate chip, as well as seasonal flavors including maple walnut, gingerbread, white chocolate peppermint, lemon ginger and spiced pear and oat.

Empanadas
Caprichos Antioqueños, 173 Lonsdale Ave., Pawtucket, 728-9495, caprichosantioquenos.com
This family-run Colombian bakery has lines out the door every morning for its scratchmade Colombian sweets and savory snacks, including pastel de pollo filled with shredded chicken, scallions and tomatoes and empanadas bursting with potatoes and cheese. The crisp fried cheese balls are also addicting. For sweet tooths, there’s a separate counter with everything including bunuelos and pastries filled with caramel, pineapple and guayaba. Eat one on your way out the door, and bring home a box to share. –Jamie Coelho