LA Cookie Con

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of attending the 1st annual LA Cookie Con & Sweets Show at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, CA. Cookie Con is the West Coast's first, biggest and only baking and pastry convention. Pretty cool, right?! Here I am out front of the convention center:

The convention itself was large enough that I got to see and try lots of yummy treats, but small enough that I felt like I got to engage on a personal level with some of the vendors. I thought they did a good job of having a wide variety of treats (not just cookies.)

SH and my three favorite booths (in no particular order) were Pop Up Pastries, Drive Me Cookie and Cream by Crystal.

Have I admitted to you yet how (embarrassingly) much I love pop tarts? But, to be honest, I never feel that healthy when I eat them. When I read about Pop Up Pastries online I was soo excited to seek them out at Cookie Con. The business concept is pretty cool- Kelly, the owner, doesn't have one shop that she sells out of, rather she "pops up" all over LA so you'll never know where you might see these sweet treats next! The dough is super flaky and buttery, and the jam inside is the perfect amount- not too much making it too sweet, but not so little that you're just eating pastry dough. You could eat these for breakfast or dessert. And they are so light you don't even feel like you ate something that you "shouldn't"! I could eat a few in a row! My favorite is the lemon blackberry tart.

 Salted Caramel Apple Goodness c/o Pop Up Pastries

The Pop Up Pastries Booth

Drive Me Cookie was another great stop. SH loved the classic chocolate chip cookie and vanilla ice cream sandwich. He ate it so fast that I wasn't able to snap a photo of it before it was gone. :)

Their cute #doughlaroid sign

They do catering, delivery and street vending. These yummy treats are sure to brighten up your day (especially if you partake in any of the fun toppings like sprinkles or caramel drizzle.)

And last but not least was Cream by Crystal. This was my all time favorite cupcake place by far!!! (She won Cupcake Wars... she's THAT good.) I have never tasted a cupcake that tastes so much like delicious cheesecake goodness in my entire life. The cupcakes were so creamy, light, fluffy, and that frosting! Mm! Everything about them is perfection. The original was my favorite. 

Here's a play by play of me tasting the cupcake:

 Taste 1: Trying it, unsuspecting

 Taste 2: "Wait, this is seriously good."

 Taste 3: "Oh my gosh, mmm this is the best thing ever"

 Taste 4: "!!! It's not even fair how good this is !!! I want more tastes of all the flavors right now!"

That pretty much sums it up. Needless to say I was excited to meet Crystal.

Overall, I think Cookie Con was a fun success. There were lots of other cool booths and I have so many more photos I want to share with you, ah! I'd love to know, what about you guys? How did you spend your weekend?