Mariposa Bakery, Central Square

I've been hearing about Mariposa Bakery in Central Square for a while, mostly because they used to host a Chocolate Lounge, featuring Taza Chocolates from Somerville. I was in the area this weekend and decided to give the place a try (finally).

I had a day of eating ahead of me, so I didn't want to fill up, but I still wanted to try a variety of things. My friends and I sampled a few different baked goods to get an idea of what the bakery could do.

We started with the chocolate chip coffee cake. It had a nice level of density (not too light, not too heavy... Goldilocks would have been quite happy) and was very moist. There was lots of chocolatey flavor without it being overwhelming. The semisweet chocolate drizzle on top was a nice touch, balancing out the sweetness of the cake.

The lemon scone was fantastic and very lemony (but not in the Lemon Pledge kind of way). The dough was not too dense, and it had a slightly crunchy crust, especially at the bottom edges. The frosting was probably just lemon juice and confectionary sugar, but it was perfect as a glaze for the scone.

The biscotti was a big surprise to me, and was maybe my favorite of the samples. It was filled with dried cherries and whole pistachios for a very middle eastern flavor. My favorite part, though, was the texture - not break-your-teeth hard like most biscotti, but just hard enough that it could stand up to a cup of coffee. It was, actually, fairly soft, making the crunch of the pistachios stand out. I would love to be able to make biscotti like this (that gives me an idea.... anyone have a good recipe for softer biscotti?).

Sadly, despite the lovely weather on Saturday, Mariposa had no iced coffee, so I had to settle for iced tea...

They have some interesting looking sandwiches, and it seems like a friendly environment to study in. If I find myself in the area during the semester, I might grab a cup of coffee and a biscotti and get down to reading.