Vegan Bakery Near Me in the East Village: Confectionery! Turtles and Macarons

Confectionery! sells only vegan sweets from a tiny storefront at 440 East 9th Street, open daily from noon to 8pm with a short lunch break from 3:30 to 4:15pm. Its bestseller is the Salted Galapagos Turtle, $6.50 for one, a pecan and brown sugar caramel cluster dipped in 65% chocolate. If you searched vegan bakery near me between Tompkins Square Park and Astor Place, this East Village shop covers cookies, macarons, cakes and bonbons in one room.

Confectionery is unusual because it is really two businesses sharing a counter. It opened on May 5, 2016, as a city outpost for baker Maresa Volante of Sweet Maresa's and chocolatier Lagusta Yearwood of Lagusta's Luscious, both based in the Hudson Valley. The FAQ says more than 95% of what you see is made by those two kitchens. Everything edible in the shop is vegan, and because nothing contains dairy or meat, all of it counts as pareve.

Start with cookies, priced from $3 to $6 depending on size and style. The Chocolate Walnut is the number one bestseller, extra loaded with chunks of both. The Marzipan is an almond paste sugar cookie with a chewy middle and crisp edge, and the Pistachio crinkle uses bright green pistachio flour from Santa Barbara Pistachio Co. The S'mores cookie bakes vegan marshmallows right into chocolate chip dough. A dozen box costs $30, a buy ten, get two free deal.

Macarons are Maresa's specialty and always gluten-free. A four-piece box costs $12, eight pieces $22 and twelve $33, filled with the flavors of the week, chosen by the baker. Past flavors have included chamomile, blueberry cardamom and absinthe black currant. Fruit tarts with a shortbread crust come in four-inch and five-inch sizes for $8 or $11 and change with whatever fruit is in season, since the bakers source locally and rotate the lineup often.

The chocolate counter belongs to Lagusta. Besides the turtles, which have been the shop's top seller since 2011 and come eight to a box for $52, you can pick any single bonbon from the case for $3.50. The Campfire Square, $5.50, is a house gluten-free graham cracker topped with vegan marshmallow, coated in 65% dark chocolate and finished with smoked sea salt. Whole six-inch cakes cost $25, serve six to eight, and change flavors weekly.

Here is an honest caution for gluten-free visitors. The gluten-free brownie, snickerdoodle and macarons are made and stored near products with gluten, and the shop itself says it does not recommend them for people with severe gluten responses. If you have celiac disease, skip the gluten-free shelf here and take the trip to a dedicated gluten-free bakery instead. Everyone else should not miss the $4 gluten-free double chocolate brownie, which is fudgy and loaded with chunks.

Timing has a quirk. The shop closes for lunch from 3:30 to 4:15pm, so a mid-afternoon visit can mean waiting on the sidewalk. Seasonal items sell out, and the FAQ's own advice is to order through the website for pickup or delivery, the same day or for a future date, so your item is set aside immediately.

Holiday ordering is a sport here. Each season the shop opens pre-orders for tins and cakes with fixed pickup days, such as a twenty-piece Thanksgiving cookie tin for $48 picked up on November 26, and a pound of rainbow cookie slab for $38. If the date you need is already sold out, the plan B is shipping, since the parent shops ship nationwide, chocolates from lagustasluscious.com and baked goods from sweetmaresas.com.

The space is small enough that two groups make it feel full, decorated with vintage wallpaper that also appears on the shop's tote bag. It is openly political and proud of it. Gothamist described the shop in 2019 as loudly LGBTQ-friendly and committed to sustainable farming, and wrote about a Mitzvah wall where customers prepaid treats for strangers. Regulars range from East Village neighbors buying a single turtle to visitors loading up on gift boxes.

The values extend to packaging and suppliers. The About page describes a woman-owned and operated, completely vegan business using 100% post-consumer recycled paper boxes. In the FAQ, Lagusta explains why the chocolate is not simply labeled Fair Trade or USDA organic: she has studied those systems for nearly two decades and prefers buying from producers whose farming goes beyond those labels. She also published a cookbook, Sweet + Salty, sold in the shop for $27.

Turn the stop into an East Village loop. Tompkins Square Park is a block east, with its dog run, old elm trees and a Sunday greenmarket. Walk south down Avenue A, then west along St. Marks Place for the record shops and noodle counters, and finish at Astor Place's spinning cube sculpture. If you would rather keep eating sweets, the shop's baked goods last two weeks in the fridge in an airtight container, so buying extra for later is perfectly practical.

Practical notes: the address is 440 East 9th Street, New York, NY 10009. Hours are noon to 8pm every day, with the 3:30 to 4:15pm lunch closure. Delivery orders run only through the shop's website, and DoorDash handles the driver support. Chocolates keep best at cool room temperature: solid bars and barks for six months, caramel pieces for three, and filled non-caramel bonbons for one month. Online checkout runs through Square and takes Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Who will love Confectionery: chocolate people who care where cacao comes from, anyone hunting a gift box that happens to be vegan, macaron fans who want new flavors every week, and dog owners, since the shop even sells $5.50 savory dog treats. Who should look elsewhere: anyone wanting a sit-down breakfast or flaky croissants, because this is a grab-and-go sweets counter. Buy a turtle, step outside, and eat it on the walk to Tompkins Square.