Chocolate That Drives You Crazy

  When we first stepped into Maharaja Sweet, an Indian sweet shop open for nearly

25 years, we weren’t expecting to find a dense pastry made with chocolate. But there

it was: a square of chocolate burfi, glossy and dense, placed between trays of Indian

confections we couldn’t even name. We each picked one up, curious. After the first

bite, we paused, looked at each other, and frowned slightly.

“I honestly don’t know how to describe that,” Oscar said after a few seconds. It had

the grainy texture of cooked sugar, a hint of spice, and barely any chocolate at all.

Not bad. Just… unexpected.

But in Jackson Heights, where cultures constantly remix old recipes in new

kitchens, sweets like this are everywhere—and they’re quietly rewriting what

chocolate can be.

This blending of flavors and traditions isn’t accidental. It reflects a deeper story

about how chocolate, once reserved for ancient ceremonies, has journeyed across

time and borders to find new life in the hands of immigrant bakers. Here, chocolate

no longer belongs to a single culture—it evolves with each recipe, shaped by

memory and innovation alike.

After chocolate first appeared in ceremonial drinks in only certain places, this food

has traveled far. Now it stands out in everyday desserts from Delhi to Bogotá, Dhaka

to Queens. In Jackson Heights, this food is in places you might not expect—tucked

into Mexican conchas, folded into Indian milk sweets, or coating Colombian cookies.

It wasn’t part of some immigrants' dessert traditions back home. But here, in a

neighborhood shaped by migration and memory, bakers have started giving

chocolate a role in the recipes they’ve carried across oceans and continents. Some

do this to replicate the familiar taste they have in their hometown. Others do it simply

because it tastes good. Either way, it tells a quiet story of change—of what it means

to keep a taste in a culture alive, even as it shifts.

The origin of chocolate begins far from Jackson Heights, in the rainforests of

Central America, where the Maya and Aztec civilizations were among the first to

harvest cacao. To them, it was spiritual and sacred, as it was a treat used only in

celebrations or religious ceremonies. The Maya drank it warm and spiced, while the

Aztecs preferred it bitter. When Spanish colonizers brought cacao back to Europe in

the 1500s, it began its transformation into what we know today. Europeans added

sugar and milk to make sweetened chocolate bars. They started to make cookies

and cakes, which eventually traveled around the globe.

From European ports, chocolate followed the paths of empire and trade. The British

brought it to India and the Caribbean; the French took it to West Africa, where cacao

plantations eventually transformed local economies. By the 19th century, industrial

advances allowed chocolate to be mass-produced—first in Switzerland, Belgium,

and England—and exported widely. Migrants, merchants, and multinational

companies alike carried chocolate across oceans and borders, where it was

reimagined again and again: in Japanese Pocky sticks, Mexican mole sauces, and

Ghanaian drinking cocoa. What started as a sacred ceremonial drink became asymbol of comfort, indulgence, and cross-cultural creativity—a taste now rooted in

every corner of the world.

Walk down a couple blocks in Jackson heights, and you will pass varying food from

many cultures. This neighborhood in Queens is extremely diverse, home to people

from Mexico, Colombia, India, Nepal. That diversity shows up in menus from

restaurants all around.

 Photos of the places that sold different chocolate desserts—Photo by Oscar and Josie

At Lety’s Bakery, a Mexican-owned, Italian-style shop, chocolate-covered orange

peels sit in a tray near creamy cheesecakes and citrusy fruit tarts. “The owners are

Mexican,” said employee Isabella Haramen, “but the husband worked at an Italian

bakery when he immigrated here. He decided to open his own bakery named after

his wife.” The blend of backgrounds explains why their chocolate dessert tastes both

classic and surprising.

At Maharaja Sweets & Restaurant, chocolate shows up in a burfi, which is a deeply

traditional Indian milk sweet. In Jackson Heights, this twist provides an example for

the expanding of culture.

After we came into the Todo Rico Bakery(shown as Panaderia Mexicana on the

street),we tried the chocolate concha, a classic sweet bread with a sugary topping.

The outside had a cinnamon-sugar crust that flaked under pressure. The inside was

dry, and tasted more like a breakfast bread than a dessert. The body of the bread is

also very fluffy and soft, very light, with a faint milk aroma and the warm scent of

yeast It tastes quite similar to a pastry in Hong Kong named pineapple bread (butactually no pineapple inside) since they both have a crispy top, but the chocolate

gives the concha a completely new flavor.

Photos of the bread and the chocolate concha in the bakery—Photo by Oscar and Josie

Then, Maharaja Sweets & Restaurant, the familiar Indian treat burfi was made with

an added twist. This Indian sweet is usually flavored with only coconut or cardamom,

as it was at this restaurant, but here, it was also topped with a layer of chocolate

paste. It was sweet, spicy, and pasty. The coconut came through, as did the rich

creaminess.

Photos of the environment in the restaurant(or bakery) and the burfi—Photo by Oscar and Josie

At Cafe de Colombia Bakery, we found an entire case of chocolate cookies. It

contained vanilla cookies dipped in chocolate, ginger cookies sandwiched with

chocolate, and dry chocolate rounds covered in rainbow sprinkles. The vanilla and

ginger cookies were decorated the same, and held the same texture. They both

crumbled at the touch, and held little hints of flavor in the actual cookie base. The

chocolate rounds were bland, but in a simple and desirable way. The cafe itself was

also beautiful. A fake lemon tree sprouted from a plastic pot, with yellow flowers on

branches reaching throughout the cafe. It was charming and chaotic in a soothing

manner.

Photos of the cafe and a sample of chocolate dessert—--Photo by Oscar and Josie

When we stepped into the Lety’s Bakery and Cafe, chocolate-covered orange peels

tasted like citrus candy, with a grainy and bitter finish from the cacao laced on top. At

Pecoshitas Cafe, the brownie cheesecake was recommended to us. It was rich and

dense, with a more overwhelming flavor of pure sweetness rather than chocolate.

Photos of the Lety’s and the very interesting chocolate pastry that doesn’t exist on the menu

For anyone wanting to take a chocolate tour of Jackson Heights, there are several

key stops worth visiting. At Maharaja Sweets & Restaurant, the chocolate burfi ($2)

is a rich, spicy, and creamy Indian dessert topped with a dark chocolate twist. Over

at Panaderia Mexicana, you can find a chocolate concha for $1, a classic Mexican

sweet bread with a grainy chocolate crust. For Lety’s Bakery & Cafe, it offer

chocolate covered orange peels at $0.90 for two, blending sweet flavors in a citrusy

candy-like bite.In Jackson Heights, chocolate becomes more than an ingredient—it becomes a

bridge linking tradition and innovation, memory and the present. For those who yearn

for a taste of nostalgia, these sweets evoke the feelings of home, while for

adventurers eager to experience different things in tradition, they offer delightful

blends of familiar and new. It weaves together stories from distant homelands and

the fresh creativity born in a vibrant immigrant community. Each bite of the food

reimagined sweets carries whispers of ancient rituals and the boldness of cultural

reinvention.

A flavor that tells a story has a unique way of enchanting the senses. So don’t just

take my word for it. Just walk into the vibrant streets of Jackson Heights, wander

through its bakeries and sweet shops, and let your palate be the judge of the day.

“Before, Jackson Heights was almost like a standalone little community people

didn’t know about, the food was more meant for the community.” said Riya Hart, a

Nepalese-American woman living in Jackson Heights. “But now the food has

extended for a broader range of residents in New York City from different cultural

backgrounds.” Jackson Heights is a truly good place for people to try unfamiliar

things. Taste the unexpected and new, try to find the familiar, and discover how

different people here are transforming chocolate into something entirely their own.

Your next favorite dessert might be just around the corner.