Athena’s Bakery and Boutique // Where Have You Been All My Life?

Athena’s Bakery and Boutique // Where Have You Been All My Life?

There are dinners that make you glad you had a lighter lunch that day and there are desserts that make you thankful you worked out that morning. For Northport and Tuscaloosa folks, there’s a place that offers the latter. Athena’s Bakery and Boutique offers all the golden wonders your sweet tooth desires. Massive chocolate chip cookies, dessert bars, fudge, and decadent cupcakes are just the beginning. Custom wedding and birthday cakes provide large scale satisfaction for those with a special occasion. And if you’re not in there for sweets, then you’re likely there to buy a gift for your mom, sister, or favorite lady of the moment in your Sunday school class. Hand painted crafts, clever coffee mugs, and other “Tuscaloosa lady” items bedazzle the store.

Despite all of these awesome things, it was neither the cupcakes, or the dessert bars, or the cute coffee mugs I was after. Alas, I was on the mission to have one of Athena’s monster milkshake creations I had been seeing on social media recently. My fellow dietitian and foodie friend Holly was the first person to make me aware of the gorgeous creations happening in Northport.

It didn’t take much convincing to get the ladies of my supper club to join me on this adventure. Making an evening of it by grabbing some Mexican food for dinner before the outing to Athena’s, we were ready to take on some dessert. Or at least we thought we were. By the time we finished our dinner’s and headed to the dessert mecca, our crew of six was an even split between those adventurous (or crazy enough) to get a monster milkshake and those that were more level-headed and went for a modest scoop or two of ice cream.

As part of the more brazen ladies, I cautiously reviewed the eight different ultimate milkshake options. With several having an entire cupcake hanging off the side of a glass, I quickly thought of these milkshakes as the dessert equivalent to an all -out Bloody Mary with a hamburger and t-bone steak bedazzling a tomato beverage concoction. After long debate, I finally settled on the Cookie Monster milkshake featuring Blue Bell Blue Monster Ice Cream (blue-dye vanilla ice cream with cookie pieces), chocolate chip cookie crumbles, whipped topping, a massive chocolate chip sandwich cookie, cookie monster cake bite, and of course chocolate syrup.

Paying for my $12 milkshake I completely understood the price point. With enough dessert components to feed a small city, I knew I’d be getting the bang for my buck. I almost regretted my decision as half of my buddies sat down at the table with their humble scoops of ice cream but my two other gal pals kept my motivation strong as they too anticipated their crazy shakes.

In less than 10 minutes, the bakery staff brought our milkshakes to the table. My magical blue concoction was ALMOST distracting enough to keep me from noticing the other milkshakes, but of course I ultimately noted my friend Christa’s Salted Caramel Brownie milkshake and my friend Bab’s fellow Cookie Monster shake selection.

To be honest, my blue dessert choice of the night all came down to doing it for the Insta. But despite that, the milkshake was incredibly good. Blue tooth may have been my demise, but the accompanying cookie monster cake bite and chocolate chip sandwich cookie made the milkshake all the better.

Are these milkshakes here to stay? Tuscaloosa’s appetite confirms that will be a yes. Though Athena’s has been open for 3 years, it’s only been a month since they’ve started their ultimate shake creations. The shakes are insta-worthy enough to make you want to try it out for yourself. And a bonus? You get to take your mug home!!

Athena’s Bakery and Boutique is located at 13548 Highway 43 North in Northport and open seven days a week.  Tweet us @ThePlanetWeekly and let us know where you are eating!

Sheena Gregg, MS, RDN,LD is a registered dietitian and local “Filipino foodie.” Follow her on Twitter @TheThriftyRD