You're the wind in my mill, baby.

As the blizzard looms, so looms Valentine’s Day. It’s the last weekend to dream up something sweet to woo your Valentine, and people will almost certainly be rushing to snap up the famed chocolates at Jacques Torres and Kee’s. But what if you long for a more unorthodox and inventive way to express your undying love? I have some suggestions.

Papabubble, 380 Broome Street
If you’re one of those people who thinks that hard candies are only for grandparents, you’ve probably never had one flavored with pear and bergamot or raspberry and sage. In this little shop in Little Italy, hard candy is the only thing offered, but it is raised to new heights. The candymakers (all of whom have such ostentatious facial hair and earnest expressions that you’ll wonder how they made it over the bridge from Williamsburg) hang and stretch and color and mold enormous hanks of sugar as customers look on, hypnotized. Special Valentines offerings include a “heavy petting mix” (featuring faces of cute animals) and a double-ended heart lollipop.

Mille-Feuille, 552 LaGuardia Place
I went many years confusing macaroons with macarons. For anyone who has suffered from similar bafflement, the latter are the small French pastries made of meringue and almond flour that look like Day-Glo sandwich cookies. In New York, they are the new cupcakes, with over a dozen bakeries specializing in them. If you’re a fan, one good option is Mille-Feuille, which makes its own macarons rather than having them shipped from Paris. Tucked in the shadow of the NYU student center, the place is unpretentious despite the real honest-to-God French accents of the staff. (When I was there, they were blasting “Wild, Wild West” by Will Smith over the stereo. How French.) At $2.25 a pop, the macarons don’t come cheap, but I’d take a dozen of the rose-flavored ones over a dozen roses any day.

Dough, 305 Franklin Avenue
If tiny French pastries are too delicate for you, you’ll probably love Dough in Bed-Stuy. The doughnuts here are both substantial and delicious, and lately I’ve noticed them popping up in coffee shops in both Brooklyn and Manhattan. Can they compete with the Doughnut Plant, the NYC gold standard of gourmet doughnuts? Jason and I both agree that while they might not top the unusual seasonal flavors of DP, there’s something big and bold and hearty about the ‘nuts at Dough that give them their own unique appeal. (Last weekend, as the Super Bowl drew nigh, we ran into a gentlemen on the subway with a big Dough box, and I thought Jason was going to rip his ear buds out just so he could tell him how much his good taste was appreciated.) The tangy flavors, like passion fruit and blood orange, are my personal favorites.

If snow or circumstance keeps you from your Valentine’s Day shopping this weekend, don’t worry. It’s more fun, anyway, to peruse the flavors and indulge in taste tastes, so you could always take your sweet with you to these sweet shops on Thursday. A Grand Tour of Sugar is a Valentine’s Day plan I can support.