The millionaire shortbread at Baked On 8th deserves its own statue. Sure, it won’t look like much, but we can all stand there and salute over the cookie-dough-like shortbread and freaky creamy caramel. There’s so much more in their building-length pastry case, too, like intricately decorated cookies and hunks of almond chocolate chip pound cake baked in muffin tins. They’re known for their cakes, so if you have a celebration, this is a perfect spot to order a custom one.

Smack dab in the middle of Downtown Nashville lies a little blue and white bakery that's so adorable, we’re surprised they don’t serve everything on doilies. At D’Andrews, pastries span the gamut from breakfast goods to impressive patisserie with everything from cookies to cakes, poptarts, danishes, and choux buns. The D’onut is always a good idea, made from sugared brioche and filled with a not-too-sweet vanilla cream.

Nobody does pastries in Nashville quite like Brightside Bakeshop. This bakery focuses on gorgeous variations of all the baked goods we love best: cheesecake streusel danishes, three-cheese brioches, oatmeal cream pie croissants, lemon lavender kouign amann, glistening “sunshine” rolls with orange zest—the list goes on. The menu rotates monthly, so you have time to revisit favorites before they disappear to make way for buttery new creations.

Walk into most coffee shops throughout Nashville and ask if they make their pastries. The answer will often be, “No, we get them from Dozen.” There’s a reason this shop has a baked good monopoly around here, and that reason is an expertise involving things like lemon bar croissants or calabrian chili and garlic focaccia. The sparkly new location in Berry Hill has plenty of space to hang out with your laptop or brunch with friends.

Cocorico isn’t just a bakery—it’s also a cafe with a mini-market of quiches, pasta, and local goods—but any place churning out classic French croissants and baguettes this excellent deserves a spot on this list. The owner is from France, which means your onion soup is as rich as Coco Chanel in her prime. The cucumber and arugula sandwich is one of the best sandwiches you can find in Nashville.

The kolache is an unsung hero of the breakfast world, and we wish everyone (besides our friends in Houston) knew about the beauty of this dense yeast-dough pastry. Yeast does some of the best in Nashville, and you’ll want to try every variety of their fluffy golden goodness. Traditionalists should go for the sweet “Bohemian” options filled with cherries, apples, or blackberries, while carnivores should lock in on the savory “Tex-Czech” kolaches.

Yes, The Buttermillk Ranch is a fantastic sit-down brunch restaurant, but thanks to the takeaway counter, you can also drop in solely for those perfectly laminated croissants, in all manners of shapes, staring at you from the case. The bulbous pistachio one is a favorite, but so is the churro, served with a side of chocolate for dipping.

Nashville isn’t exactly a walkable city, but we would stroll into traffic to nab a slice of the fudgy chocolate torte at Flour Your Dreams. Thankfully, that isn’t necessary, since that slice, not to mention expertly made scones and muffins, are right there in Hermitage. This is a bakery born out of bread making, so get a signature sourdough boule sliced and ready for your dinner table before you leave, and some gorgeous local honey or butter to go with it.

Bagels, all manners of schmears, and smoked fish are the typical draw at Proper Bagel, but if you don’t add on some sort of baked good to your order, you’re not doing it right. Nab a proper black and white cookie—the owner does have NY roots after all—or opt for a smore’s bar with so much marshmallow on top, you might mistake it for Dairy Queen soft serve. There’s also homemade hot chocolate with espresso that has all the sweetness of being 18 again.

If someone brought these cupcakes to the birthday party, no one would know they were vegan and gluten-free. The scones here are a bit more bready than flaky, but that just means they hold up for days if you need to grab them in advance. The little spot in Donelson sits in what looks like a former mechanic shop, and can read pretty rickety if you’re there for lunch or a quick coffee and a cookie, but when the sun is out, all it feels like is charming.

Gluten-free bakeries are in high demand around here—just ask the people in line at Gluten Free Goose in Lenox Village on a Thursday morning. This place is only open three days a week for six hours a day, but they’re making good use of that time, cranking out cupcakes with perfect Magnolia Cafe-like dollops of frosting and oatmeal cream pies as large as your fist (or some of the children’s heads that are staring into the case).