See the "Quick Access" panel on the left from the following screenshot:
The "Quick Access" panel provides a great blend in that it shows some recent folders that have been opened, but it also lets you pin folders and rearrange their order. I detest the Explorer++ favorites bar across the top of the window because my mouse cursor almost never goes there, and it is so much easier to read down a list than across a bar. I can also have a long, scrollable list of shortcuts in a window panel which can show more items at the same time, is more effecient than a bar when showing text labels, and it's easier to scroll down than the Explorer++ method of having to go all the way to the right of the favorites toolbar and click the expansion arrow which then creates the bettor list-style presentation.
Please make the "favorites" be a panel that you can put on the left side of the window, or even re-arrange/float. Notepad++ does this exact thing with the Doc Switcher and Function List and it is clearly a superior method for presenting file/folder shortcuts. In fact, implimenting the panels like Notepad++ would be flawless!