Pie Preorders are Back!!

Hello,

Since we last spoke we have been VERY busy, and we have lots of exciting news to share! We hope everyone is off to a great holiday season, so now let’s dig in to what’s been going on at Bakeshop…

The most important thing is that we have been able to bring in some new staff members, thankfully! We’ve hired a few young bakers and a new counter person who we are very excited to have on our team. It’s amazing how much more manageable our job is with only a few extra hands in the bakery, especially after having had to navigate through a difficult autumn with a skeleton crew.

For 25 years, the holidays have marked the passage of time, so it felt very odd to not be baking hundreds of pies around the clock this year. Instead, after the usual work was finished, I spent the time with family cooking for Thanksgiving, and being fully present in the moment. The kids and I did some holiday shopping at vintage shops, went out to the Gorge to get our Christmas tree, and spent a lot of time together making memories. The Sunday before Thanksgiving we were with family, and I laughed to myself when I glanced over at the living room sofa thinking of all the years that I quietly slipped away to doze, too tired from all the pie work to join the party.

This added time of getting some rest has had the positive benefit of renewed energy and excitement for baking! We came back after the holiday inspired to add items to our weekend walk-up menu, and to once again offer a Christmas and New Year’s preorder menu on our website!! 

Last week we got our mill running again and ground the gorgeous, Rouge du Bordeaux grain for our croissant dough. The flavor is so wholesome, a well rounded wheat with a hint of cacao nibs and a blush of red. We shaped our Butter Croissant, Chocolate Croissant and Ham & Cheese Croissant using this dough. We will continue to do the same this weekend, too! 

And we mixed a batch of our Spelt dough and made individual rustic tarts filled with Cranberry Rhubarb Compote, a sweet and tart flavor play. We are also (finally!) bringing back the Maple Danish, our often-requested pastry made with Rye flour and layered with maple sugar for a caramelized crust. We are also playing with a new pastry using croissant dough that may make a debut this weekend! First tests were promising and was much loved among staff.

Perhaps most importantly, we have posted preorder menus for the holiday season on the Bakeshop website. Preorders will be available for pickup only on Saturday, December 24th, or Saturday, December 31st, from 8am-1pm. Note that ALL online preorders will close on December 18th, so if you want to make sure to get holiday pies and cakes, get your orders in early! And if you decide to order ahead for both Christmas and New Year’s weekends, please place two separate orders online, one for each weekend, which will make keeping track MUCH easier for us.

These holiday menus include Burnt Basque Cheesecakes, Apple Pies with choice of either buckwheat streusel or double crust, Pecan Pies, Ham & Cheese Quiches and bags of Gingerbread People cookies. In addition we have two bottles of white wines available on our Wine Menu page for preorders — a delicious local Chardonnay from our friends at Vincent with full body and some creaminess, and a racy and fresh German Riesling from the exciting young producer Ludes.

We are also happy to announce that we will be once again serving our annual Eggnog to celebrate our 11-year anniversary on Christmas Eve day. Please come in and join us in the bakery for some seasonal cheer.

We will also have some holiday specialty items available for walk-in shopping on both of those days… think marshmallow, nougat Montelimar, honeycomb and more. We are looking forward to seeing your faces!

Thank you for your support and patience, as we continue to navigate our ever-changing new world. We appreciate all of you, always!

Best,

Kim + The Bakeshop Team