Colors ≠ Flavors

Have you ever confidently ordered a "white" cupcake? This post is for you. I get it. Unless you were brought up in a flavor enthusiastic household, or maybe if you were pretentious as a child, you have most likely ordered a sweet by its color and not its flavour. I hear you - I see you. I want to help heal the gap between bakers and consumers. Let's cover the classics. Vanilla and Chocolate.

Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily obtained from pods of the species, flat-leaved vanilla. It's aromatic, sweet, and floral. When combined with sugar via, baked good, coffee, or even soda you are in for a treat! We use vanilla in just about everything sweet at the bakery. Vanilla is used in a lot of baked goods. Chances are if you see a "white or light yellow" cupcake behind the glass you are looking at a cupcake that has a main flavor of the beloved vanilla extract that has a chokehold on the tastebuds of the general populous. Bonus Trivia* We make our vanilla extract (vanilla pods + vodka aged for several months) and vanilla syrup (vanilla extract reduced with water and sugar) in-house!

Chocolate or cocoa is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. It can be bitter, sweet, nutty, fruity, and some people even enjoy it spicy! Our friend vanilla is often paired with chocolate to help round out its qualities. Generally, if you are staring at a deep brown in color pastry - it probably contains some form of chocolate. You can make a baked good chocolate flavor by adding cocoa to your dry ingredients or creaming melted chocolate with your butter. The possibilities are endless. A cool place for purchasing chocolate Ethereal Confections Bonus Trivia* That's our go to place for the BEST chocolate. <3 Why does it matter what we call things? A color is not a flavor and a flavor is not a color. (I'm not looking at you orange) How can we have an honest conversation about what we eat/what food establishments make– when we we won't open our minds to understand what we are being offered? I'm not trying to be pretentious. I want to start honest conversations between food industry workers and consumers to better understand what we're eating/making to enhance the experience of what we're tasting. When you taste something and understand it, not only does it improve your quality of life; it opens the door to connect to culture, people, and food, which can start to bring people together. Opening our minds to learn from one another obliterates pretentious and idiocracy from the conversation. We are all consumers at the end of the day.

Why does it matter what we use? It's less about what we use and more about why we use it and understanding the difference between our options. We choose to make our own vanilla because it's simple, tastes better; and who knows what's in imitation vanilla anyway? What in the world does it mean to imitate vanilla!? Choosing responsibly sourced chocolate is sometimes more expensive, but it taste better, you know where it is coming from, and you know that it is processed with fair trade and no extra confusing ingredients. Do the best you can with what you have and keep your mind open to learn from others. <3

Top 10 Most Memorable Broken Things in the Bakery

A kitchen is sure to have many a broken thing. Here's the top ten things that have been broken in our bakery.

Number 10. My beloved pastel cupcake stands. I was gifted a set of 4. We have one left. I can't stand that these broke.

Number 9. Bonne Maman preserve jars. Made in France and apparently strong as steel. These have been dropped time and time again. Somehow, we've managed to only break a couple.

Number 8. Glass Straws. We LOVE our cute glasses from Miss Kristi, but the anxiety is high. glass straw + concrete floor = glass everywhere.

Number 7. Coffee Cups. Pictured was just a goodwill special, but she was special. Broken by, yours truly. </3

Number 6. Not-Neutral coffee glasses. This one hurts my finances and feelings. No further comment.

Number 5. If your name is Candace, let me explain. Candace is lovingly what we named our sink. She's always broken and always causing trouble. Double whammy: pictured is from the time I absentminded filled the sanitizing section of the sink with soap water instead of bleach water. ~_~

Number 4. Ahh the mini fridge! A place where things go to randomly freeze. If you've ever walked in on me hugging a pitcher of cold-brew back to warmth you know all about our mini fridge randomly freezing its contents. *updated to add: this issue has been solved! The nob kept getting hit and would turn down the temperature. Nothin' a little tape couldn't fix.

Number 3. The ovens. Kinda need those to work, eh?

Number 2. Hand mixers. They're quick in-a-pinch. They're cute. They break.

Number 1. Allie. No explanation needed.

"Hey Alexa, Play "broken people by Jonny Diaz"...

Everything you need to know about browning butter...

Butter in and of itself is gold. Brown it and you've got something better. In these times (more than ever) you should be getting the most flavor out of butter you can. Journey with me as we explore the art of browning butter. Brown butter (buerre noisette) is a classic, French staple in the kitchen. Best part? All you need is butter, a quality skillet (in my humble opinion a well seasoned cast iron works best), and less than 20 minutes. Browned butter is versatile. You can use it in savory dishes, baked goods, and even toast. Really, anywhere you use regular butter you can use browned butter. Dare I say- you SHOULD. In just a few minutes, you can bring melted butter to a beautiful shade of foamy caramel, scented with the nuttiest tasting notes known to man. This aromatic sidekick is sure to elevate your pasta dishes and transform your chocolate chip cookies.

Before you get started you'll need: 1. A trusted pan. That pan you reserve for special dishes; the one that never sticks, cooks evenly, and always has your back. A friend in times of need. Pick that one. 2. A stirring utensil. I prefer a wooden spoon. But, anything that can withstand the heat will do.

and now our STAR... 3. Butter. Salted or Unsalted, just whichever you prefer. DO NOT USE COLD BUTTER. I REPEAT, do not use cold butter! The French did not create this delicacy for you to ruin it with poor technique. PLEASE, take that butter out of the fridge 20-30 mins prior to embarking on this journey. Room temp butter is the ONLY way this will end well. There's only one way this can go wrong... you burn it. Cold butter increases the likely hood of that by like 1,000. Method Cut your butter into even pieces and disperse the pieces into the pan. Warm your pan to medium heat. Don't wild animal this and crank that bad boy up to HIGH to speed up the process. Turn the nob to medium and allow it to take the time it needs to get to medium heat. You want your butter cooking evenly! Remember that spoon I said you would need? Use it to slowly stir the butter around the pan as it melts. Once melted, the butter should start to foam and bubble around the edges. You should start to smell the butter change at this point. Keep stirring. In about 5–8 minutes from when you started (depending on the amount of butter you used), the butter will turn golden brown. The foam will die down and the milk solids on the bottom of the pan will toast. When you see the milk solids have separated and toasted, take the pan off the heat and immediately pour your browned butter into a heat safe bowl to ensure you do not burn your new spread. This next step is super important. Inhale through your nose and smell the nutty, buttery, rich, aromas and exhale all your problems because you are now the proud owner of a pan of browned butter. From there, you can let your butter cool, return to its solid form, and continue to use it like you would normal butter. Let me know what you do with this technique bellow! Thank you for reading, Allie <3