Cookies for Breakfast, Cookies All Day Long!

What kind of cookie is good for breakfast?! Our Rum Kissed Raisin cookie is full of oatmeal, coconut, rum-soaked-raisins, local butter, and local eggs. And as Megan reminded me, "eggs are for breakfast!" Oatmeal doesn't need to be served only in a bowl.

So here's the story on our Rum-Kissed Raisin cookies. . . . Megan developed the recipe for this little oatmeal cookie, and in it she specifies: "Heat rum and raisins on the stove until simmering. Turn off the heat, cover and soak the raisins for half an hour until they plump up." But one day while I was preparing cookies, I heated the rum/raisins and instead of draining them after 30 minutes, I walked away and ate lunch. So. . . .after 60 minutes of bathing in a pot of warm rum, the raisins had softened and easily released their rummy juices into the cookie dough.  Upon first realizing my flub, Megan reminded what Bob Ross says, "We don't make mistakes; we have happy accidents."

Now these cookies truly deserve the name "Rum Kissed," whereas before they were simply "Rum Pecked". Come grab a kiss from these two birds, oh and some cookies!

Sgt. Pepper's Strawberry Fields Muffin!

We are continuing to spotlight each of our items for your salivary and literary enjoyment!

(Megan is sitting across from me and played me animated clips of a cartoon character called Gir, who she says I reminder her of, and I can see the resemblance.)

Today we're spotlighting the Sgt. Pepper's Strawberry Fields Muffin! It's a strawberry, black pepper, walnut muffin, and oh boy is it delicious!

This vegan muffin's base is built of spelt flour, grade B maple syrup, canola oil, walnuts, and soy milk. A dollop of strawberry jam is nestled in the center of the muffin and also adorns the top of the muffin. The slight heat of the black pepper is balanced to sweet perfection by the jam.

We first tried this muffin with fresh strawberries rather than jam, but the fruit sank and made the muffin wet. At a 2010 muffin tasting, one of Megan's friends (unfortunately we can't recall who, but we're looking for our notes from that event so that we can give the person their congratulatory due!) suggested we add a dollop of strawberry jam to the center and the top rather than using fresh fruit. Splendid!

At that same tasting, while taking suggestions for names, we went with a name that Megan's brother Jason came up with; "Muffin 51" because it's alien! While we loved this name, it didn't give an apt description of what you'd get in the muffin, so my friend Richard suggested the "Sgt. Pepper's Strawberry Fields" muffin - clever AND descriptive.

We love this muffin. Our friend Joni loves this muffin. Richard, who named the muffin, loves this muffin. Don't fear the black pepper, strawberry, walnut muffin. . .love the muffin. . .love it!

Here it is, stop in and taste the Sgt. Pepper!

Curry of Kali

Some of our muffin and cookie flavor combos are unique, surprising, and untraditional. This is the first post in a series we've been wanting to do, in which we highlight our products one-by-one.

The Curry of Kali muffin fits all of the descriptors listed above. The combination of curry spice, coconut, and dates sounds odd for a muffin, but I assure that it is a completely joyful experience for anyone's palate. Customers who were skeptical at first were hooked after one sample! Also, out of our four vegan muffin offerings, it is my personal favorite.

Vegan? Yes, the muffin is vegan! There are no eggs, no dairy, no animal products of any kind in the Curry of Kali muffin, which also makes it accessible to those with allergies to dairy and/or eggs.

We make all of our vegan muffins with spelt flour instead of unbleached white flour. Spelt is an ancient species of wheat and has more protein than whole wheat, which makes it healthy too!

So where does this crazy muffin name come from? Curry of Kali is an odd name it seems. But it has a story, like most things. Three years ago, while we were hosting a muffin-tastings to test our recipes, our friend Kali Baker suggested the name, in honor of Kali (Kä-lē) the Hindu goddess of empowerment, time and eternal energy. Curry of Kali is a fury of flavors and is oh so good for you!

Curry of Kali muffin says "eat me!"

Have a super Labor Day weekend everybody!!

~Meg

Finishing Construction...

And moving on with stocking and organizing the bakery. 

Over the past week, we purchased bowls, whisks, scrapers, towels, dish soap, sanitizer, mops and buckets, brooms and dustpans. There have been many little errands here and there, just like moving into a new home, but with bigger ovens, a urinal, and a Big Bertha sink that you could take a bath in... not that we would. Haha!

Amongst the practicalities and necessities, we are really excited to decorate and make the place our own, to give it our own special touch. I love the idea of plants in there for example, a nice contrast to the industrial metal of the kitchen.

As a bakery-warming gift, Barbi gave us two happy dancing penguin figures; two birds for Two Birds. These little guys are also a great contrast. Oh my gosh they are so happy!

~Megan

Dissection of a Photo

It'd be easy to confuse this blog for a construction blog and not a bakery blog at this point, but a remodel is necessary to create a bakery that is up to snuff (or code rather.) 

Here's a photo I took at our Progress Meeting yesterday, let's dissect it to see where we're at in the construction proces. . . .

1. Megan: That's Megan in the middle with the peach, ruffled shirt! She's pleased about our wood table (not pictured) and all the natural light.

2. Bakery case (to the right of Megan): That's our bakery case! It arrived with a dent, so now we are learning about insurance claims.

3. Trash Can (to the left of Megan): This trash can indicates that we are not yet open for business and work is still busily being done on our beloved little bakery.

4. Floor: The bamboo floor was finally installed! Now you'll be able to enter on a lovely, sustainable floor when you visit these two birds.

5. Barn Wood (on the wall): You've seen pictures of Jeff's awesome installation of Barbi's well aged barn wood before, but it's too beautiful not to highlight again.

6. Round Pendant Lamp: The lights are installed! These orb lamps provide an amazing amount of light to the bakery which will make for a most pleasant atmosphere.

7. Transom & Awning: Our new transom is being installed above our new commercial door, and you can see just a peek of our new burgundy colored awning.

8. Guy in the Red Shirt: He was a happy guy installing the transom. We like happy people!

Wow, a lot can be gleaned from a single photo. Thanks for visiting our blog; we can't wait for you to visit us at the bakery!

~ Trilety

The Slow Reveal

After the drywall went up, we started to see some of the fun aesthetics that will adorn our new space.


Tiles went up in the sink area and in the bathroom...

 We fought hard for this unisex bathroom, which means that Trilety, Barbi, myself, and our architects sat in front of the Omaha Plumbing Board to state our case for having one restroom instead of two.

Subway tile! This is the mop sink and 3-basin sink area.

Our huge mother of a hood was installed...

Huge! This is required above our convection oven and range.

Trilety and I planted...

We picked roses, lilac, day lilies, lavender and a blueberry bush!

And the barn wood, which we've talked to admittedly about, was installed on the north wall.

Thank you Jeff Chase for the installation, thank you Barbi for the barn wood, and thank you Jil Bunnimit for the cool idea! 

Needless to say (I hope), we are excited! Construction will officially be done in a few more weeks and we should be ready to open in late July or early August. Wow, we can't wait to have you over!

We update the blog every couple weeks so check back on us soon!

~Megan

Windows & Walls

If eyes are windows to the soul, then windows should be wide open eyes.  And our little bakery may be all seeing, because in an effort to maximize natural light our design incorporates both exterior and interior windows.

Here's a partial view of the east facing exterior windows (photo was taken a few months ago at the start of the remodel.)

This wall of windows is original to the existing structure. 

We will have an interior window, that allows for both natural light and a clear line of sight, between our office and the kitchen. Here's a view of the door opening to our office (right), and the unfinished interior window opening (left), looking west from the future kitchen space into our office.

We will also have three windows above our three compartment sink that look into the side hallway that leads to the bathroom. 

This is where our sink will be! 

This view will be looking over the sink, through the windows to the hallway

This view is looking in those same windows from the hallway!

We're busy birds these days, but our facebook and twitter accounts should be live in June, our website live in July, and our equipment is scheduled to be installed the middle of June. . . .we're almost there and we thank our family and friends for the support along the way!

~ Trilety