  Baking has been a passion for me since the first year I took a cake to the Montana Winter Fair and won a blue ribbon. It was a wonderful recipe for a Pumpkin Cake with cream cheese frosting, and was pretty irresistible. It was the only blue ribbon I ever won on a cake, because cakes are not what I do best. Winning that ribbon, however, was enough to engage my competitive spirit, and I was hooked from that point. The following year I entered many, many things and discovered that what I really do best are breads, cinnamon rolls, and caramel rolls. Over the years, I won many ribbons in the Yeast Bread category, but for years, the Caramel Roll prize eluded me until David's sister gave me her caramel recipe. That recipe was truly a winner, and I brought it with me when we decided to open a Bakery at the home of Mountain Arts Pottery.
For the first year, I was the only baker at the Coffee Pot (I was also the only dishwasher, bathroom cleaner, clerk and lawn care person). I made approximately half a dozen cinnamon rolls, three caramel rolls, and around a dozen cookies each day. That was an adequate amount to serve the number of customers who came in during those early days. The advantage to having fewer customers was that I was able to interact them on a more personal level, because there weren’t a lot of other tasks to do. Often, when a customer would come in, they would want to try my caramel rolls and would reminisce about the wonderful "Sticky Buns" their grandmother, or favorite aunt would make. They would say, "I wonder if these are as good as Grandma's?" I always replied, "No, they can't be as good as your Grandma's. Your Grandma's are always supposed to be the best." There’s just something special about the memories evoked with a favorite food and the people that food brings to mind. Our caramel roll recipe is the same one I used in the Winter Fair competitions and the same one that we have used since we opened our Bakery Cafe. They are spectacular rolls, and we get lots of compliments on them, but, no, they aren't as good as your Grandmother’s. If you’re interested in our famous caramel roll recipe, please email me at [email protected]. - Jennie Lockie Comments are closed.
|
Categories |
RSS Feed
