Sarkozy Bakery Yuletide!

Here's a photo of stollen to grab your attention and hopefully tide you over while I ramble about a few things.

Where do we start? The fierce winter? The coming holidays? The continued plight of small businesses to keep their doors open amid an increasingly disconcerting economy all while maintaining a level of authenticity that is both palatable to customers and true to the core of our very being?

Okay, weather it is. I read something back in September that it was going to be a harsh winter. Details about the relationship between El Niño and La Niña and explanations of pressure systems and cold fronts, were all too easy to ignore when the sun was out and trips to Lake Michigan were still being planned. But the reality of winter is here and it’s cold and it’s early and it’s not going anywhere for a while.

However, the Michigander resilience is already on display at the bakery. Sure those first few days after the Thanksgiving snow were abysmally slow and the journey into work was challenging if not impossible for some bakers. Then we got more snow, more cold, and more snow, to the point that it’s been normalized, part of our routine. The snow isn’t going anywhere and neither is the bakery! So we shovel the walkways, brush off cars, even layer up for the bike ride commute. And you all do the same! Because we need to bake and you need to eat. Or maybe vice versa.

That being said, I don’t want this to come off as a plea to everyone to put themselves at risk on icy roads just for a bun. The idea of convincing anyone to put themselves in danger all in the name of sales figures is beyond depressing. And thankfully our business model gives me the privilege to feel that way because we don’t really live and die based off a few big shopping days.

Retail shops have a much harder go at it right now than we do. Kalamazoo is host to a throng of wonderful, hardworking, creative shop owners, purveyors, and producers that rely heavily on this month to keep their doors open for the rest of the year - to keep their passion alive. And while I’m not saying risk your safety on snowy roads for them either, I am saying if there’s a small window for safe driving and you’ve got limited time, maybe hit up their storefronts for a holiday gift. You can always get our bread from a grocery store after all!

But what kind of baked goods can you find if you do swing by the bakery? Holiday treats like chocolate rum balls, cranberry orange bread, Russian tea cakes, and hazelnut balls (the forgotten little brother of chocolate rum balls but are honestly favored by the bakery staff). They’re small and make great stocking stuffers. Then we have larger items that are great for sharing! Chocolate babka, stollen, and an incredible pie! Spiced apple cranberry is shockingly bright and delicious cold or warmed up. One of our bakers, Paige, did a wonderful job with the flavors and went above and beyond with making it look beautifully festive with candied rosemary and cranberries.

Of course there’s a host of our breads, potato rolls, sides, etc for whatever holiday dinner you’ve got planned. And if you’re looking for something for Christmas morning, our coffee cakes are an easy sweet treat to warm up and this year - for the first time ever- we’re offering quiche! We’ve had quiche available at our cafe for years and years but it never occurred to us how great it would be to serve to family in the morning until we did it ourselves last year. In order to keep things simple for the bakers, we’re offering two flavors; lorraine (bacon & gruyere) and spinach & feta.

Wow, that was a lot of hawking product. Hopefully that was informative and interesting and not long-winded or hollow. We’re trying to keep everyone up to date on what is happening at the bakery and encourage folks to get their orders in. We’re open until 3:00pm on Christmas Eve, December 24th! Then we take a much needed break and re-open on January 3rd. We pick the 3rd because many of our baked goods are a two day process and we don’t want anyone working on New Years Day.

Here’s a holiday menu for your convenience. Take a good long look at it with a loved one, decide what you need, don’t be afraid to over-order (*wink*) since we’re going to be closed for a week and you won’t be able to get anything from us that entire time. Remember, our bread freezes excellently! Call the bakery to place an order at 269.342.1952. The cut off date for orders is this Saturday, December 20th! Ordering ahead makes planning on our end much easier and helps us reduce waste.

Thank you! Yule Tide!

- Alec, Judy, and the Bakers