Customer Appreciation

The past few weeks, I have really been feeling the love.  I have so many customers who have shown me such generosity since the very beginning.  And not just the beginning of this past market season, but way beyond that.

Many of you probably don't know that baking and selling at farmers' markets was not completely new territory for me this year.  When I moved to the area a couple of years ago, I was coming home in a sense, though not completely.  My parents moved to State College a few years prior and I had only spent limited amounts of time here between multiple moves around the country.  When I decided to move "home," I had just been through a major life change and living with my family felt like the right choice. 

Amidst all of that change, I decided to start a home-based business baking and selling both online and locally at markets and to various cafes around the area.  In retrospect, taking the entrepreneurial route at that point in my life was both the best and worst decision I could have made.  The best in the sense that it kept me busy and re-routed my focus into something productive and creative.  The worst because I don't think I was in the right state of mind to really commit and make the business thrive.

Ultimately, I started working in professional bakeries again; a decision I do not regret in the least.  I gained a wealth of experiences from those jobs.  But during the briefest of stints on my own, I somehow managed to meet some incredibly supportive people.  One of those incredible people is a lady from California whose son was attending graduate school at Penn State when I was selling at the farmers' market downtown.  After being introduced to my product, she eventually began placing regular orders from me online.  It was always so magical shipping little boxes of cookies all the way across the country.  After I disbanded the business, she sent me the warmest and most encouraging messages.  

A couple of weeks ago, a lady approached me at the Friday market and introduced herself.  She was my dear, sweet California customer!  She and her husband were in town for her son's graduation so I was able to meet them all face-to-face.  It was somewhat surreal.  A very special moment of friendship and community.

Now I have a new wave of support, much of which is connected to the farm.  Folks who have been loyal customers of the Ardry family for years have warmly accepted me, as well.  And they have been patient and understanding as I navigate through the menu in my head.  Though I try to have some consistencies, I enjoy experimenting and products come and go all the time.  One of those products is a recipe I will share with you today.

The almond oat bars were the only recipe I carried with me from the original business to the next.  And they were an instant hit with customers the second time around, just as they were the first; Eric Ian Farmer even wrote a song about them!  (Let's get that recorded someday, ok?) However, between the prices of almonds, almond butter and dates rising rapidly (mostly due to the mess in California), I saw my profit margin disappear.  I know that's an awkward thing to talk about when you're discussing customer appreciation, but it's part of the relationship.  In addition, the goal has always been to focus and highlight local fare.  The butter I use for the cookies is homemade from Meyer Dairy cream.  The flour is just down the road at Snavely's Mill - it is the same mill that the farm sends their wheat harvest to.  The eggs are from our farm.  The fruit and vegetables I use for the popsicles are either from our farm or sourced locally.  All those fundamental ingredients are unique to this area.  To me, that is what makes a business special and makes what I do worth while.  I think that is the connection I was missing originally.  Though the items like the everything bars and the almond oat bars are delicious, they aren't really a proper representation of what THE BACREY is all about.

Am I over-thinking all of this?  Probably.  But I think it's important to be open with you.  I am not ruling out those products completely, but this blog is the perfect place for me to work through my thoughts and sort of continue the dialogue.  In any case, I thought it would be fun to share two recipes with you today, with much gratitude and thanks!

This beauty originally appeared at market in the form of the Blueberry Streusel Bread.  For weeks I had people whom I had never met before approach me and ask, "Are you the one who makes that blueberry bread?"  The peach version is just as delicious, but the beauty is that you can make it your own with an array of different fruits.

You Pick Fruit Crumb Cake
Makes 3 - 9 x 5" loaf cakes
Adapted from various sources including Alton Brown + Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients

For the crumb

141 g all purpose flour
170 g brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
170 g old fashioned oats
85 g butter, softened but still slightly cold


For the cake

230 g (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
100 g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
240 g (about 4 large) eggs, room temperature
360 g (1 1/2 cups) buttermilk, room temperature + well shaken
20 ml (4 tsp) vanilla extract
440 g (3 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
500 g (3 cups) fruit, such as blueberries, peaches or cherries

Method

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven.  
Preheat the oven to 350 F.  
Grease 3 - 9 x 5" loaf pans well, line the bottoms with parchment and set aside.

For the crumb
Mix the flour, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and oats together in the bowl.  Dice the butter and cut it into the dry ingredients with your fingers until the mixture is roughly combined.  
Set aside.

For the cake

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.

Slowly add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one until fully incorporated into the butter-sugar mixture.  Scrape down the bowl to make sure everything is cohesive.

Add the vanilla to the buttermilk.  Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.  Alternate adding the flour mixture and buttermilk-vanilla mixture to the bowl, beginning and ending with the flour.  
Flour - buttermilk - flour - buttermilk - flour.  Scrape the bowl.

Gently fold the fruit into the batter with a spatula. 
Here are some guidelines for fruit:

1.
 If you are using frozen fruit, thaw it and drain it well before adding to the batter.
2. 
Fresh berries like blueberries, blackberries and raspberries should be washed and dried well before adding to the batter.
3. 
Stone fruit like peaches, plums and nectarines should be pitted, but you can leave the skins on.
4. 
Cherries should be stemmed and pitted.
5. 
Strawberries should be hulled and halved or quartered, depending on size.
6.
Apples should be peeled, cored and diced before added.

You get the picture.

Divide the batter evenly between the three loaf pans (each pan will get about 1 1/2 pounds of batter each). 
 Top with the crumb.  Bake the cakes on the lower rack of the oven for about 1 hour, give or take.  Until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let the cakes cool in the pans on a rack for about 45 minutes.  Run a knife around the edges of the pans.  Invert the cakes onto the rack and allow them to finish cooling.

The first year I made these, I didn't diverge from the original Smitten Kitchen recipe too much.  However, this year, I adapted them to my own tastes and now they are free of wheat products as well.

Almond Oat Bars
Makes 1 - 9 x 9 inch pan 
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

300 g dates (preferably Medjool)
130 g almond butter
160 g honey
100 g olive oil
1 tsp almond extract
220 g old fashioned oats
45 g oat flour
110 g sliced almonds
70 g flax meal
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Method

Preheat a conventional oven to 350 F.  Place a rack in the center of the oven.  Grease an 8 x 8 pan well and set aside.

Pit the dates and roughly chop them.  Be careful doing this because they are sticky!  If you are unable to find fresh dates, you can use dried dates.  Boil a kettle and pour the hot water over the dates.  Let them rehydrate for about 10 minutes, then drain and chop them.  This will help bind the bars.

In the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the chopped dates, almond butter, honey, olive oil and almond extract until combined.  

In a separate bowl, combine the oats, oat flour, almonds, flax meal, salt and cinnamon.  f you don't have oat flour, just measure out 45 grams of oats and whiz them in a blender or food processor.  Add these to the stand mixer and beat until everything is well combined.

Pour the mixture into the greased pan and press it in with your fingers until the batter is evenly distributed.  Bake for 20-25 minutes in the oven until the edges are golden brown.  Let the pan cool on a rack.  I recommend refrigerating the bars until for at least a few hours before you cut them.  This will ensure you have crisp edges.