The definition of good fortune at The Great American Bakery Hunt

The definition of good fortune at The Great American Bakery Hunt is having great people in your life who spontaneously deliver pastries to you from bakeries outside your own city.  On several occasions, friends have blessed me with caring tastes, treats, or nibbles from a delicious travel-worthy bakery, either one they are visiting as a destination or perhaps one from their current residence, bringing me a brownie, tart slice, or whoopie pie as they pass through California.


There was the time Alexis brought me a massive oatmeal cookie from Levain Bakery in New York.  April, a frequent contributor to the hunt, has contributed with deliveries from San Diego, San Francisco, and even Maui.  Meera sent 'cupcakes in a jar' and cheesecake through the mail!  And Justin sent homemade graham crackers via the good old USPS.  So many people have contributed to the hunt that there are too many highlights to mention, although I have been grateful for each and every bite.


Most recently, friend of the hunt Lindsay stopped at Andersen's in Santa Barbara and left me a surprise pastry, waiting on my desk at work.  My heart belongs to this Andersen's pastry, and Lindsay knows this-- it's a version of a Danish dessert I can't seem to find anywhere else in the US, so there has been a constant yearning for it since the day I left my study abroad program in Denmark.  My Danish host mother, Lone, associates me with this pastry to such an extent that every time she sees one, she says she thinks of me (she's a baker by profession.) My love for this pastry is so great that Lindsay might as well have left a million dollars on my desk.  Lindsay is also a fan of sending pastries through the USPS-- so you never know when a box of whoopie pies may arrive in the mail with her famous loopy handwriting urging you to enjoy their decadence.

Then there was a recent special delivery from Alex-- which she packed on her flight from Washington to California and hand-carried to my office from Seattle's Macrina bakery.  Sadly,  these treats never made the journey into my stomach, but her actions were still heroic in the eyes of The Great American Bakery Hunt.  Long story short, Alex traveled to California to volunteer, thought she was going to see me for a work event, and didn't know I was away for a series of days off.  Her enthusiasm for pastry travels can be clearly seen in the photo below, where both Alex's smile and the box of pastries light up the room.  When she arrived at my office, this photo text message arrived from fellow bakery hunter April:

"Do you know what this box says? Macrina.  Alex brought them for you.  Sorry you're not here but we'll take care of business and eat them for you.  With love from Alex."    

Thanks to Alex for being so incredibly thoughtful and bringing this lovely box of pastries to California.  While I'm sorry I could not be there to enjoy them, I am happy that good people who appreciated pastries were around to get the job done.


And I had to appreciate the follow up text message with a snapshot inventory of all the goods: "A peek from the inside.  Chocolate macaroons, vanilla macaroons, fruit bar, pecan bar, toffee brownie, plum roll.  Believe it. True story.  About to eat them all."  Thank you to Alex for bringing the joy of the hunt, all the way from Seattle to California.  And thanks to all of my friends who think of me when they're within smelling distance of a bakery.  You are all gems and I am lucky to have you.

Seattle explorations: hunting coffee and pastries around the city during my IFBC trip

At the end of August, I stayed in a Seattle neighborhood called lower Queen Anne during my travels to attend the International Food Blogger Conference organized by Foodista and Zephyr Adventures. Queen Anne charmed me immediately due to the fact that the Scandinavian bakery Nielsen’s resides in its quarters.  

Rumor has it that among several bakers at Nielsen's, an actual Dane is involved in the business (although he is now semi-retired.)  Danish flags hanging over the storefront lured me in with the promise of marzipan.  

The Danish symbol for bakeries, an upside down golden pretzel, hangs in Nielsen's like a beacon of soul-satisfying buttery dough, magic, and bakery euphoria. Anyone familiar with Denmark knows what the pretzel means, and it means good things for the passerby.

upside down gold pretzel, the Danish symbol for bakeries

Aside from Hygge in LA and Andersen’s in Santa Barbara, I have yet to visit a bakery in the states that offers some of the same pastries I once enjoyed in Denmark: Napolean’s Hats (a hat shaped cookie with a ball of marzipan in its core and chocolate on outside of the hat),  Snitters (a combination of sweet pastry dough layered with custard and white icing), and poppyseed pastries.  

Pictured above, Nielsen's poppyseed pastry (left) and the Snitter (right)

Naturally, the theme of any typical Danish bakery visit is wonderful, wonderful marzipan, and Nielsen’s was no exception.  I started and ended my tour of Seattle with a stop at this charming little bakery, which left me nostalgic for Copenhagen, a place I have missed ever since I finished my study abroad program five years ago.

Among my personal belongings, I count a Nielsen's pastry box as the most important while en route to the airport. My luggage sits here as I wait at the bus stop for my last ride into downtown, where I will catch the light rail to the SeaTac Airport.  Perfect snack for a passenger awaiting flight? Definitely!

Queen Anne also endeared itself to me because it happens to be the name of a tasty brew from a delicious coffee shop Cafe Lladro, named for their first store location (now one of many) in the upper Queen Anne neighborhood.   As a die-hard coffee enthusiast, it was essential that I try as many good cups of joe as possible in Seattle, a city proud of its coffee culture. This led me to places including  Vivace, and Victrola, where I purchased their Ethiopian Sidama Ardi coffee at the suggestion of the friendly barista. The conference provided a steady flow of Cafe Vita coffee throughout the weekend to add to the constant and wonderful supply of caffeine running through my veins. And though I may have looked a little jittery on the light rail ride to the airport, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Hygge Bakery will lure you to downtown LA with the promise of marzipan

Does LA Traffic leave you feeling down?  Is the daily grind wearing away at your commuter soul?  If this is how you're feeling, it may have nothing to do with traffic at all.  It may just be that you're not eating enough marzipan.  Think about it: when was the last time you sunk your teeth into a genuine Danish pastry?  My sense is that you've likely been denying yourself this experience, whether you know it or not.  Enter Hygge Bakery, to take care of all your warm, flaky Danish fresh baked good needs.  I went to Hygge after it first opened and have yet to experience anything in LA as close to a Copenhagen style Danish bakery.  I would urge anyone in the LA area to try their offerings as soon as you can.  The custard, icing, and chocolate pastry called the "slice" (pictured below) is always a favorite option of mine, and the "snails" are also particularly popular.  (I observed one man lamenting that he had woken up too late and his favorite snail had sold out.)  Downtown is so lucky to have this gem of a bakery-- in fact, you might even find yourself making up excuses to go to downtown just to get a taste.  Next time, consider stopping at Hygge before you're faced with a traffic jam: just imagine, instead of feeling bombarded by billboard ads or confrontational road rage, you'll be savoring some flaky pastry dough and singing your favorite road tunes.  Don't forget to open your sunroof and take in a little of that LA sunshine.  Why not make your commute to work a little more pleasant?  

(Author's note: Exercise caution while driving and eating pastries-- That steering wheel could get a little buttery.)

Just discovered Hygge Bakery, a Danish bakery in downtown Los Angeles!

My heart is racing a little bit faster after just discovering Hygge Bakery, a Danish bakery in downtown Los Angeles. Several years ago, I studied abroad in Denmark and immediately fell in serious love with their bakeries. And to make my separation from the country even more difficult, I lived with a Danish family whose matriarch was a baker. To this day, I still keep in touch with her, and frequently have daydreams about the creations that came from her oven. It was a pretty blissful existence: even with the chilly weather, how could one ever complain knowing that at the end of the train commute from Copenhagen (school) to Roskilde (home), freshly baked homemade cinnamon rolls awaited you at the kitchen table?

Now a resident of Los Angeles, I've tried to keep the Danish culture in my life by going to Scandinavian events, including the Annual Scandinavian film festival that happens in Beverly Hills each year. But my heart always aches a little bit, to be back in Denmark, and to get another taste of the culture I fell in love with.

I won't get a chance to get to downtown to try Hygge until after the Thanksgiving holiday. But the idea of a bakery named Hygge already resonates with this bakery hunter: Hygge, Danes will tell you, is something we can't necessarily translate into American terminology, but a concept that is a huge part of Danish culture. Some web writers out there have taken a stab at the definition, so if you're curious to read about Hygge, check out this link at The Hygge House website, some musings over at The Danish Web, or if you'd like the Hygge 101 version, this travel article encourages you to "Hygge it out in Denmark." Better yet, just go to Denmark and enjoy the breathtaking baked goods and hygge for yourself.

Danish bakery sighting in Colorado!

It's as if John Lehndorff of the Rocky Mountain News has answered my prayers. Just yesterday he wrote about "Taste of Denmark", an authentic Danish bakery in Colorado.

He describes the owner, Ronny Tronoe, as a Danish man who "eats two chocolate-filled croissants every morning to keep going". This is my kind of person, someone who fully appreciates the bakery culture. Plus, he grew up in Roskilde, the city where I lived during my time studying in Denmark!

I'm going to have to find an excuse to go to Colorado, this guy sounds like the real deal. (We know this because the article explains that Tronoe goes through 800 lbs. of butter a week, plus he makes everything from scratch of course). I want to go there and now.

Where to find it...

Taste of Denmark
1070 S. Union Blvd., Lakewood
Colorado, USA

Information: 303-987-8283