Windsor Bakery's Seasonal Offerings Prove Successful

Just over eight months after Get Baked opened its doors on Central Street, shop owner and Windsor native Emily Woodward has been fine tuning her assortment of baked goods — the smell of which fill the morning and afternoon air in Windsor Center.

Customers in town have not been shy about which items are their favorites — causing Woodward to sell out of some items before closing — and they've also caused some changes in the menu, including seasonal specials that, baked freshly each day, can't be found anywhere else in town.

In addition to seasonal specials, Get Baked is filling orders for Thanksgiving dinner — providing locals with the opportunity to fill their table with some of Woodward's baked goods.

Windsor Patch recently sat down with her (after enjoying an amazing creamsicle cookie as it popped out of the oven) to talk about her Thanksgiving orders, the changes in the shop since opening in February and what she'll be making for Turkey Day.

Get Windsor news delivered to you each day! Sign up here to receive all the headlines each morning for free.

Windsor Patch: Tell me a little bit about the Thanksgiving orders you're offering.

Emily Woodward: I've decided to streamline our Thanksgiving orders because the Easter orders were so crazy. Which is a good thing, but they were all over the map. I came in at midnight the Saturday before Easter, my mom came in with me an left at four 4 a.m., and then my dad came in at 4 a.m. I was until 5 in the afternoon. So I decided to streamline this and offer four types of pies, three types of bread or rolls, and then an assortment cookies and bars as a hostess gift if you're going somewhere.

What will you be baking for your Thanksgiving table?

Hopefully nothing. No, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, but I have no idea what's going on for Thanksgiving at my house. It's usually just my immediate family so it's small, but I like the whole thing. I like the turkey and everything.

If there is one dessert you have to have at the Thanksgiving table, what is it?

It's chocolate cream pie, which is not even anything I would cook here, but that's it. It's chocolate cream pie because my grandmother used to make it, and I would have it here, but I don't have a stovetop… That's what I have to make at home for my dad and my brothers.

What's become your most popular item since you opened?

It's so hard to tell, but the Nutella brownies. We have them now with the Andes mint, we have gluten free ones, and they taste exactly the same as the regular ones. People come in all the time for those… Before the hurricane, we made two or three pans of the brownies and we sold out of them Sunday and Monday.

You offer an assortment of baked goods, and what's on your shelves is changing all the time. What determines what you bake each day?

We try to keep all the bars — the Nutella brownies, Andes brownies — we always have them. Other than that, if we see something interesting, we make it. If it sells, we keep it on the menu and if it doesn't, we kill it. There have definitely been things that we've tried that didn't sell so we stopped making it.

In general are your sweets or breads more popular?

It all depends on the day. Before the storm, all the breads went because, I think, all the grocery stores were out of bread and we sold out here. But, it depends on the day. The dill-onion bread sold out immediately. Some days I make the honey-wheat bread and it sells out almost immediately, other days it just sits here… or I donate it to the House of Bread. It just depends on the day.

Have there been surprises since you opened that have led to changes on your menu?

Well the whoopee pies are one thing. I thought I could just have those every once in a while, I have to have them everyday, for sure. The raspberry bars — again, something I thought I could have every once in a while that I have to have every day. The strawberry lime muffins — I took those off the menu for the fall. I thought I could just have those all the time, and those just stopped selling once the fall hit. So, those are clearly a more seasonal muffin. Now I'm trying to be more seasonal with the stuff we offer. Now I'm like, "What do I do when pumpkin is over?" I'm looking at some pomegranate recipes. Definitely pomegranate cupcakes.