Martin Schmucker is sitting on a brown plaid sofa at the front of his store, occasionally stroking his long, gray beard as he tells a story about a supplier from out of state.FORT WAYNE – It would seem almost impossible to improve the classic PB&J sandwich.
But Debbie Smith and Sandra Wharton gave the ultimate comfort food a new twist, adding a dash of Vanilla Bean.
Their version is biscotti (Italian for “cookie”) that’s layered with blackberry preserves and topped with a dusting of roasted peanuts.
Vanilla Bean’s Biscotti & Pastry Boutique, which opened two weeks ago at 3410 N. Anthony Blvd., will have a grand opening celebration from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.
That’s when the PB&J biscotti and other new items will be available.
These biscotti are larger and softer than traditional versions. All of the boutique’s baked goods use natural ingredients without added preservatives, co-owner Smith says.
“Some customers will say, ‘I don’t like biscotti,’ and then they’ll taste ours” and change their minds, Wharton says.
Smith created all the recipes from scratch, with the exception of the “subtly sweet” Burgundy wine biscuit, which she modified from her grandmother’s recipe.
Besides the wine biscuit, the menu standards are an Italian ricotta cookie with lemon-zest glaze; chocolate Chilean brownie that adds zing with cinnamon and cayenne pepper; citrus-cranberry biscotti with white chocolate; and whole-wheat oatmeal-raisin biscotti dotted with apricots and walnuts.
The cherry chip cordial, filled with chunks of chocolate and maraschino cherries, was Smith’s answer to customer requests for a chocolate chip cookie.
They expect to have another batch of sweet treats ready by Saturday: campfire biscotti (which is their tribute to s’mores); a strawberry-lemonade cupcake; a margarita cookie with lime butter-cream frosting and edges rolled in salt and sugar; pound cake; and chocolate Génoise cake.
There also will be a rotating menu of other featured desserts.
But they won’t be making more traditional bakery fare, such as doughnuts, bagels and muffins, because they wanted to offer something unique.
“It’s not a bakery; it’s a concept. We’ve created a boutique experience,” Wharton says.
“It’s very European,” Smith agrees.
The space, with its pink and cream walls, is also home to their production kitchen and corporate office. The retail area features three tables and a pink antique stove that holds the cash register.
Along with the biscotti, they also sell Vanilla Bean T-shirts and coffee mugs. And dog treats.
The bags of Bosco’s Doggie Biscotti Bites were inspired by Smith’s cookie-loving lab, Bosco, who died recently. When Smith would get home with “trimmings” from biscotti she had made that morning in a commercial kitchen Vanilla Bean leased, he would bark until he got a bite or two. So she modified the recipe to create treats made with human-grade ingredients. After they had been approved by Bosco and his four-footed friends in the neighborhood, she knew she had a new product.
Vanilla Bean also will be home to a variety of events, including tea parties (with cupcake-decorating or teacup-painting themes) and wine tastings.
Although they no longer cater, Smith and Wharton will prepare trays for large orders and gift baskets. And they’ll ship anywhere in the U.S. Online ordering will soon be available at Vanilla-Bean-Chefs.com.
Smith and Wharton, who met as second-career culinary students at Ivy Tech Community College, had run a catering and personal-chef business together for a few years.
But even some of the large local catering businesses started to struggle a bit during the recent recession, they say, as more companies scaled down their events.
“If we were going to survive, we were going to rethink how we did business,” Wharton says.
Their desserts, which they served at their catered events, had always been a hit. Several customers even had urged them to sell their baked goods separately. So they found some wholesale customers, including Crazy Sisters Coffee at Lutheran Hospital and Parkview Hospital’s coffee shop.
And one day, while selling hot food at their Barr Street Farmers Market booth, they decided to offer some of their Italian ricotta cookies. They sold out in 30 minutes.
So when they finally were ready to give up the labor-intensive catering, they decided to focus on desserts and find a retail space.
“This brought us into a different realm. This just fit,” Smith says.
Based on early customer demand for their desserts, they believe this venture will be successful. They even hope to eventually open a second location.
After all, they say, gourmet baked goods are affordable luxuries.
