About The Baker

As long as I can remember, I have been a professional bowl licker and cookie dough tester.  I guess by design that would result in a serious baking addiction.  Growing up in the 90s we were not a "home-made" family.  My brother and I BEGGED our mom to make cake using only Duncan-Heinz from the box and we could always tell the difference between that and the kind you could pick out at the grocery store or worse "home-made" (I am seriously not kidding about that part LOL).  I am uncertain as to what type of sorcery goes on inside those red and blue boxes but that is a conversation for another day.  We were however, 100% certain that the box cake, was in fact better than any cake you could buy at Market Basket. 

(Proof that BOXED is BETTER here)

(Making cookies is serious business!)

My passion for baking probably started when I got my very first Easy Bake Oven.  I vividly remember walking into Toys R Us with a pocket full of report card cash and picking out several packages of "cookies" or "cakes" to bake.  I could not believe I had my very own oven.  Can you imagine how powerful we all felt cooking with lightbulbs back in 1993 when things were easy before we had to learn to use a real oven and follow a real recipe?

(Definitely asking Santa for an Easy Bake Oven and Barbies)

In middle school we needed to create a project displaying the layers of the earth and wouldn't you guess, my partner Annie and I made a cake.  With all of the layers and even used the sprinkles of dinosaurs to signify the fossils.  Thanks a lot Pillsbury Dough Boy!

At Christmas time my mom would bake cookies and arrange them in tins with tissue paper and Hershey kisses.  She would deliver them to neighbors and coworkers. As I got older it was a tradition I was excited to start myself. 

After I got married, my high school girlfriends and I got together for "Girls Christmas".  It started out with pre-made gingerbread cookies and ready-made icing.  This was also the year we started the hashtag #fourfrostingsfivefriends.  The hashtag explains itself; I think.  The following year we doubled down, we made homemade gingerbread dough and real royal icing.  My friend Meghan and I seemed to take a real liking to the tradition and took a class with a local Sugar Cookie Artist, Aime Pope. We invested in cookie cutters, food coloring gels, scribe tools, and mixing bowls. 

(#fourfrostingsfivefriends)

 As my family grew, I was drawn to cupcakes.  I loved piping the frosting.  Again I invested in all the different tips and pastry bags.  Wearing my collection like a badge of honor. I remember when my first daughter was born, I bought a book off of Amazon, "Start A Cupcake Business Today".  The idea of reading a book and having a newborn was incredibly overwhelming so I ditched the idea altogether.   

By trade, I am an educator.  While I continued to grow my family, I completed my undergrad while working at full-time job at the YMCA.  From there, I completed grad school earning a master's degree in Early Education.  With three babes in tow, it was hard to envision my life as anything BUT a teacher.  I baked in my spare time, especially as the weather grew cooler and the days became shorter. 

Several years into my career the pandemic hit.  I was totally burnt out from all of the never-ending expectations placed upon a teacher's shoulders.  My family was suffering.  I was suffering.  I questioned my decision to enter into the profession for the last two years I taught.  I loved teaching but did teaching love me? Enter "French Macarons".  At the height of the pandemic, I began baking EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  Nobody needs to eat baked goods every single day.. unless of course you are my husband who has a separate belly for desserts. 

French Macarons (NOT macaroons!!) are notoriously finicky and as a recovering perfectionist it was my mission to master them.  I baked a batch every day.  My husband sat at the kitchen island with me scouring the internet for notes on macaronaging, piping, oven temperature, etc.  He lovingly purchased me a teal blue sifter, which now sits on my shelf to remind me of his unwavering support in chasing my dreams.  As I mentioned before, we quite literally could not eat 45 macarons a week, never mind 5 batch of macarons in a week. 

It was then I discovered my secret talent.  I could bake.  If you struggle with perfectionism, then you are also well acquainted with self-doubt and crippling decision paralysis. After several people had ordered my macarons, I decided to throw caution to the wind. I had a knack for color theory, artistic design, photography, and recipe development I just needed to believe for a second that I was good at it.   It was then, I resigned from my teaching position.  I decided to take a chance on a dream and Little Crumby Bakeshop was born.  

(First ever paid order!)

Little Crumby Bakeshop was established in Haverhill, Ma in February 2022. The rest is history. 

 

If you've made it this far, eat the damn cookie.