That's me 27 years ago, two weeks after my first chemo treatment for Breast Cancer. As predicted, I lost all the hair on my head and couldn't believe how day-glo white my bald scalp was. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I'm convinced that's because it's when women finally have the time (after summer ends & school begins) to consider their own needs. My cancer (diagnosed in October) was picked up on a routine mammogram. I encourage all women to get an annual mammogram and see their doctor immediately if they find a suspicious lump. The past few decades have seen new innovative treatments resulting in lower mortality rates and improved quality of life for survivors like me. But you have to start the ball rolling. I was smiling in the picture above, doing my faux-Jerry Colonna impression, because I had just discovered carrots still growing in my garden.🥕🥕🥕

In addition to ordering for pickup this Friday, Bonni Bakes makes a final Catskill Farmers Market appearance Sunday Oct 6 from 10-2. Stop by to say "hi" and get your fill of home baked goodies.

GRANDMA'S APPLE CAKE   $4/chunk

It's that time of year to celebrate Apple Season and we're lucky to have local orchards with fantastic varieties of apples. So it's only fitting to bake this classic old fashioned cake loaded with apples, cinnamon and tradition.

PUMPKIN DATE NUT MUFFIN    $3

I'm kicking off the Fall season with one of my favorite muffins. The spices are warm, dates are sweet, and toasted walnuts are spread throughout this moist muffin with a gentle pumpkin presence. I like to eat mine with a schmear of cream cheese.

RUGELACH   $5/pkg  4oz

A wonderful way to wish someone a "sweet new year", or celebrate  any day of the year, is with a batch of homemade Rugelach. These are handmade with a traditional cream cheese dough that bakes into a super flaky pastry. Filled with plump raisins, toasted walnuts, Saigon cinnamon and apricot jam, they melt in your mouth. 

BIG COOKIES   $3 each  or  4/$10

SALTED CHOCOLATE CHUNK

My version of America's favorite cookie, palm sized, filled with large chunks of bittersweet chocolate and a sprinkle of Maldon salt on top. It hits all the notes perfectly!

SNICKERDOODLE

Crisp outside, softer inside and covered in Saigon cinnamon sugar all over. You don't need a special event to reward yourself, you deserve a treat!

CHOCOLATE ORGASM  (with ALMONDS) 

VIRGIN CHOCOLATE ORGASM (NO NUTS) 

Some people don't like nuts in their cookies, but they shouldn't be denied the experience of this chocoholic's fantasy come true. Now there's a new option: VIRGIN  is nut free, while the original has ALMONDS.  Both are mostly melted Belgium bittersweet chocolate surrounding chunks of more chocolate and just enough flour to hold it together. Something for everyone!

OATMEAL RAISIN WALNUT

A classic that was my husband's favorite cookie...the toasty warmth of hearty oatmeal embellished with juicy raisins and crunchy toasted walnuts is filling, but you can always find room for another.

To place an order or join my mailing list, contact me at             bonnibakescatskill@gmail.com 

 

I will never share your personal information. If you have a request or question just drop me a note. I do special orders too. 

Have a wonderful week and bon appetit!  Bonni

Just as the season changed from the heat of Summer to the chill of Fall, I caught a cold, so I'm taking this week off to recover. I'll be back next Monday, re-energized and looking forward to baking with the exciting flavors of Autumn. I'm talking about you pumpkin, maple, cinnamon, cranberries & apples. In the mean time stay well, pull out your favorite sweater and pass the tissues...

Bonni

                                          

                                   Grandma in her tiny kitchen baking up a storm, as usual

I've been baking, personally and professionally, since I was 8 standing at my Grandma's side. She was able to turn out a week's worth of delicious cookies, cakes, pies and more from that ancient magical oven in one morning. I suspect that she was really the magician. Everything she baked used easily accessible ingredients, without written recipes but with love baked into every crumb. Lots of us, if you were lucky, had someone like that in the family or nearby. This week I'm thinking back to a time in the 1950's when I loved to slather butter on a fresh onion roll. I was lucky enough to get the recipe for that roll from Norm, a generous retired NYC baker, who wanted some of those classics we remembered & longed for, to be passed down to a younger generation. Thanks Norm💖

NORM'S NYC ONION ROLLS   $6/pkg of 4

These onion rolls were a staple in NYC bakeries back in the day. They are soft, squat, covered with caramelized onions & poppy seeds on top and make a great sandwich. On the other hand, they're also delicious alongside soup, a salad or by themselves with a schmear.

BLUEBERRY LEMON MUFFIN    $3

To me, fresh blueberries are the harbinger of Summer. Now that Fall is just a few days away I want to use lots of those berries while I can. This muffin does just that by pairing them with sunny bright lemon in a perfect marriage.

RUGELACH   $5/pkg  4oz

The classic real deal, individually handmade with cream cheese dough that bakes into a super flaky pastry. Filled with plump raisins, toasted walnuts, Saigon cinnamon and apricot jam that melts in your mouth. Because they're baked fresh, you can freeze them too.

BIG COOKIES   $3 each  or  4/$10

LIME WHITE CHOCOLATE PECAN

This cookie with its gentle hint of lime, mellow white chocolate and toasty pecans is the essence of summertime. Ideally munched in a hammock under a shade tree but perfect anywhere else. Ah Summer.

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHUNK

These soft chewy peanut butter cookies would be great by themselves BUT they're even better with big chunks of Belgium chocolate throughout & roasted peanuts on top. If PB is your fav, and chocolate is your co-pilot, these are for you!

CHOCOLATE ORGASM  (with ALMONDS) 

VIRGIN CHOCOLATE ORGASM (NO NUTS) 

Some people don't like nuts in their cookies, but they shouldn't be denied the experience of this chocoholic's fantasy come true. Now there's a new option: VIRGIN  is nut free, while the original has ALMONDS.  Both are mostly melted Belgium bittersweet chocolate surrounding chunks of more chocolate and just enough flour to hold it together. Something for everyone!

To place an order or join my mailing list, contact me at             bonnibakescatskill@gmail.com 

I will never share your personal information. If you have a request or question just drop me a note. I do special orders too. 

Have a wonderful week and bon appetit!  Bonni

BONNI BAKES AT THE CATSKILL FARMERS MARKET

Summer is over. School has begun. It's almost pumpkin season. In addition to ordering for pickup this Friday, on Sunday Bonni Bakes will be at The Catskill Farmers Market from 10-2. Stop by to say "hi" and get your fill of home baked goodies, including Rugelach, cookies, muffins and more.

There's another wonderful FREE community event later the same day, The Afternoon of Enchantment from 2-4 at Dutchman's Landing. Bring the family and enjoy a stilt walker, puppet show, one-man-band Wolf the Peddler, crafting stations and more. This event is brought to you by The Friends of the Catskill Public Library and Palenville Branch, a group of dedicated volunteers supporting the mission of our wonderful local libraries. Come out & have some fun.

HERE'S WHAT I'M BAKING THIS WEEK

I post each week's menu at bonnibakes.com on Mondays. Orders must be in by 5 pm on Wednesday and pick-up is Friday afternoon in Catskill Village. I hand bake small batches in limited quantities using fresh ingredients (local when possible) with no preservatives. First come, first served. Cash or Venmo only. 

Order at bonnibakescatskill@gmail.com 

NYC CRUMB CAKE   $4/chunk

One of the most quintessential items found in the old NYC bakeries was a giant sheet of Crumb Cake. With a soft underbelly of cake & a  generous topping of big buttery cinnamon crumbs, it's the perfect combo. I could just inhale it.

CRANBERRY ORANGE MUFFIN   $3

A perennial favorite flavor combo -- cranberry and orange. Enhanced with soft spices that feel like a warm hug. Great way to start the day or help you wind down. Either way, it's a delicious winner!

BIG COOKIES   $3 each or 4/$10

CATSKILL CATS WANT GO TO SCHOOL

These whimsical multi-colored felines are sugar cookies who would love 💖 to be in the lunchbox of someone at a Catskill school...meow. Colors vary.

OATMEAL RAISIN WALNUT

A classic that was my husband's favorite cookie...the toasty warmth of hearty oatmeal embellished with juicy raisins and crunchy toasted walnuts is filling, but you can always find room for another.

VIRGIN or ALMOND CHOCOLATE ORGASM 

Just because some people don't like nuts in their cookies, they shouldn't be denied the experience of this chocoholic's fantasy come true. Now there's an option: VIRGIN  which is nut free or ALMOND.  Mostly melted Belgium bittersweet chocolate surrounding chunks of more chocolate and just enough flour to hold it together. Something for everyone!

SNICKERDOODLE

Crisp on the outside, soft on the inside and covered all over in Saigon cinnamon sugar. You don't need a special event to reward yourself, you deserve a treat!

RUGELACH   $5/pkg  4oz

The classic real deal, individually handmade with cream cheese dough that bakes into a super flaky pastry. Filled with plump raisins, toasted walnuts, Saigon cinnamon and apricot jam that melts in your mouth. Because they're baked fresh, you can freeze them too.

To place an order or join my mailing list, contact me at             bonnibakescatskill@gmail.com 

I will never share your personal information. If you have a request or question just drop me a note. I do special orders too. 

Have a wonderful week and bon appetit!  Bonni

I spent many summers during the 1950s with my family in the Catskills. Not at a hotel or bungalow colony, which were the usual options. Instead, my parents bought a small former chicken farm and we lived in the tiny four room house. My mother, a visionary entrepreneur and owner of a Brooklyn piano store, moved a dozen used pianos into a building on the property and created a pop-up piano store for the summer. She advertised via on-air commercials with the local Catskill area radio station.

Over the course of that summer she sold every piano plus cooked & cared for our family; canned jam from local berries; taught us how to pick wild blueberries and walked us to the local dairy to buy fresh milk, cheese & candled eggs. I loved sneaking a taste of the heavy cream that gathered at the top of the glass bottles of non-homogenized milk, but was careful not to leave fingerprints. Meanwhile, my brother & I spent time walking a mile to use the local hotel's pool for $1. We learned to drive a 1936 Ford pickup truck and shoot my Dad's 22 rifle at targets. It was a very different life than the one we lived in Brooklyn the rest of the year. The good news is that I never killed anyone while shooting towards the woods; I have owned & loved driving a stick shift car since the early 80s, and I now know that sticking your finger into any food container can contaminate it. Just don't do that!!

HERE'S WHAT I'M BAKING THIS WEEK

I post each week's menu on Monday at bonnibakes.com  Orders must be in by 5 pm on Wednesday and pick-up is Friday afternoon in Catskill Village. I hand bake small batches in limited quantities using fresh ingredients (local when possible) with no preservatives. First come, first served. Cash or Venmo only. 

Order at bonnibakescatskill@gmail.com 

ITALIAN PLUM TORTE   $4/slice

The NYTimes has published Marion Burros' recipe every September since 1983. It's a classic for a reason. Everyone loves 💖 it's taste and versatility. Great for breakfast, in the afternoon with coffee, or as dessert with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

BANANA CHOC CHIP MUFFIN   $3

A banana walked into a bar and bumped into a bevy of chocolate chips...HAZAAH, this muffin was born! A little crunchy on top with melty chocolate winding through banana yumminess inside.

BIG COOKIES   $3 each or 4/$10

ORANGE CHOCOLATE PECAN

Bittersweet chocolate and orange are a classic flavor combo, and when they pair up with toasted pecans...exquisite. Not much more to say except they're a party in your mouth.

BROWN BUTTER TOFFEE CHOCOLATE CHIP

Taking the classic chocolate chip cookie to another level with the addition of nutty tasting brown butter and the perfect crunch of mellow toffee candy. Take me home, I'm in heaven.

VIRGIN CHOCOLATE ORGASM 

Just because some people don't like nuts in their cookies, they shouldn't be denied the experience of this chocoholic's fantasy come true. Now a nut-free version of my signature cookie that I've been baking since 1999. Mostly melted Belgium bittersweet chocolate surrounding chunks of more chocolate and just enough flour to hold it together. Something for everyone!

SALTED CHOCOLATE CHUNK

My version of America's favorite cookie, palm sized, filled with large chunks of bittersweet chocolate and a sprinkle of Maldon salt on top. It hits all the notes perfectly!

To place an order or join my mailing list, contact me at             bonnibakescatskill@gmail.com 

I will never share your personal information. If you have a request or question just drop me a note. I do special orders too. 

Have a wonderful week and bon appetit!  Bonni