About

ABOUT THE BAKERY

There’s a reason most gatherings end up in the kitchen. Whether we’re swapping stories or trying a new pastry, the best place to connect with others is around a table. AMIE is a small, specialty bakery that likes to think of itself as our town’s kitchen. The only thing we enjoy more than baking for our neighbors is spending time with them.

We also put a lot of care into what we feed our customers. At AMIE Bakery we make everything from scratch and in small batches. We use local ingredients from artisans who, like us, are passionate about what they do. From traditional pastries and classic breakfast and lunch items to homemade sodas and ice cream floats—we serve up food people love, in a place no one wants to leave.

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ABOUT THE BAKER

All the signs were there. My mom couldn’t drag me away from watching Julia child when I was little. My dad was a baker and even though he gave it up after I was born, we used to make bakery formula-sized batches of cookies at home with our arms deep in stockpots of batter. We didn’t have any fancy equipment then–just some of his old piping bags and tips. I spent an entire day in my dad’s friend’s bakery and I was mesmerized watching the dough get scaled, shaped, and egg washed. In recent years, people have reminded me how much I baked for them. I had forgotten. Plain and simple, I have always enjoyed baking and watched people enjoy my creations.

But I was on the “proper” course of getting a “serious” job after college and for over two decades I’ve been a corporate marketing writer. In 2008, I found myself out of work for the first time in my life. As a self-proclaimed workaholic, it was depressing. I was living in midtown Manhattan and had taken recreational classes at the Institute of Culinary Education. I then decided to enroll in their professional pastry program, and when I took my cake practical, my teacher looked at me and said, “You really love this.” And I replied, “I love this more than I ever thought I would.”

Being in the pastry program at my age was weird, but I bonded with my classmates and had the time of my life. I realized that we were making traditional pastries that I hadn’t seen or tasted since my childhood. At the beginning of many classes my teacher would say, “Today we are making (and she would announce the pastry), but no one makes that anymore.” One day I finally asked, “What are people making?” And that answer was pretty much what you see out there—mass-produced, over-processed, and oversized pastry.

My mission is to educate my patrons about what real pastry looks and tastes like. You don’t know what you don’t know. If you haven’t tasted real pastry cream you probably think the vanilla pudding you’re buying is delicious. But once you taste the real thing, you can’t go back. Even more exciting is that it is easy to make. Baking is not as complicated as it is made out to be, and you’ll learn that in my classes at AMIE Acadamie. I am very excited to return to my other passion, teaching. After spending 15 years teaching writing courses at Northeastern University, I am thrilled that I can teach again.

I believe in using the best ingredients and baking in small batches. I hope you will appreciate the care that goes into everything we make here at AMIE Bakery. It has been my dream to bring back the neighborhood bakery—a place where the community can gather surrounded by the aromas of fresh baked goods that greet you like a warm hug.

By the way, my dad was always a bad speller. It was a long-standing family joke that he taught me to spell February without the first ‘r’ and I proceeded to get it wrong on a quiz! But that was years after he completed my birth certificate misspelling my name as Amie when my mother wanted Aimee. Amie means friend in French, so it’s no surprise that friends have always meant so much to me. It seems my life has come full circle. I think it’s fitting that Amie is the name of my shop, where friends can gather to enjoy the old-time pleasure of quality baked goods. Maybe my dad knew my destiny.

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