There are days when it seems that the world of morning pastries has been reduced to dry-as-dust croissants and blueberry bagels. And then there's Crixa Cakes.
The shelves at this four-year-old Berkeley bakery are filled with saffron buns, honey cakes, crescent-shaped yeast rolls known as Horns of Damascus, and not a chocolate-chip scone in sight.
"My grandparents immigrated from Europe, and their 19th-century sensibility informed my palate in a significant way," says owner Elizabeth Kloian, explaining her preference for really old-fashioned pastries. (The recipe for the saffron buns comes from The Art of Cookery, Made Simple and Easy, by Hannah Glasse, which first hit the bookstores in 1747.)
To make her Horns of Damascus, Kloian uses a spice known as mahleb that's imported from Syria and made from the pits of cherries. The taste? "Imagine standing in an almond orchard that's in full bloom when the scent of the unborn pit is just barely perceivable," says Kloian. Her saffron buns are scented with rosewater, studded with raisins, and subtly seasoned with cinnamon and mace "like a good backup singer." As Kloian puts it, "A bran muffin is a fine thing, but really..."
This review entitled, [eat this] Nice Buns, by Jan Newberry, was originally published in the September 2004 issue of San Francisco magazine. Reprinted by permission.
Posted on November 5, 2004 9:20 PM to Crixa Cakes: [eat this] Nice Buns