Heirloom Bakery Recently Opened in Auburn

Article by Jeff Jones | KPC News | December 28, 2021

AUBURN — Memories and recipes from family members go into every bite of the tasty treats at Heirloom Bakery.

Mother and daughter owners Denise Deetz and Grace Hooks opened the business Dec. 20.

“Heirloom comes from the fact that the recipes, a lot of them, stem from my mom, my mother-in-law, the grandmas,” Deetz said. “It’s family traditions. My dad’s peanut brittle, which he’s made for 20-some years, he’s taught Grace how to make it.”

The owners are DeKalb County natives and felt Auburn and their location at 1051 Smaltz Way was a perfect location for their business.

“We do more of the baked cookies, cinnamon rolls, peanut brittle and muffins,” Deetz explained. “We might venture into some other areas, but probably not really decorated sugar cookies or the fancy, decorated cakes.

“We’re trying to find our own little niche. People can come in, grab a couple of sweets and off they go,” she said.

While just in their first week, Deetz said Heirloom Bakery was busy with orders for holiday gatherings.

Orders can be placed by calling 572-9909, online at heirloom-bakery.square.site and on Facebook and Instagram.

They had hoped to be open in November, but delays in receiving equipment pushed the big day to just before Christmas.

“We’ve just been on social media and word-of-mouth, but we’ve had a lot of repeat customers already,” Deetz said. “Last week kind of shocked us for how well it went.”

Hooks said cinnamon rolls have been the most biggest selling item so far, and cookies, cupcakes and muffins have also proven to be popular.

“The molasses cookies surprised me,” she said. “Those have been pretty popular.”

It’s hard to pick a favorite.

For Deetz, the molasses cookies remind her of visiting her grandmother.

“Molasses harkens back to my childhood because I would go to my grandmother’s house,” she said “She wasn’t a baker, she wasn’t a cook, but she always had Archway cookies, and the only Archway cookies she had was molasses. If you wanted a sweet treat, it was a molasses cookie."

“Who doesn’t love a good chocolate chip cookie with a glass of milk or with a big scoop of ice cream on it?” Deetz asked rhetorically.

The business also sells Old Crown coffee and “dough to go,” tubs of cookie dough, pre-shaped and sized, complete with instructions to make either a dozen or two dozen cookies.

“She’s always wanted to have a bakery,” Hooks said of her mother. “I graduated college this year and didn’t really know what to do. I came back to baking. It just fell into our lap this spring to really think about it and make a serious idea out of it.”

Business hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

“It’s based in a lot of family recipes and our love of baking,” Deetz added. “We always did cookie days with the moms, grandmas, the aunts and the nieces.

“There’s a lot of family tradition in what we do.”

Article source: https://www.kpcnews.com/thestar/article_4d977b21-123c-5117-9e6b-b99951a4c908.html

Collin Bice