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Owning a bakery along East Passyunk Avenue was not Bonnie Sarana’s straight-out-of-college career plan. Instead, she ventured into the world of finance, handling retail brokerage sales of stocks, bonds and mutual funds. In 2007, however, she decided to leave the world of bulls and bears to enroll in the Culinary Institute of America based in Upstate New York.
“When I decided to go to culinary school, my boss was my biggest inspiration,” the Northern Liberties resident said. “He learned to play the guitar in his late 40s. I was a good cook, but I wasn’t the best baker. If I was going to pay all that money to go to school, I figured I should do something I don’t know how to do.”
Now she does. She even showcased her newfound skills on her wedding day, of all occasions, by baking and designing the must-see wedding cake. It consisted of alternating layers of vanilla and chocolate sponge cake and iced with strawberry, hazelnut and chocolate butter cream.
“It was my wedding, I had to go all out,” she said.
Living in New York, Sarana specialized in wedding cakes and gum paste work (hard sugars). Moving to Philly, marriage and the birth of her soon-to-be 2-year-old son, Aiden, took priority over owning a bakery. When she went shopping for a location, the spot at 1611 E. Passyunk Ave. felt like the perfect location to open Vanilya Bakery – the Turkish translation of the word vanilla as well as Sarana’s love for the flavor and the orchid plant from which it comes.
“I didn’t know the area well,” she said. “I knew the city, but I didn’t know a lot of the neighborhoods. This just felt like home.”
For now, Sarana is the lone employee of the East Passyunk Crossing-based business, which has been undergoing a massive remolding since January. The good news is the reopening was scheduled for yesterday, complete with a sit-down area for coffee and tea – answering a request from her customers. With Flavors of the Avenue right around the corner, the month is shaping up as a fairly busy one, as the April 26 event — her first — calls for a large cupcake order.
“I am pretty excited about the amount of people attending,” she said. “I am really looking forward to meeting more people in the neighborhood.”
For those who are in the mood for a little baking tutorial, Sarana is sharing her recipe for Homemade Sugar Cookies.
“It’s pretty basic and what I’ve used for years,” she said.
Ingredients:
1 cup of unsalted butter
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2-1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the butter well. Add the sugar, and beat until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla. Mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Gradually add to the creamed mixture. (This may require mixing by hand. )
Chill the dough if it is too hard to handle.
Roll the dough to desired thinness, and cut with favorite cutter of choice. Place cookies one inch apart on a cookie tray, and bake until light golden brown.
Cool cookies completely before decorating. ■
Vanilya Bakery
Owner: Bonnie Sarana
Opened: April 2014
1611 E. Passyunk Ave.
917-751-7044
Owner Bonnie Sarana
Photo by Bonnie sarana
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