Foreign Treats

 

Near the corner of Center Street and East Pine Ave, you'll find the Little Bakery, adjacent to our local theatre.  Stepping inside, the aroma of pastries, such as cannoli, cheese danishes, nut rolls, sticky buns, amongst others, greet your nose to a small and quaint shop, owned by Natalia. Natalia, a sweet, joyful Ukrainian lady, wearing amber frames with brunette hair, has been the owner of the Little Bakery for nearly a year, since its opening last November. She's the source of light inside the bakery, with an iconic yellow and black color scheme, found both on her, and throughout the room. "You see the town in different eyes, when someone is fresh in the area,” Natalia reminisced, wearing a gray apron with her signature logo. She had realized this shortly after moving into Bloomsburg in 2021, and thought the town was missing something. After strolling through main street, sitting down to drink coffee in Brewski's, the idea of a local bakery came to mind, as there was no place to sit down and enjoy desserts or other sweet treats. After thinking for some time, she realized nothing would be better than Chimney cakes!

Oreo Chimney Cake

Chimney cakes, an eastern European staple. They are similar in stature to a waffle cone, yet differ in that they use pastry dough, and when baked, sugar is coated on the outside for texture and taste, resulting in a golden and crispy outside. Natalia chose chimney cakes as the featured dessert because it's" how people will recognize the bakery, because of something different." She wanted to provide something to central Pennsylvania from Europe. Chimney cakes can come with or without fruit toppings, spreads, ice cream, whip cream, along with changes in flavors to fit the season. 

After choosing your preferred pastry, seating can be found alongside the walls and street facing window. Natalia provides teas, fruity drinks, and coffee, a personal favorite of hers, to sip while indulging in the sweets. When taking a bite, enjoying handmade home goods, the name of Little Bakey sets in. The feeling of family and connectedness fills the air along the historic bricks of the tiny space, roughly the size of a shipping container. A complete stranger could walk in, yet conversing with them is as easy as talking to any member of your family.

"The Bakery is a daily part of needs," mentions Natalia, it's part of her lifestyle. On Sunday and Monday, the days which the bakery closes its doors, she prepares for the week ahead. Pastry dough for the danishes and chimney cake are rolled and chilled.   Anything not made by hand from Natalia's love, is sourced from other local businesses, such as Huck Family Maple, which provides her with genuine maple syrup, coated almonds and granola, and others. Orders for bread, to which she has sourdough, pumpernickel, Italian, and more, are placed and picked up in Hershey. There is never an end to the effort and attention Natalia will put into her bakery.

Her reasoning for the effort and hours, aside from it being her own business, is that the bakery allows her to create a connection with the community. "When you move to another country, it's like a new life," Natalia recalls in contemplation. Her new career with the bakery is her way to make ties, relationships, with locals. Natalia herself supports local businesses, as to her, supporting those businesses is to build up the community and "to keep our small town beautiful."