OUR STORY
I have been working as a Russian language and literature teacher in Russia for over 20 years. It was my destiny that I married Michael, a Colorado resident, which was the reason for my move to the USA. It is not easy to start your life from scratch when you are over 40. In Russia I had a successful career, here I had to start something new. From my youth, I had hobbies to bake cakes, cookies and paint, but while I was working at school, there was no time for that. Here I found time to develop my creativity. I thought, why not make money on what I like to do? My daughter, Lisa, supported me.
Thus, from the summer of 2020, we started our small business. We graduated from courses on painting gingerbread and learned the secrets of the mastery of making old Russian recipes for this pastry. Although Great Britain is considered the birthplace of this sweetness, gingerbreads have been known in Russia since the 9th century, they were called "honey bread" and they were eaten only on major holidays. Since the 15th century, gingerbread has become an integral part of Russian national culture and is present in all spheres of life: everyday life, festivals and fairs, and folklore.
The word "praynic" (Russian name of gingerbread) comes from the word "spicy". Initially, the process of making gingerbread presupposed the addition of various aromatic spices such as ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, coriander. We also use natural honey in the dough. The cooking technology and highly qualified ingredients allow the gingerbread to be stored for about 6 months. But the test has a drawback. In a dry high-altitude climate, gingerbread quickly becomes hard. But we have a secret on how to deal with dryness. If you put the cookies overnight in a closed container with a glass of water and an apple cut into wedges, the gingerbread cookies will be soft in the morning.
After completing the Cottage Food Safety courses and receiving the Colorado State University Extension certification, we began to manufacture our products and sell in the Knapp Ranch Needle Market. For Christmas we have prepared Gift boxes with assorted cookies from different countries of Europe and the USA, Christmas hand-painted gingerbread and made several Gingerbread houses. We not only use the original centuries-old recipes for springerle, gingerbread, European cookies and adapt to the American taste, but also invent our own recipes, testing old books of the last century.
What surprised us is that our products are loved by the people of Colorado. As Manager of Knapp Ranch Cary Hogan said, “I so Happy that your cookies are such a hit! Thank you so much and it is our privilege to sell your marvelous works of art !! "
We are looking for places to sell our products, and also accept individual orders for making baked goods for birthdays, weddings, corporate meetings, compliments to customers, baby shower, parties. Your desires are our creative challenge.
Natalia Kavanaugh