Amy E's Bakery got it's start in my backyard in Moscow, Idaho. I built a small building for my licensed kitchen thinking I would make wedding cakes and desserts. That turned into organic biscotti, with one of the ingredients in the biscotti being pecan toffee. The biscotti was good, but the toffee was great! For several years I shipped out organic toffee and biscotti, and made 8 kinds of cookies for a store in Coeur d 'Alene. I started making the dairy-free candy and after a few more years found I was too busy with candy to make the biscotti. I also ended up turning my cookie recipes over to a cousin so she could continue to supply the store. That's how I now have a bakery that doesn't actually produce baked goods.
In 2010, my Almond Toffee won the SOFI for Outstanding Confection at the Fancy Food Show in New York. What a shock! There were executives at the award ceremony from companies whose names I had seen on shelves at the grocery store and I was still working by myself in my little kitchen in the backyard.
In 2012, I realized I could make my candy anywhere as long as I had a licensed kitchen, so I moved from Moscow back to my hometown of Coquille, Oregon. I rented an old bakery space for my kitchen and stayed with my grandma until I could find the right place for myself and my kitchen. I finally found exactly what I wanted, or at least it will be after a lot of work during the next 10 years. It's an old 1927 rural elementary school on 2 acres, 9 miles up in the hills above town in a warm little valley. The bottom floor had the old cafeteria in it and my brother updated it for my kitchen. I moved my business into the school in February, 2014.
In April, 2014, I decided not to renew my organic certification. I was spending at least 2 weeks each year on the paperwork involved with the USDA Organic Program and another 2 weeks of my time in the kitchen to pay for the fees. So far, some of that time has been used in my garden and processing the foods from it. So much more rewarding than dealing with stacks of papers. Tomato jam, jars of salsa, and gingery pickled beets - yummy! The end of 2014 also saw a new roof put on the building to replace the old one that was leaking in many places.
I started cleaning the front of the main building in August 2015 in order to put a good coat of paint on it. Only 2 coats of paint since 1927 had left a lot of peeling paint and it looked a little abandoned. The front was finished and one side started before the fall rains started. The rest will be finished in better weather.
My peanut brittle became a 2016 Good Food Award Finalist after making it through the blind tasting and ingredient verification. A great start for the year, and I'm looking forward to all the things I have planned for the rest of the year in the kitchen, garden, and on building restoration projects .
~ Amy Edwards
In 2010, my Almond Toffee won the SOFI for Outstanding Confection at the Fancy Food Show in New York. What a shock! There were executives at the award ceremony from companies whose names I had seen on shelves at the grocery store and I was still working by myself in my little kitchen in the backyard.
In 2012, I realized I could make my candy anywhere as long as I had a licensed kitchen, so I moved from Moscow back to my hometown of Coquille, Oregon. I rented an old bakery space for my kitchen and stayed with my grandma until I could find the right place for myself and my kitchen. I finally found exactly what I wanted, or at least it will be after a lot of work during the next 10 years. It's an old 1927 rural elementary school on 2 acres, 9 miles up in the hills above town in a warm little valley. The bottom floor had the old cafeteria in it and my brother updated it for my kitchen. I moved my business into the school in February, 2014.
In April, 2014, I decided not to renew my organic certification. I was spending at least 2 weeks each year on the paperwork involved with the USDA Organic Program and another 2 weeks of my time in the kitchen to pay for the fees. So far, some of that time has been used in my garden and processing the foods from it. So much more rewarding than dealing with stacks of papers. Tomato jam, jars of salsa, and gingery pickled beets - yummy! The end of 2014 also saw a new roof put on the building to replace the old one that was leaking in many places.
I started cleaning the front of the main building in August 2015 in order to put a good coat of paint on it. Only 2 coats of paint since 1927 had left a lot of peeling paint and it looked a little abandoned. The front was finished and one side started before the fall rains started. The rest will be finished in better weather.
My peanut brittle became a 2016 Good Food Award Finalist after making it through the blind tasting and ingredient verification. A great start for the year, and I'm looking forward to all the things I have planned for the rest of the year in the kitchen, garden, and on building restoration projects .
~ Amy Edwards