In 1994, shortly after Macrina first opened, Phuong Hoang Bui came to Macrina through the International Rescue Committee. He was a boat refugee and had been trying to get to America from his native Vietnam for years. Eager to work and learn, Phuong quickly became a prized employee. Flash forward nearly 30 years: Phuong is Macrina’s Head Baker—as he has been for over 20 years—overseeing daily the production of thousands of loaves.  

Many others of Vietnamese descent have followed Phuong to Macrina, and today you’re as likely to hear Vietnamese on the bakery floor as you are English. Instrumental to our Vietnamese community is the nonprofit Helping Link, an all-volunteer organization that provides free services and programs such as citizenship classes, technology training, information and referral services, English classes, and much more.  “Minh-Duc, the founder and Executive Director of Helping Link, works tirelessly to accomplish as much as is humanly possible to further their mission,” says Scott France, President and part-owner of Macrina. “The work they do provides vital assistance to the thriving Vietnamese community in and around Seattle. Macrina has been a Helping Link sponsor from the very beginning.” 

Minh-Duc Nguyen arrived in Redmond in 1975 as a child. Her family had escaped Vietnam at the fall of Saigon. Sponsors at a local church helped the family get settled. Minh-Duc and her four siblings found the support they needed, worked hard in school, and they all graduated from the University of Washington. In the early nineties, after a trip back to Vietnam, her first, Minh-Duc saw the lack of social services available to new arrivals in America and wanted to do something to help lessen their pain. She started Helping Link in 1993, the same year Leslie Mackie opened Macrina. Helping Link began as a drop-in hour to help Vietnamese refugees like herself with translation services. “I recruited two of my Boeing colleagues,” says Minh-Duc. “We were young, idealistic. We helped translate documentation from local agencies for schooling or housing and job applications. Overnight it got way out of hand. We were overwhelmed. Rather than quit, we recruited eight more friends to help. 

Needing more space, they secured a room at the Rainier Beach Library that had room for 20. On the first night, over 120 people showed up. The police and fire departments worried there was a major incident.  

With so much interest and need, Helping Link eventually secured a space the International District/Little Saigon. Volunteers turned the space into three classrooms and an administrative space. It became a center for Seattle’s thriving Vietnamese community. Today, nearly 40 volunteers—the heart and soul of the organization—teach ESL and technology classes, work as mentors and tutors, provide information and referral services, and host community events. All services are rooted in cultural values of family stability, self-sufficiency, and resilience. Their goals are employment, higher education, fulfilling civic duty, and promoting and preserving culture. “I’m so appreciative that Leslie and Scott keep investing in the Vietnamese community,” says Minh-Duc. “They brought us to Macrina to teach language skills and basic computer skills for their managers so they can do schedule and email. Macrina was an employer I could see wanted to be there for their employees from the beginning. That’s a huge investment. We work with many companies, and Macrina has been a champion at investing in their employees.” 

Helping Link is urgently searching for a new space. After 20 years in Little Saigon, their tenancy was terminated at the end of August due to a sale of the property to a developer. They are seeking assistance to find a welcoming new home in Seattle or King County, as well as relocation support of both time and resources. To get involved, please email Minh-Duc at info@helpinglink.org.  

Julia Child loved sole meunière—it’s where her love of French food started. Simple and balanced flavors—mild fish, browned butter, fresh lemon juice—are what make this classic dish so charming. After watching Julia, the inspiring documentary on Julia Child, I found myself craving the dish. I whipped up these open-faced sole meunière sliders with herbs from my garden. The dish comes together in 15 to 20 minutes. Add a salad and a bottle of white wine, and you’ve got a wonderful casual summer evening meal.

Printable PDF of this recipe here. 

  
 Makes 8 Sliders
8-pack Macrina Rustic Potato Sliders
½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp black pepper
12 to 14 oz Dover or Petrale sole
½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 Tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
1 Tbsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 red jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced, seeds removed
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

  
Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Cut 4 slider buns in half and place the tops and bottoms on the prepared baking sheet and set aside.

In a pie pan, combine the flour, salt and pepper. Cut the sole into 8 pieces (approx. 2½-inches each). Coat each piece in the seasoned flour and leave in the pie pan until needed.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, clarify the butter: as the butter melts, it will foam on top, and the whey will fall to the bottom. Watch it carefully. Once the foaming subsides, you should be able to spoon off the clear, golden butter. Set it aside and discard the whey.

Place the baking sheet with the sliders in the oven to warm for 5 minutes.

Add the clarified butter to a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. When the butter is hot and beginning to brown, add the sole pieces. Pan fry them for 1 minute on each side. Place a piece of the sautéed sole onto each of the halved sliders.

Add the chopped herbs, jalapeño and lemon juice to the remaining butter in the sauté pan. Season to taste with salt and cracked black pepper. Spoon the browned butter sauce over each slider. Serve warm with a favorite glass of dry white wine.

Enjoy!

We’re fortunate to have such a great assortment of summer fruit in the Pacific Northwest. One of our favorite ways to celebrate our delicious berries is in this Summer Berry Charlotte. This recipe calls for blackberries, blueberries and strawberries, but feel free to substitute raspberries, marionberries or red currants. We use a 9-inch stainless steel bowl lined in plastic wrap, but you can use a pudding mold if you have one. A patchwork of thinly sliced brioche forms the crust and a mixture of warm cooked berries thickened with gelatin make a juicy filling that retains some of the fruit’s texture. The dessert requires chilling for a minimum of 4 hours to set up properly, so plan accordingly. When it isn’t peak berry season, we recommend using high-quality IQF (Individually Quick Frozen) berries, many of which are grown near Lynden, in the northwest corner of Washington state.

 
Printable PDF of the recipe here. Makes 8-12 Servings 

 
1 Macrina Brioche Loaf
4 cups fresh blackberries
4 cups fresh blueberries
3 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
½ cup water
1¾  cup sugar
1 tsp fresh lemon zest
1 package + 1 tsp powdered gelatin (package is 1 oz)

Line a 9-inch stainless steel mixing bowl with plastic wrap. This will take 2 pieces. Each side should extend 3 to 4 inches.

Remove the crust from the brioche loaf (top, bottom, ends and sides). Cut the brioche into quarter-inch slices. Begin lining the bowl by cutting a circle from a slice to match the diameter of the bowl base. With the bottom covered, line the walls of the bowl. Larger pieces work best. You’ll need to cut little triangles here and there, in patchwork fashion, until the bowl’s interior is covered. Don’t discard the remaining brioche—you’ll use it to form the top layer.

In a large saucepan, add half the berries and the water, sugar and lemon zest. Cook over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes to release the juices. The berries should be very soupy. Turn off the heat and sprinkle the powdered gelatin over the surface of the saucepan. Whisk the gelatin into the mixture.

Add the remaining berries. Over low heat, warm the whole mixture for 2 to 4 minutes (you want the second addition of fruit to retain its form).

Ladle some of the berry mixture juices over the brioche lining the bowl until it’s completely saturated and purple in color. Then carefully pour or ladle the rest of the berry mixture in. Top with a single layer of the remaining brioche slices. Press gently to compress the contents in the bowl.

If any brioche strips lining the side extend beyond the top layer, use a knife and cut them level with the top layer.

Fold the extended plastic wrap over the charlotte to seal it.

Find something heavy (such as a small plate with a glass of water on top)—roughly the same diameter as the bowl—and place it on top as a weight to continue to compress the charlotte and ensure the brioche is fully saturated in berry juice.

Chill for a minimum of 4 hours to set the gelatin.

Remove the plastic from the top of the charlotte. Place a serving dish over the rim of the bowl and invert for serving. Remove the bowl and peel away the plastic wrap. If you have any white or unsaturated areas, heat a handful of blueberries with a splash of water and sugar and cook until the berries are soft. Pass this through a sieve and brush the white areas with the warm glaze. Any excess can be used as a sauce when serving.

Garnish with fresh berries. Edible flowers also make a beautiful garnish. Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Macrina is donating all net proceeds to the Adamâ Bakery during the week of July 25 from café sales of our four packs of Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies. We also urge café customers to donate directly to the bakery here.

“I am happy now that I spend most of my days baking, and my nights are peaceful,” said Kareem, an eighteen-year-old refugee who lost his family to violence in Congo. “I thank the bakers who have trained us. They have contributed so much to my trauma healing. Above all, I have found a family in Adamâ.”

The ADAMÂ Bakery is located by the Oruchinga Settelment Camp in southwest Uganda. The camp is home to over 9,000 refugees from Burundi, Congo, Rwanda, and other parts of East Africa. Many have escaped unspeakable tragedies at home.

Jeffrey Hamelman and Mitch Stamm, both renowned and recently retired bakers, were invited by Ayelet Berman-Cohen, the founder and executive director of the Adamâ Foundation, to travel to Uganda and help the bakery get going. They spent a few weeks there. For nearly thirty years, Leslie has collaborated on regional events with Jeffery and Mitch through the Bread Bakers Guild of America. Through this connection, Macrina learned about Adamâ and was inspired to become an annual donor.

“When the refugees arrive, they are given four eucalyptus poles and a tarp,” says Jeffrey. “The tarp and poles become their home. New arrivals are also given a machete and a hoe so they can hack out some jungle and hopefully get some seeds. If they are successfully raising their prospects, they use homemade bricks to build a mud hut with no windows, no electricity, no running water, and an amazing number of people are crammed into a tiny space. Refugees get $3.74 a month from the UN for food.”

“They’ve been stripped of everything except their dignity,” Mitch says. “They ran into the bush with nothing upon seeing family members killed. Some people are born in the refugee camp. They’ll spend their entire lives there.”

The bakery is located in a small house next to the refugee camp. The oven is wood fired, as is the proof box. A 35-kilo electric mixer and an electric bread slicer are all the powered equipment they have. Twenty-four bakers arrive every day for work. They learn a trade, earn an income, and distribute a portion of the day’s baked goods to children in the settlements.

“The bakers are three-fourths women,” says Jeffrey. “They have an unbelievable amount of dignity. They walk to the bakery. The different nationalities work well together, they harmonize. They are absolutely overjoyed to be able to learn a skill, provide bread for their families, and for thousands of children to whom bread is given free.”

Angella Kushemererwa and Sophie Karungi manage the bakery. They work full-time at the bakery and also have full-time jobs, Angella at the United Nations, and Sophie providing trauma care in refugee settlements. At the end of every day, the bakers make trips deep into the community to hand out bread to children, many malnourished.

“Handing out the bread is an act of the utmost elation when you see the joy on the faces of the children who get the buns,” says Jeffrey. “The other emotional extreme is that the buns always run out before the desperate hands that are endlessly reaching out to get a bun, and that just crushes you. That happens every single time.”

The goal for the bakery is to become self-sustaining eventually, but for now keeping it open costs about $5,000 per month. The Adamâ Foundation plans to install a modern oven in the next few months.

“We know the needs are endless, but we’re hoping to help fund the acquisition of this oven,” says Scott France, president and part-owner of Macrina Bakery.

Jeffrey and Mitch are self-funding an upcoming trip to help get the oven installed. “The wood-burning oven is a weak link,” says Jeffrey. “It’s got four chambers. There’s a 50-degree temperature differential between the chambers. All the trays need to get shifted throughout the bake.”

The new equipment will help the bakery feed more children and will be a solid step toward self-sustainability.

“Some people might say you’re training 24 people, and you’re giving out tens of thousands of buns—this is just wonderful,” says Jeffrey. “And others might say, you better multiply that by a hundred if you’re gonna have any impact at all. Well, none of us is going to fix the world, but I feel like having an opportunity to do one little thing that’s helping these people….” Jeffrey pauses to compose himself. “You can tell half our heart is in Uganda. We know that we’ve changed their lives. They don’t know to what extent they’ve changed ours.”

You can donate directly to ADAMÂ here. All money goes to the bakers and has an incredible impact on the quality of their lives.

Raspberries are a cornerstone of many of our products. Why? Because they’re just so good. Especially when they’re grown locally by small farms in Washington state. We’re excited to partner with the Washington State Red Raspberry Commission to celebrate red raspberries for the month of July!

Raspberries picked at the peak of ripeness have a complex tangy sweetness. With fresh raspberries now available year-round in supermarkets, grown and shipped primarily from Mexico and California, we tend to forget just how good they are fresh off the vine. Sun-warmed, bursting with intense flavor, freshly-picked raspberries are distant cousins of the raspberries grown to ship. Those are bred for durability over taste and picked firm for trucking. Local raspberries are allowed to ripen until they’re nearly ready to fall from the bush. 

The epicenter of Washington state’s raspberry crop is Lynden, a charming, historic town in Whatcom County near the Canadian border. Over 90 percent of Washington raspberries are grown within a 20-mile radius of Lynden. The moderate daytime temperatures, cool evenings, healthy soil, and dry summers produce berries with excellent color and flavor. The tasty crop is so sought after that most of America’s frozen raspberries now come from Washington state.

These aren’t your grandmother’s frozen berries! Recent innovations to the freezing process, known as Individually Quick Frozen (IQF), a state-of-the-art technique where the berries are individually frozen in a wind tunnel at sub-zero temperatures that preserves shape and flavor integrity, have been a game-changer. Unlike the frozen raspberries of the past that made baked goods soggy, these can be substituted for fresh raspberries.  

Leslie Mackie, Macrina’s founder, went to Lynden and visited with local farmers to better understand what makes their raspberries superior. She came away a convert. Leslie says, “I thought the fresh market was best. That’s not necessarily true. Growers pick IQF fruit at the height of the season when it has optimal sweetness, appearance, and juiciness. Because their fruit is grown for flavor, it’s perishable. But the new freezing process allows us to enjoy the great taste all year long.  

The Washington state raspberry harvest begins in July. To celebrate, Lynden will host the annual Northwest Raspberry Festival over the weekend of July 16. Visitors can sample locally harvested raspberries in many forms. Eat them as nature made them or incorporated into foods and beverages of all kinds. 

Over the last year, Leslie has developed four new Macrina products using local berries: Chocolate Raspberry Muffins, Raspberry Oat Scones, Raspberry Lemon Coffee Cake and Raspberry Conserve. We will be featuring them throughout July in honor of our state’s delicious raspberry harvest—and we’re delighted to be able to make them all year long with Washington state raspberries. 

VEGAN RASPBERRY OAT SCONE

Oats add texture and a delicate flavor to these lightly-sweetened vegan scones. Moist raspberries flavor every bite, and a hint of orange zest rounds out the taste.

RASPBERRY LEMON COFFEE CAKE

By taste alone, you’d never know this decadent coffee cake was gluten-free!* Bursting with local raspberries and lemon zest, this sweet cake is finished with raspberry glaze.

VEGAN CHOCOLATE BERRY MUFFIN

These decadent muffins are both vegan and gluten-free.* They’re moist and richly flavored, with hints of cinnamon and vanilla.

RASPBERRY CONSERVES

This small batch fruit spread from founder Leslie Mackie’s Project Barnstorm features local produce and less sugar than your typical jam. Try it on one of our bagels or a slice of toasted bread!

Julia Child’s recipes continue to inspire me. Chocolate mousse was one of Julia’s favorite desserts. Her version is the real deal, with egg yolks going into the base and the whites whipped separately to add the airy texture. These days, for convenience or out of concern for lightly cooked eggs, most mousses are made with whipped cream folded in to add the richness missing from eggs. For a more contemporary take, I’ve adapted Julia’s recipe to create a layered dessert that combines rich chocolate mousse with a lighter complement of date-sweetened tahini mousse.

Printable PDF of this recipe here.

^{Makes 4 servings (6 oz cups)} 

½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp espresso or strong coffee
12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1½ sticks), room temperature, divided
5 Medjool dates, pitted, divided
½ cup warm water, divided
¼ cup tahini
4 eggs, separated
¾ cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar, divided
Pinch salt
¼ cup orange liquor (Grand Marnier, triple sec or Cointreau; or substitute 2 Tbsp water + 2 Tbsp vanilla extract)
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
½ cup heavy cream

Create a double boiler by filling a saucepan with 2 inches of water and bringing it to a simmer, then placing a medium heat-proof bowl over the saucepan (it shouldn’t touch the water). Place the chocolate chips and espresso in the bowl. As the chocolate melts, stir it occasionally to prevent scorching. Once the chocolate is smooth, remove the bowl and add 6 Tbsp of butter, bit by bit. Whisk after each addition until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

Coarsely chop 4 dates. Place them in a bowl and cover with ¼ cup of warm water. Allow them to soften for 5 minutes, then drain and place in a food processor. Add the tahini and remaining ¼ cup of water. Blend to make a smooth paste. Use a spatula to scrape the paste into a medium heat-proof bowl. Set it on top of your saucepan of simmering water. Warm the paste and add the remaining butter, a little at a time, whisking to blend thoroughly. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whip attachment and whip until frothy. Add 1 Tbsp of the sugar and a pinch of salt. Whip to medium-firm peaks. Transfer to another bowl and set aside.

Place the egg yolks, ¾ cup of sugar and the orange liquor into the stand mixer bowl (make sure it’s cleaned from the previous step). Combine the ingredients well. Set the stand mixer bowl over the double boiler (water should still be simmering), whisk the egg mixture constantly, warming the eggs to 120°F (use an instant read thermometer). The eggs will become frothy in about 1 to 2 minutes. Do not let the eggs cook completely or scramble.

Remove the warmed egg mixture and fit the bowl back into the stand mixer. With a whisk attachment, mix at medium speed for 2 to 4 minutes to cool and aerate the egg mixture. The mixture will become lighter in color and texture.

In two additions, divide the egg mixture equally between the chocolate and tahini bowls. After each addition, gently fold to incorporate.

Use the same procedure (two additions each) to fold the whipped egg whites into the chocolate and tahini bowls. Be patient and fold delicately—to create mousse, you want to entirely dissolve the whites into the mixture without deflating the texture.

Divide the chocolate mousse between your four cups, then top each with the tahini mousse. If you’re using 6 oz cups, they should be filled to the brim. Chill for 4 hours.

Sprinkle half the top with cocoa powder and the other half with sesame seeds. Whip the heavy cream and remaining 1 Tbsp sugar by hand until it has soft peaks. Right before serving, top each glass with a dollop of the whipped cream and a slice of the remaining date. Edible flowers add a beautiful touch.

The mousse will keep for 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

In 1996, I was surprised and honored to receive a call that Julia Child was interested in featuring me in an episode of Baking with Julia, a show that would later go on to win an Emmy Award and a James Beard Award. I flew out to Boston and made this lovely Normandy Apple Tart in the kitchen of Julia Child’s imposing Cambridge clapboard house. This tart is a free-form variation of what I made for the show. It’s chock-full of sliced apples, brandied currants, and topped with a creamy custard that you add in the final 20 minutes of baking.

Printable pdf of the recipe here.

Makes one 10-inch tart

3 Tbsp dried currants
4 Tbsp brandy, divided
1 disk Macrina Flaky Pie Dough, thawed but chilled
3 Granny Smith apples
¾ cup granulated sugar, divided
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 eggs, divided
¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp powdered sugar

Line a rimmed baking sheet pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a small bowl, soak the currants in 2 Tbsp of brandy for 10 minutes.

On a floured work surface, roll out the pie dough to a 14-inch x ⅛-inch circle. Trim any excess. Gently fold the dough in half and lift it onto the prepared baking sheet. Unfold the dough and center it on the sheet pan. Some dough will cascade over the edge of the pan.

Peel and core the apples. Cut the apples into ¼-inch slices and place them in a medium bowl. Add ½ cup sugar, cinnamon and the brandied currants. Toss to evenly coat the apples.

Place the apple mixture in the center of the rolled pastry dough. Spread it out to create a 10-inch mound.

Make an egg wash by thoroughly mixing 1 egg and 1 Tbsp of water in a small bowl.

Begin folding the uncovered dough (approximately a 2-inch rim) onto the apples to create a free-form tart. As you make each fold, brush the top with the egg wash to seal any overlap. When you’ve finished folding over the excess dough, give the top dough another brush of egg wash for even baking.

Refrigerate the formed tart for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 400°F.

In a food processor, add the remaining 2 Tbsp brandy, ¼ cup sugar, egg and flour. Mix for 1 to 2 minutes to combine well. Pour the custard into a smaller container to add to the tart later.

Bake the chilled tart for 25 minutes or until you see the crust and apples beginning to color. Remove the tart from the oven and pour as much custard as possible over the apples in the center of the tart. Use a knife or spatula to gently nudge the apples to let the custard settle.

Return the tart to the oven and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, until the custard is set.

Let cool for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm. Enjoy!