Sugar and Spice Mountain Bakery
411 Main St.
Westcliffe, Colorado 719)783-4045
by Ann Marie Swan
Westcliffe has been blessed with Sugar and Spice Mountain Bakery, a Mennonite family-owned business with the redeeming quality of using sugar judiciously.
Naomi Yoder, who owns the Main Street bakery with her husband, Jason, says she only uses “real ingredients” and unbleached flour, just like her mother did. “We bake here like we would at home,” Yoder said.
The bakery serves breakfast items such as quiche, sausage, egg and cheese biscuits and breakfast burritos, along with a tempting array of cinnamon rolls, pies, muffins, granola, breads and more. Unbleached, natural white flour, including gluten-free options, noodles, jams and mustard line the bakery’s walls.
Here’s my disclaimer on cinnamon rolls – I’m a complete snob with lofty standards. Tragically, most bakery cinnamon rolls are terribly dry with frosting that overcompensates by being overly sweet. But Sugar and Spice’s cinnamon rolls, made from Yoder’s mother’s recipe, are delightful. The buttercream icing is creamy, dreamy and delicately balanced, while the rolls are perfectly moist. Sugar and Spice is the go-to place for cinnamon rolls, not that unmentionable chain at the mall with toothache-sweet imitations that produce insulin shock.
Grandma’s Lemon Luster Bars are tenderly sprinkled with powdered sugar and offer a subtle tartness amid bites of bliss. The Cranberry Orange muffins have a crunchy top, encasing tangy goodness. Cinnamon is the only spice that gently carries the apple pie.
Of the light-crusted breads, my fave is Indian Grain, made of rye meal, cornmeal, cracked wheat and flaxseed. My unscientific sampling demonstrates it’s hard to go wrong at this bakery.
Signs of the family’s faith are prominent in the shop, with displays of a Mennonite Family Cookbook, religious brochures, Christian and inspirational books. Thumbing through a book of Amish proverbs, one seems to jump off the page with, “You are only poor when you want more than you have.”
Unlike a Kosher baker, no special blessings are placed on the food but, “I pray that I get orders done on time,” Yoder said.
The family’s faith does influence the schedule, with the bakery closed on Sunday, a day of worship and rest. This is a choice despite this tourist town’s familiar lineup of weekend music and art festivals.
“We’re not throwing stones, but we wouldn’t be open on Sundays,” Yoder said. “We continue to face the challenging needs and responsibilities of raising our family with being good stewards of a business that god has blessed.”
The bakery is also closed on Mondays. Customers may sit on stools next to windows or at the picnic table outside. Yoder’s daughter Jessica is her right-hand woman in the shop. They also employ one part-timer.
Sugar and Spice offers more than what’s in the case with seasonal treats such as peach pies in the fall, fruitcakes and homemade chocolates for Christmas and specialty cream pies for Easter. Yoder welcomes special orders. However, one holiday that would never be represented in this bakery is Halloween. Yoder would “prefer not to make” treats depicting, for example, jack-o’-lanterns, witches or spiders. Also out of the question would be a bunny cutout for Easter because that’s “not the meaning of Easter,” Yoder said.
The Yoder family moved to Colorado from Ohio about seven and a half years ago. They’ve been in business for more than five years. “We’re just people,” she said. “Nothing too special.”
But the heavenly baked goods certainly are. g
Hours: Tues. through Fri., 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Sat., 7 a.m. – 3 p.m.
