EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally appeared on Milton Today Jan. 1.
Michelle Brnjac surveyed the storefront with growing optimism, recognizing the potential with each passing glance.
Then came the closer.
“Out back you can still see the outline of the old sign ‘Welcome to Quality’,” said the newly-arriving baker, referring to 238 Main Street’s historic Quality Greens. “As soon as I saw quality I knew this was it. That’s our slogan, where flavour meets quality.”
With that final bit of assurance, Brnjac sealed the deal on relocating her family-run Eat My Sweets! from a tucked away corner in Streetsville to its high visibility new digs in downtown Milton.
“It’s a blessing, and quite the learning curve if I’m being honest. Where we were before there wasn’t a lot of traffic,” said the George Brown College baking and pastry arts management graduate. “We’re kind of centre stage here, so we’re learning a new flow and rhythm. It’s kind of hard to miss us now. It’s a bit of a paradigm shift.”
What remains constant for the relocated bakery – established seven-and-a-half years ago – is its vision of offering 100 per cent peanut and tree nut free treats.
And a whole lot of them.
That inspiration was sparked during Brnjac’s post-secondary studies, when the need for nut-free workplace and school environments was first gaining widespread attention.
Furthermore, some family friends with nut allergies put a personal perspective on the matter.
Recalled Brnjac, “Just watching them when we’d go places, they’d always have to ask (about desserts) and always have to be so cautious. To me, it felt wrong. They kind of got the short end of the stick.”
Holding firm to the idea that taste doesn’t need to be sacrificed to ensure safety – viewing this as “putting salt in an open wound” – the local bakery owner says having a completely nut-free menu isn’t as challenging as many may believe.
At least from a creative standpoint.
“For a lot of things the nuts are more of an addition or garnish of… it’s optional,” said Brnjac, whose Croatian and Italian heritage offered plenty of family influences for her career to come. “In some cases you need to reinvent the wheel a bit, but it’s not as difficult as people think.”
Opening Eat My Sweets! after years spent in the event planning food industry, she and her staff remain vigilant to ensure no traces of peanuts and tree nuts come in contact with any of their offerings.
That means always being mindful of labels, and switching ingredients whenever the ‘may contain’ warning comes into play. There’s also the minimum 24-hour safety net between handling any peanut products and starting a work shift, to protect those whose allergic reactions are triggered by inhalation as much as ingestion.
While offering a few cupcakes as an intro point for kids just starting to explore the world of nut-free desserts, the business focuses more on a wide variety of brownies, blondies and squares – as well as some more unique dishes like French galettes.
Custom orders are always available, while seasonal offerings and home-made jams of Brnjac’s aunt add to the sweet spectrum of choices.
Among the more popular ones are the mixed berry square – which was initially thought to be only a seasonal addition – and the aptly-named ‘blackout’ brownie.
“It’s kind of a chocolate overload, it’s best to eat it in small doses,” quipped Brnjac, who’d originally looked to become a chef before a close call with undercooked chicken in a Grade 11 hospitality class left her “discombobulated” and readjusting her career path.
Unbeknownst to the Eat My Sweets! owner until considering a new location earlier this year was the fact that many of her longtime customers were actually from Milton.
“When I said I was thinking of coming here they said ‘Michelle, you have no idea how big a base (for nut-free sweets) there is in Milton. I’m super blessed; everything fell into place at the right time.”
Visit eatmysweetsbakery.ca for hours and offerings. Orders and inquiries can be made by contacting 905-858-3490 or [email protected].