On the Table

Tremont Traditions

Cornerstone of the community shares its history and a recipe

As soon as you walk into the Original Goodie Shop in Upper Arlington, you’re hit with the sweet smell of icing, cookies and sugar. The display case is filled with fresh baked donuts, cookies, cakes and every other sweet treat you can imagine.

“We try to keep the atmosphere family friendly, the staff here especially, so I think people enjoy coming in,” says Miranda Smith, part-owner and cake designer. “It’s kind of like a little refuge. If you’re having a bad day, everyone wants to eat some sweets and just de-stress, and hopefully we can provide that.”

Her family has owned the bakery for three generations, and, according to Miranda, that little corner of Tremont Center was destined to be a bakery. In 1955, when Tremont Center was built, Bill Wood opened the bakery. Sixty-six years later, the red neon sign that reads “Bakery Goodie Shop” is still there in the window.

Although the Original Goodie Shop, warmly dubbed the Tremont Goodie Shop, offers a wide variety of baked goods, it’s known for its fresh baked and uniquely delicious cinnamon sticks.

“(Cinnamon sticks are) real thin layers of a sweet roll dough, and in between all of the layers are butter, cinnamon and butterscotch,” says owner Debbie Krenek Smith in a video from the store’s website. “If you’ve had a cinnamon roll and you get to the center of the cinnamon roll – the best part – you kind of save it and savor it. That’s what our cinnamon sticks are the entire way.”

“We make a salt rising bread that kind of has a cult following,” adds Emilie Smith, part-owner of the bakery. “We even have a call list for when it comes out of the oven. … (There are) probably 30, 35, 45 people on that list that we phone call every time it comes out of the oven.”

Bakers pull about 1,800 cinnamon sticks out of the oven each week for the Original Goodie Shop. Emilie says that much of the cinnamon stick’s popularity stems from longtime family traditions that always incorporated the treat. So much so that the cinnamon sticks have a reputation that’s grown far beyond the UA community.

“My mom has been in crazy places, … Arkansas or something, and people are like, ‘Oh, you own the Goodie Shop?’” Miranda says. “There’s always some Ohio, Columbus connection.”

Though plenty of customers have tried their hand at recreating the cinna-

RECIPE

The Original Goodie Shop over the years: left, Debbie Krenek Smith and her father; right, Debbie Krenek Smith, Emilie Smith and Miranda Smith.

Tremont Goodie Shop Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Recipe courtesy of Emilie Smith

While the bakers’ lips are sealed when it comes to the cinnamon stick recipe, the Original Goodie Shop agreed to share the secret to its oatmeal raisin cookies.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup raisins – more or less as desired • 1 cup granulated sugar • ½ cup brown sugar • ¾ cup Crisco, butter flavored • 1 tsp. salt • 1 tsp. baking soda • ½ tsp. cinnamon • 1 large egg • 2 tbsp. water • 1 tsp. vanilla • 2 cups oats • ½ cup flake coconut • 1 ¼ cups pastry flour

INSTRUCTIONS

Soak raisins in water.

In a separate large bowl, add granulated sugar, brown sugar, Crisco, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Blend.

Add egg, water, vanilla, oats, coconut and pastry flour to the mixture and blend until a dough forms.

Drain the raisins and add raisins to the dough.

Drop ¼ cup scoops of dough on an oiled baking sheet.

Bake 10-12 mins at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

mon sticks, there’s something special about the real thing from the Original Goodie Shop that no one can seem to reproduce at home.

“We don’t even have (the recipe) written down in the bakery anywhere, we just teach the techniques to the bakers and they learn that way,” Miranda says.

Although the cinnamon sticks and other baked goods are what draw customers into the shop, the tradition and memories that the bakery has created are a big reason for its sustained success.

“We’ve seen third, sometimes fourth generations come in here,” Emilie says. “Today we have an anniversary cake. It’s a 25th anniversary cake for a wedding that we did 25 years ago, and (there are) really not many bakeries around that can say that they’re making someone’s 25th anniversary cake and have done it every year since they got married.”

While Emilie, Miranda, their family and the rest of the staff at the bakery provide UA residents with the sweet treats which keep family traditions alive, Emilie and Miranda have their own tradition to uphold. In 1967, Emilie and Miranda’s grandfather bought the bakery. Shortly after, their mother began her career at the bakery followed by Emilie and Miranda several years later.

“I also enjoy the fact that I can keep my family’s legacy going and I try to excel in what I do,” Miranda says. “People are definitely fond of this place.”

Erin McLaughlin is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.

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