Cookies are the most important part of Christmas.
Gingerbread houses stuck together with white icing and gumdrop dรฉcor are a must when preparing for the holiday.
Families gather in the kitchen, cutting cookie dough into shapes of candy canes and Christmas trees, later dousing them in red and green icing.
Cookies are even used as a thank-you for Santa as he makes his way down the chimney to deliver gifts.
These crucial holiday treats donโt just pop out of thin air โ someone has to make them.
Over in midtown, Hannah Houlden and her bakers are hard at work preparing for the holiday season, crafting the cutest gingerbread men you have ever seen.
Houlden is the mastermind behind Houldenโs Rise Above, a beloved vegan bakery at 5029 E. Fifth St.ย known for their pop tarts, bear claws and croissants. While we worry about shopping and decorating, Houlden and her employees are in the kitchen, baking fun treats we get to bring home to family.
โIโve been in bakery management for the better part of 10 years now and this is the most enthusiastic, supportive and cohesive team I think I've ever worked with,โ Houlden said. โI think our Thanksgiving pre-orders went smoothly and that was one of the larger orders we've ever done. This is going to be the largest one. It's fun being in a busy kitchen.โ
Bianca Gaspar, assistant baker at Houldenโs Rise Above, portions out chocolate snowball cookie dough onto a fresh tray before placing them into the oven on Oct. 12.
For Houlden, the holiday season starts in September when she and her five employees brainstorm ideas for flavors and sweet treats. They then start test-baking everything, getting menus ready as far ahead as possible.
โYou have to make sure that you have a menu that can work and you have employees that can execute those things,โ Houlden said.
When Houldenโs Rise Above first started, the team typically made more personal-sized goodies. After finding their footing, theyโve grown into making treats for gatherings and family get-togethers. Their menu this year is geared around shareables.
Featured on the menu is their most deluxe cookie box yet. Houlden said she and another baker crafted the box with 12 different flavors, including two sandwich cookies.
This year, Houlden's Rise Above crafted their most deluxe cookie box yet.ย
A sneak peak of the cookie box was shown on their Instagram. Pictured was a gingerbread man and his kid with a big smile sandwiched in between a chocolatey filling.
โI really wanted to make things that were shareable that people could gather around, talk about and have a good time with,โ Houlden said.
In order to prepare everything on top of running a successful bakery, Houlden is working 16-hour days. From 10 p.m. to 2 p.m., Houlden is working at their brick-and-mortar, beginning her day prepping croissant doughs and getting the ovens ready.
After that, she decorates, boxes the goodies and gets ready to open up the bakery for the day, when she's then focused on serving customers and making sure everything is running smoothly.
Finally, itโs closing and cleaning time. She's back six hours later to do it all again.
At Houlden's Rise Above, they start preparing the holiday menu in September.
To help keep things from getting out of hand, Houlden has a pre-order system in place, capping them once it hits around 160. Orders recently closed, but the brick-and-mortar is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday (but 8-11 a.m. on Christmas Day), serving up sweets like peppermint chocolate bear claws and chai snickerdoodle cookies until they sell out.
This year, the most popular pre-order was their cookie boxes. To Houldenโs surprise, another top seller was a savory pastry from England.
โMy husband's from England and he asked, could you put a few English things on the menu for me and see how it goes?โ Houlden said. โSo, we put sausage rolls on there and a bunch of those sold. I wasn't expecting that. I'm really excited to get some vegan and English savory food into people's hands.โ
After a long holiday season, Houlden said in the next couple of weeks, her and her employees will get to take turns decompressing. But in the meantime, they will continue to make gingerbread men sure to bring the Christmas spirit.
โIt sounds very corny, but I genuinely just love baking for people so the idea that I get to make these things that people will gather around and have is really sweet to me,โ Houlden said. โI feel like I'm a part of all of those little gatherings in a small way.โ
