MUSCATINE, Iowa — The scent at Muscatine’s newest bakery is reminiscent of grandma’s house with fresh bread, kolaches and turnovers — and you can take those tasty treats home with you.

Simply Sweet Bakery and Café, 216 Green St., opened on June 2, by Muscatine’s Carol Birkhofer. She said she wanted a place for parents to take their children where the baked goods don’t come in a plastic wrapper.

About four years ago Birkhofer, 48, realized her passion for baking and recently decided to compile her recipes and open her own business.

“There was no place to get something homemade in town. Everything here is made from scratch,” she said.

Items including cookies, cinnamon and sticky rolls, muffins, brownies, granola bars and scones make up the variety of sweets that fill the pastry case with color. Birkhofer is in at 4 a.m. to begin the day’s baking.

Desserts such as strawberry and cream crepes and cherry-hazelnut scones offer distinctive flavor.

Breakfast is served all day and includes omelets, French toast and breakfast burritos.

Lunch is served from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and the menu will change weekly. Customers can preview the menu on chalkboards on the front of the building, and even call to preorder for pickup. Signature lunches will be similar to the buffalo chicken wrap, chicken tortilla soup, turkey on potato cheddar bread and spinach salad on last week’s menu.

“We will use our breads made from scratch on sandwiches like our house bella bread, which is sweet Italian in white or wheat,” Birkhofer said.

Birkhofer is also in the business of making specialty cakes such as the Simply Sweet Turtle Surprise with a cheesecake center. She sells wholesale baked goods to other restaurants and has also created The Elms’ signature dessert, which is a frozen lemon custard with a berry glaze.

“It is just wonderful,” said Jeanne Staats, owner of The Elms, about the sorbet-like dish. “We have been trying to think of a name for it. We have considered calling it the “kiss good night.” We are the only place in town that  offers it.”

One thing you won’t find at Simply Sweet Bakery is doughnuts.

“Nothing is fried. We have had people come in and ask ‘Where are the doughnuts?’”  Birkhofer said. “But there won’t be doughnuts here.”

Reporter contact information

Melissa Regennitter: 563-262-0526, or mregennitter@muscatinejournal.com

Details

What: Simply Sweet Bakery and Café

Where: 216 Green St., Muscatine

Hours: 6 a.m.-2 p.m., Tuesday through Friday and 7 a.m.-noon, Saturday

Phone: 563-264-8445