Welcome to Small Business Spotlight, TLG’s home for celebrating the marvelous small businesses in Bennington, VT, who give back to the community and foster a stronger local economy. These businesses are chosen for their unique services, fair prices, noteworthy charity, and their commitment to nurturing a healthier Bennington. This week in the spotlight: Bakkerij Krijnen.

An authentic Dutch bakery, Bakkerij Krijnen is the home-base of delicious in Bennington.  Here’s why you would love it:

Everything — EVERYTHING — is made from scratch:

Hans Krijnen’s colorful talent and passion for baking reigns in Bakkerij Krijnen.  You can taste attention to detail; you can taste quality ingredients; you can taste hard work; and you can taste love, or “vitamin ‘L’” as Hans’ wife Jennifer calls the secret of Bakkerij Krijnen’s treats.  Hans and Jennifer are up before the sun to prepare the bakery each day, dedicated to offering a spread that is both fresh and phenomenal.  Honest scratch-made breads and sweets of this caliber are rare, but believe it because it’s true: everything is made from scratch, and these things called “love” and “passion” actually can be found in the ingredients, and the taste.

“I want my love of good food

to become a moment of happiness”

– Hans Krijnen

I was given the opportunity to peruse the kitchen myself.  The door to it, painted bright yellow as the walls, is always open, as Hans proudly says he has nothing to hide.  There is never a question of who’s baking and how, and what you’re getting at Bakkerij Krijnen — real food, made by real hands, every day:

It’s actually Dutch:

Hans Krijnen is a true Dutch, as Bakkerij Krijnen, pronounced Bach-R-I Cry-nun (ij has a long I sound), has its roots in the Netherlands.  Coming from a long line of bakers, Hans trained in the Netherlands as a Pastry Chef and has been baking since he was 12.  He moved to the United States about 30 years ago, to Vermont, then California, and back to Vermont again in 2000.  It was during his first time here that he met Jennifer, a Bennington native with Sicilian roots, while working as a Pastry Chef for the Four Chimneys Inn & Restaurant in town.  In Bakkerij Krijnen you will find Hans working about in the kitchen and Jennifer smiling in the front.  You will also see right away the pride they both have for the bakery’s Dutch heritage.  The name “Bakkerij Krijnen” honors Hans’ father Franciscus Krijnen and grandfather Antonius Krijnen, who had owned and operated a bakery of the same name in the Netherlands, both before and after WWII.  A young man during the war, Franciscus (Frans) remembered hiding American soldiers behind flour sacks in the bakery, and accompanying them on scouting missions.

The bakery has an overflowing and beautiful collection of traditional Dutch wooden shoes called klompen, which many farmers and gardeners still wear in the Netherlands today.  The color and flavor these add to the store enliven it and give it a true sense of lineage.  You can feel the warmth of a culture enjoyed and well-loved in Bakkerij Krijnen.  Jennifer and Hans are passionate about sharing the tastes of the Netherlands both with Americans and with their friends and family across the sea.  Mechanized production makes these scratch-made treats a delicacy both here and there.  Jennifer chuckled as she recalled people buying Dutch pastries from Bakkerij Krijnen and sending them to the Netherlands — this would be like finding fried chicken so good in Vermont that you send it to a southerner.

Stroopwafels, stroopwafels, stroopwafels:

Bakkerij Krijnen began with these little waffle treats.  Stroopwafels, pronounced strope waffles, are wafer-thin butter waffles filled with caramel.  Sweet, sticky, and rapturous, these things are the kind of food that becomes etched in your mouth forever — you don’t forget about Hans’ famous stroopwafels.  They have a softness to them, a gentle sweetness, and a lingering warm taste.  Hans and Jennifer weren’t thinking of opening a bakery when they started selling these Dutch delights out of their home 16 years ago, but the business was swelling and now we have the pleasure of Bakkerij Krijnen in Bennington, where you can always find a boisterous supply of stroopwafels:

But it doesn’t stop with tradition.  Hans invented his own ginger stroopwafel, which he and Jennifer call “gingerwafels.”  This unique creation seemingly can’t be found anywhere else.  I was given some to try, and like when you read a really good book, my life cannot go back to the way it was.  It’s the softness, the sweetness, and the warmth of a regular stroopwafel with the striking tang of ginger.  Bakkerij Krijnen is already well known for its stroopwafels, and now the gingerwafels have their own well-deserved limelight.  If you stop by for a taste, I recommend it:

They use local ingredients:

Hans and Jennifer are dedicated to local farmers and gardeners through their commitment to quality and transparency.  When you walk in Bakkerij Krijnen, you immediately see a list of “what’s local,” or what ingredients come from in and around Vermont, and which are not local but organic — everything written is organic and natural.

What’s Local:

• honey (Reed Goosen, a beekeeper down the road — also Jennifer’s high school biology teacher)
• eggs, pork, beef, maple syrup (the Gardner family, Hill Top Farm, Pownal VT)
• all-purpose, pastry, patent & bread flours (King Arthur Flour, Norwich VT)
• butter, cheddar cheese (Cabot Creamery, Cabot VT)
• whole spelt flour, rye flour, grain & seed mix (Champlain Valley Mills, Westport NY)
• whole wheat flour (Meunerie Milanaise Flour, Toronto Canada)
• espresso (Barrington Coffee Roasters, Great Barrington MA)

Not Local but Organic:

• cane sugar, canola oil, oats, coconut, pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, poppy & flax seeds

In addition to using local ingredients, they also sell a few local goodies to support their favorite producers, like Vermont maple syrup, lip balm, and aromatic waters:

Come for breakfast, lunch, or snacking — there’s something for every craving:

It’s not only a Dutch bakery — and it’s not just sweets either.  Hans and Jen are proud of the versatility you’ll find at Bakkerij Krijnen.  There are, of course, the beautiful Dutch specialties like stroopwafels, saucijzenbroodjes, gevulde koeken, gevulde speculaas, appelflappen, amandelbroodjes, and krentenbollen; but there are also many, many others…

Croissants, turnovers, and their buttery cousins:

Cookies, cookies, and cookies (among them a unique espresso cookie):

Cakes and pies, endless flavors.  Many are made with seasonal fruits like strawberries from Clear Brook Farm (Shaftsbury VT) during the summer.  Hans uses a famous house-made lemon curd that appears both on lemon cakes like this one and on a variety of other artistic cake designs:

Breakfast treats and savory foods like quiches, vegetarian and non-vegetarian.  And if you’d like to sit a spell and relax, you can have something heated up for you.  To go with your treat there are cold and hot drinks always available to be plucked from the fridge or brewed.

Incredible artisan breads made by Hans in a vast variety.  You can get these whole or sliced, and in a range of sizes, anytime:

(Photo courtesy of Hans and Jennifer Krijnen)

Got a special day coming up?  They’ve got you covered:

You can always pick up a fresh already-made cake at Bakkerij Krijnen, or you can make a custom order ahead of time.  If you want to celebrate with a truly decadent cake, you will find they have given you what you’ve asked for and more, as it is an unexpectedly and pleasantly surprising high bar that they strive to meet with each creation.  Each is a work of art:

(Photo courtesy of Hans and Jennifer Krijnen)

(Photo courtesy of Hans & Jennifer Krijnen)

(Photo courtesy of Hans and Jennifer Krijnen)

“The sun is always shinin’ at Bakkerij Krijnen.”

In 2014 Bakkerij Krijnen was named an editors’ choice by Yankee Magazine for Best Danish in the magazine’s respected travel guide for New England, which highlights the most well-loved travel destinations in this part of the country.  In an interview with the Bennington Banner Hans remarked, “I want my love of good food to become a moment of happiness for everyone who tries my product.”

In a word, Bakkerij Krijnen is pleasant.  But many others come to mind: delicious, warm, homey, authentic, and joyful.  As Jennifer says, “The sun is always shinin’ at Bakkerij Krijnen.”  It is everything you dream a bakery ought to be and more, because it has its own unique twists to both the food and the atmosphere.  You can sit and enjoy, take your time mulling the goodies, watch the slow bustle in the kitchen.  Even on a cloudy day like it was when I visited, I felt sunny with welcome by Jennifer and Hans.  Maybe it’s the yellow walls, too, which make it such a nice place to be.

(photo courtesy of Hans and Jennifer Krijnen)

We at TLG encourage you to visit Bakkerij Krijnen and let your taste buds in on the secret of vitamin ‘L’…

Where & When to Find Bakkerij Krijnen:

ADDRESS: 1001 Main St. Bennington VT 05201

PHONE: (802) 442 1001

HOURS:  Wednesday – Sunday:  8:30-5:30pm

FACEBOOK: Follow Bakkerij Krijnen on Facebook!

At the intersection of Main Street and Burgess Road, Bakkerij Krijnen is 1.1 miles east of the intersection of Routes 7 & 9 – Bennington’s “Four Corners.”

Just look for the giant tulip!