It's a tale of two cookies. One, dark as night and dusted in sanding sugar, is an established icon of Minneapolis desserts. The other is fresh on the scene, having only been around a handful of years, rising to popularity built on a foundation of toasty brown butter, rye flour and epic chocolate chunks.
Now, Rustica's bittersweet chocolate cookie and Cafe Cerés' zephyr cookie, two beacons of chocolate and crumble, will be sharing oven space as Cafe Cerés' Shawn McKenzie joins Rustica Bakery as its new executive chef and pâtissierie.
Rustica owner Greg Hoyt had been checking in with bakers and other baking business owners during the pandemic to take the temperature of the industry. Two of the folks in that mix were McKenzie and Daniel del Prado, chefs who had partnered on two Cafe Cerés locations and Cardamom, the new restaurant at Walker Art Center.
McKenzie had come to the Twin Cities from Portland, Ore., almost a decade ago. "When I think about going to Rustica eight years ago, I remember being so enamored by everything they did. I never thought I would be where I am now. I thought I'd end up going back to Portland with my tail between my legs," said McKenzie.
The plan had been to simply hang up a shingle and try her hand at making treats for her new town. The result was a resounding wave of love for her savory-sweet playground. There was tahini-threaded babka, sesame-studded Turkish-style bagels, dense carrot cakes brimming with spice — and much more. She went from baking for Penny's Coffee shops to opening Cafe Cerés in Linden Hills, eventually expanding alongside del Prado, a well-known name in the local culinary landscape, to a second location in the Armatage neighborhood. With all the successes, the cafes' baking capabilities were close to maxing out.
Meanwhile, in a bakery across town, there was a lot of open oven space and an owner amenable to input from a pastry chef. Rustica Bakery was started in 2004 by baker Steve Horton, who sold the business to his longtime friend Hoyt, a co-founder of Dogwood Coffee, in 2015.
The pandemic hit hard, as it did for so many other businesses. For a short time, Hoyt had partnered with the Bread Lab, a venture from John Kraus of Patisserie 46, but ultimately decided to shut down Rustica's wholesale business, leaving an ample amount of baking capacity.
"I love that Rustica has been able to provide a forum for Shawn and Cerés," said Hoyt. "We are so lucky to have her."
After much deliberation, and a long phone conversation with Horton, who could discuss the finer points of Rustica's baking DNA, McKenzie agreed to take the reins of Rustica's kitchen.
That's good news for Cafe Cerés fans: The increased capacity will allow for even more baked goods for the cafes and Cardamom. She didn't make this move alone; the cafe's baking staff is also hard at work at the Rustica ovens.
"We're only operating at about two-thirds capacity," McKenzie said.
But that's not all. In addition to overseeing the classic French pastries and breads, McKenzie is also slowly infusing some of her more creative blends of flavors, like a yuzu-flavored scone and a grapefruit danish. She recently ran her famous tahini babka as a special and found that Rustica's fans were into the savory-edged sweet bread, too.
Plans are still developing — and are wide open. Rustica's classics remain intact at both the Minneapolis and Edina locations. And Cafe Cerés devotees will still have access to the salty, sweet well that is the zephyr cookie.
"I'm religious about my cookies," said McKenzie.
