Once upon a time, there was a woman named Carol and a man named Josh, who owned a bakery near the Golden Gate. The husband-and-wife team was hungry, so Carol decided to bake a gingerbread man.
She made a big batch of dough, rolled it flat and cut it in just the right shape. Then she made more dough, hand-rolled it with a flowering trellis design and cut out rectangular tile shapes to build the man’s house. Then she put it all in the oven to bake.
You know how the rest of this story goes. The Gingerbread Man has long since run away, but Rustic Bakery’s giant chewy Gingerbread Tile Cookies topped with a perfectly crisp vanilla glaze have found a cult indie following!
But these cookies aren’t the only story from Rustic Bakery. Before Carol LeValley and Josh Harris were building a house for the Gingerbread Man to live in, they were baking beautiful flatbread crackers to accompany the artisan cheeses of Marin County.
They realized there was demand for a bakery and café that would serve fresh, local foods with care and creativity. Thus was Rustic Bakery born. Since those first crackers, Rustic Bakery has grown to include cafes, a wholesale kitchen and more than 100 employees. Even as they've grown, Rustic Bakery has never let go of their devotion to quality, local sourcing and, most of all, great taste.
When it comes to their gingerbread cookies, we like to break up the large slabs into smaller pieces and add them to a holiday cookie tray. We also recently served them piled high on a single plate (so fun!), and let our guests break off just the right amount for themselves.
Warning: Keep away from foxes.