Who is Jennie?

Jennie's Bakery was inspired by a woman named Jennie Jankowski. She was my Great Grandmother and was truly a tremendous baker. Born and raised in Poland, she escaped here to the United States during the time of WWII. When it came to cooking and baking, she was seemingly intimidated by nothing; anything was and would be possible. She was sweet, yet tough. Her and my Great Grandfather, Adam (pictured above) raised chickens and often Adam in his older years used to drive Jennie crazy by brushing crumbs from the table onto the floor, claiming he was "feeding the chickens," but the chickens were outside :)

Like me, Jennie, or as we called her in Polish, Babci, used the entire kitchen to bake and cook. Our family remembers her for many things including her apple pies and authentic Polish food of course! She even used to make apple pies to feed the family in a giant roasting pan. Anything goes and I love that mentality.
 
She never baked and ran a business–in fact, if she had to purchase anything from a bakery, it was from Mazur's on Ridge Road in Lyndhurst (back then it was AMAZING, recently visiting, I was tragically unimpressed.) She was a woman that really knew what she was doing in the kitchen and especially knew what it was like to live her life and she did it into her 90's. I hope doing this bakery in her name and harnessing her values would make her proud.

(Jennie is second from the left)

Adam and Jennie dancing

Jennie is to the left, showing off her gray up-do!

Jennie and Adam's Wedding (they're sitting at the table)