Mmm, mmm, Menonita

During a recent work trip to Tejutla, Ben got to make a stop in at the Bake Shop in Xela, our absolute favorite pastel/panaderia in Guatemala. You might remember this place from one of our posts many moons ago while we were living in Xela (read it here).

Living in the land of dry bread and hard cookies, it's our little bakery paradise. Owned and operated by Mennonites, the Bake Shop sells all the delicious goodies that Ben grew up with back in Lancaster, PA. Since they are only open on Tuesdays and Fridays and normally the best treats sell out quickly, he hot-footed it over there early with his curious co-workers Dani & Otto. Within seconds of entering the shop, they quickly realized what all the fuss has been about every time we reminisce about the place! Since I wasn't along for the trip, I made a few requests, namely the jelly filled donuts and garlic bagels! Apparently Ben was feeling hungry because check out the loot he brought home with him.

Bread, bagels, donuts, cookies, granola & more!

As soon as he got home we cracked open the cookies but not without a little laugh. You have to understand that there is not even 1 detail that has gone unnoticed in the Bake Shop - it's pure Mennonite, just a million miles away from the Land of Milk & Honey. Everything from the styrofoam packaging to the cut in half twist-ties is exactly the same. Lucky for us the taste is the same too!

After a visit to this delicious paradise, we always chat about franchising a branch of the Bake Shop in Antigua....or Denver for that matter! With the recipes in the family, our idea might not be so far-fetched after all!

The Land of Milk & Honey

It’s the strangest thing, but we have discovered a “bake shop” (not a panaderia or pasteleria) here in Xela where everything is made and sold by old order Mennonites! It’s like stepping back in time for Ben, to his days of growing up eating chocolate-chip pumpkin muffins and long-john donuts in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (a place he refers to as The Land of Milk & Honey). Although it is only open on Tuesdays and Fridays, we have been hitting it up as often as possible. Lucky for us, it’s only a few blocks from ICA and we can make it there and back during our 30-minute break. Just the re-charge that we need to finish out the day!

There are so many yummy treats we don’t even know where to start – jelly and pudding filled donuts, banana, apple, and carrot bread, granola, whole-wheat bread, chicken flavored croissants, whoopie-pies, and Ben’s old friend the Long John (know as juanitos-little johns- at our bake shop) to name a few! You see, when he was a little boy his treat for good behavior on shopping trips with mom was a long-john donut at the end of the day. How sweet is that?


If you’re not sure what a Long John is – you’re missing out. We suggest you hop on the nearest Greyhound to Lancaster County and try one out for yourself, or come on down to Xela – but make sure it’s on a Tuesday or Friday! For us, the Bake Shop is our slice of heaven, a refuge from beans and rice! Gracias a Dios!

snacking on a juanito at Laguna Chicabal