Maria Bares of Deerfield is the owner of The Bakers Hands (facebook.com/thebakershands), a homestead business that offers a variety of baked goods, like cinnamon rolls, biscuits, cakes, scones and breads, plus specialty treats like dairy-free mango pudding and blueberry lemon thyme cake. Bares, who has been baking since she was a kid growing up in an Italian household, said she saw an opportunity to launch The Bakers Hands once Covid-19 began to affect New Hampshire. She started with advertising her baked goods on a Deerfield town Facebook page before later creating one for her own business. The response was so positive (Bares said she sold eight dozen cinnamon rolls in just 10 minutes) that The Bakers Hands is now taking weekly orders online, with pickups available at her Deerfield home every Saturday between 10 a.m. and noon.
What is your must-have kitchen item?
My tried and true KitchenAid mixer.
What would you have for your last meal?
Definitely tacos. Some nice crispy pork tacos with a ton of onions and a good hot sauce.
What is your favorite local restaurant?
Umami [Farm Fresh Cafe] in Northwood. They have the best burgers and lattes.
What celebrity would you like to bake for?
I would probably die if [baker and Great British Baking Show judge] Paul Hollywood ordered from me. He’s my bread-baking idol.
What is your favorite thing to bake?
I think it would be the cinnamon rolls. Even though I do the weekly specials, there’s someone just about every week that comes to pick up the cinnamon rolls.
What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?
If I had to guess, I’d say it’s more people enjoying and supporting farm-to-table [restaurants].
What is your favorite thing to bake at home?
Homemade bread. I like to do a lot of Dutch oven breads.
Mixed berry buttermilk cake
Courtesy of Maria Bares of The Bakers Hands in Deerfield
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
⅔ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon almond extract
Zest of one lemon (about 1 teaspoon)
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup buttermilk
1 cup mixed berries (or any fruit)
1½ tablespoons granulated sugar or cinnamon sugar for topping
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 9-inch round cake pan. In large bowl, beat softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about two to three minutes). Beat in egg at medium speed until fully combined, then beat in almond extract and lemon zest. In a separate small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add a third of the flour mixture to the batter, and mix at low speed until just combined. Pour in about a third of the buttermilk, then mix at low speed again until just combined. Continue alternating the rest of the flour and buttermilk. Mix until just combined each time; don’t overmix, as the batter will be quite thick. Scoop batter into cake pan and spread out evenly. Add berries evenly scattered over top of the batter. Sprinkle 1½ tablespoons of sugar over the top. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. Serve cooled cake dusted with powdered sugar or topped with whipped cream.