Spotlight ✨ Sunday ✨ // Going Gluten-Free with Jen from Jenny's Kitchen

Image from Jenny's Kitchen Gluten Free Baking FB

It was my boss who introduced me to Jenny's Kitchen. He was serving a touristy couple and they asked where they could go for a coffee and he recommended Jenny's Kitchen. He even went so far as to say he got the nicest scone he has ever eaten in there. That intrigued me. Years of making batch after batch of scones for Home Economics in school has given me an appreciation for them. I also made them for my Junior Cert exam and it ended up being a disaster - lets just say things started going downhill when I realised I forgot to turn the oven on - 40 minutes in to the exam.

Jenny - Owner of Jenn'y Kitchen
Artisan Gluten Free Bakery

Jen is soft spoken and you can only really hear her South African accent come through when I ask her about what would be the traditional baked good in South Africa and she describes rusks to me - no, not the biscuits you give babies. I can only hope that some day she can master the art of baking them - they're incredibly hard to get right - because she described them in such a way that I already want 20 of them.

Image from food.com

If you're reading this and you're from Nenagh or any of the surrounding towns, you'll remember the Lulu's Milkshake Parlour on Pearse Street. That's where Jenny's Kitchen is now and honestly you wouldn't think they're the same place, thanks to Jenny's creative eye for interior design. Gone are the bright blue hue Lulu's sported inside the shop and a huge chalkboard menu now lies where shelf after shelf of brightly coloured sweets once sat. The bakery has a warehouse feel in the main brick wall but subtle kitsch pieces give a warm, welcoming feeling, not to mention the smell of pastries the moment you open the door.     
  

                                                      

Jen advised the chocolate cake when I couldn't resist the desserts anymore and I swear a part of my soul imprinted on it later that night when I hoovered it. I had always thought gluten free automatically meant tasteless but I will happily put this bet out there "try her chocolate cake and tell me it's not delicious". Go on...I'll wait.

Cinnamon buns I SEE YOU!

So why gluten free? For Jen it was medical reasons but there are a number of reasons to go gluten free; coeliac disease, intolerance or sensitivity to gluten and dermatisis herpetiformis and unactive thyroid. But what I've learned first hand is that just because something is gluten free, doesn't mean it's tasteless. Jenny's Kitchen proves that! With a tummy full  of scone and coffee (the scone 100% lived up to expectations) I asked Jen what advise would she give someone thinking of starting their own business. She said "if you think you'll look back in five years time and regret not doing something, then do it. Because at least you'll know." 

Jenny's Kitchen opens from 9.30 to 5.30 Mon-Sat

Check out the bakery's FB page here

And that's it for another Spotlight Sunday!
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Until next time...

Aimee♥