Treat yourself and others this holiday season (and all year round)

By Sue Baldani

Splurge Bakery in Millburn is gearing up for the holidays, creating unique and delicious items for you and your family to enjoy. Whether you’re looking to celebrate with lavishly decorated cakes, amazing pies, and/or beautifully decorated cookies, they have it all. And, it’s all “home-made.”

“We do a lot of custom orders, so when people come in, we can make their dessert dreams come true,” says owner Julie Winer. “We bake with the highest level of ingredients and everything is made from scratch. We don’t use mixes.”

Husband Stephen and daughter Raquel also help out in the bakery whenever possible, so it’s a real family business. When pie season gets underway, Stephen actually travels to local farms to bring back the best apples and other produce to use in their pies, saving customers from making the trip themselves.

“Our pies always get great reviews,” says Julie. “We have apple pies with cinnamon-sugar crumb toppings, pecan pies, key lime, pumpkin, coconut cream, and banana cream pies in Nilla wafer crusts.”

All of the pies are sold in glass Pyrex^® dishes, so when you put it on your table, it looks like you made it at home. During COVID, Splurge Bakery also started working with schools and nonprofit organizations on fundraising, and created a special fundraising apple pie. “It’s a little smaller and in a traditional tin,” she says. “We offer it at a very good price so they can mark it up and sell it for a reasonable amount to raise money for things they need.”

Cookies are also a huge seller year round, and you’ll find Halloween and holiday cookies for Thanksgiving, Hanukah, and Christmas. Their amazing cakes will include Star of David and Christmas tree cakes along with holiday-themed cake pops.

They’ve also created something truly unique with Cake Buddies. About the size of a softball, they come in vanilla and chocolate, and are filled with candy. There are witches for Halloween, turkeys for Thanksgiving and many other fun-themed Buddies.

For the holidays, Julie recommends ordering at least two weeks in advance, if possible, to make sure you get what you want when you want it. Orders can also be placed online at https://www.splurgebakery.com/ for pickup, or they can be delivered or shipped.

In addition to ready-to-buy bakery items, Splurge also offers kids’ classes and parties in its beautiful backyard space, as well as inside. They usually hold Halloween parties, gingerbread house decorating classes, and cookie and cupcake decorating classes. There are also do-it-yourself kits to take home.  

“We care about our customers and have a lot of repeat customers,” says Julie. “We‘re like a family here.”

So, during the holidays, and all year round, join Splurge Bakery’s family of customers. You won’t be disappointed!

Written for Chatham & Short Hills Lifestyle magazine in New Jersey.