Whether you call them doughnuts or donuts, like them jelly-filled or straight-up glazed, it’s always time for these fried bits of heaven. But wasting calories on a day-old mess isn’t worth it. Sonoma County boasts over a baker’s dozen doughnut shops, so locals are never far from a fresh, fried delight.

Here are some of our favorite doughnuts in Sonoma County to enjoy on National Doughnut Day (June 5) or any day of the year.

New: SoCo Dough Co.

SoCo Dough Co., one of three recent additions to Graton Casino’s expanded nonsmoking wing, leans into Vegas-style excess. Doughnuts come stuffed with banana pudding, lacquered in espresso glaze, or topped with candied bacon, honeycomb streusel and li hing mui. There’s also the Millionaire’s Doughnut, the most expensive piece of fried dough in the county, but hardly the strangest item at SoCo Dough Co. That honor goes to the everything bagel doughnut filled with cream cheese. “Abomination” feels harsh but not entirely inaccurate.

Even in an era of over-the-top pastries, the lineup of 15 buttermilk doughnuts inspires childlike awe. There’s the Vietnamese Coffee Time, glazed with espresso and drizzled with condensed milk; the Rap Berry, with raspberry icing and white chocolate; and the Wake ’N Bacon, sticky with maple glaze and strips of candied pork. Tropic Like It’s Hot, mango-glazed, coconut-drizzled, and flecked with lemon zest, serves as a gateway to Matcha Made in Heaven, coated in green tea glaze and shredded coconut. 288 Golf Course Drive W., Rohnert Park, graton.com

Special Doughnut Day Deals

Krispy Kreme, Rohnert Park: Krispy Kreme offers a free doughnut on National Doughnut Day — no purchase necessary. The chain also typically offers a $2 Original Glazed dozen with the purchase of any dozen at regular price. This year, Krispy Kreme teams up with DoorDash to offer $7 off orders of $25 or more from June 4-18 (redeemable via the DoorDash app). “Hot Light” hours, when doughnuts are freshest, are 7-9 a.m. and 5-7 p.m. daily. 5090 Redwood Drive, Rohnert Park, 707-521-9154. krispykreme.com

Dunkin’, multiple locations: Customers get a free doughnut with a beverage purchase on June 5. The first Sonoma County outpost of this East Coast and Midwest favorite arrived in Petaluma to the delight of transplants. It now also has locations in Santa Rosa and Windsor. In addition to their legendary coffee, they have doughnuts in every flavor of the rainbow. Because that’s what doughnuts are made of: rainbows and love. 435 N. McDowell Blvd., Suite 50, Petaluma; 2739 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa; 6650 Hembree Lane, Windsor. dunkindonuts.com

Best Doughnuts in Sonoma County

Santa Rosa

Johnny Doughnuts: The successor to the much-loved City Garden Doughnuts excels with Crodoughs (a take on Cronuts, or croissant doughnuts), Bismarks (jelly doughnuts), cinnamon rolls, wheat-free doughnuts, vegan doughnuts, and all the sprinkles you want. 1200 Fourth St., 707-308-4836, johnnydoughnuts.com

Donut City: Fancy doughnuts with sprinkles, sugar and plenty of pizzazz are best bets here. Check out the Tiger Tail, a braided doughnut with chocolate swirls. 1331 Guerneville Road, 707-541-6141

Donut Bagel Cafe: Food-choosy friends swear this is the best doughnut cafe in town. Always packed. Jelly doughnuts are a favorite. Doughnut holes are also great. Takeout only. 750 Stony Point Road, 707-284-1012

Tan’s Donut: A go-to for straight-up office-worthy doughnuts. Don’t miss the buttermilk doughnut, a denser version of the glazed. The Guerneville Road location also serves up Cambodian cuisine. 1074 Fourth St., 707-568-3988; 2550 Guerneville Road, Suite E, 707-528-1567

The Jelly Donut: Our favorite raspberry jelly doughnut. Open daily from 3:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. the next day. Plus, get a dozen doughnut holes for only $2.75. Enough said. Takeout only. 443 Dutton Ave., Suite 10, 707-544-8494, instagram.com/thejellydonutsr

Andy’s Donuts & Bagels: Doughnuts that can turn a rough morning around. “This has been my favorite donut store for years. I lived in that neighborhood over 10 years ago and still come here,” wrote Shannen R. on Yelp. “Staff are always friendly, donuts are always tasty, can’t go wrong,” added Nick. O, whose Yelp profile photo is, fittingly, Homer Simpson. 1784 Piner Road, 707-541-0877

Sonoma

Danish & Donuts: Crullers are a specialty at Sonoma’s Danish & Donuts, along with yeasty doughnuts with sprinkles and maybe a Danish or two if you get there early. Takeout and delivery available. Boston cremes get top billing. 18580 Sonoma Highway, 707-938-1333

Petaluma

Donut Den: Nestled in an unassuming strip mall on the corner of North McDowell and Old Redwood Highway, the Donut Den has earned a devout following on Petaluma’s east side. The shop makes creatively designed doughnuts, including holiday-themed treats. Custom doughnuts and apple fritters are best bets. 1390 N. McDowell Blvd., 707-792-1312, instagram.com/the_donut_den

Keny’s Donuts: This doughnut shop has been around since 1984 and has been a favorite among Petaluma high schoolers for decades. “This is not the hipster, organic doughnuts place … this is Sunday morning I want a good donut!” wrote Dara Krahne Peloquin on the Save Sonoma County Restaurants page. 202 Douglas St., 707-765-3961. Find on Facebook.

Sunrise Donuts: Chocolate cake and blueberry doughnuts are favorites at this neighborhood spot. “Boy, it’s safe to say it would take a lot to make me get emotional about donuts, but Sunrise Donuts made it happen!” said one enthusiastic reviewer. Takeout. 68 E. Washington St., 707-762-6601. Find on Facebook.

Rohnert Park

Kailey’s Donuts: A cute doughnut shop with even cuter doughnuts. Raised or filled, glazed or sprinkled, it’s hard to go wrong with the assortment of sweet offerings. 931 Golf Course Drive, 707-971-5974

Windsor

BurtoNZ Bakery: You can thank the Kiwis for coming up with a cream and raspberry-filled doughnut that’s about the best thing since sliced bread. This New Zealand specialty is a not-too-sweet fried torpedo rolled in sugar, split down the middle and stuffed with whipped cream and a schmear of seedless raspberry jam. Oh, so good with morning coffee, an evening dessert or any time in between. 9076 Brooks Road S., 707-687-5455, burtonzbakery.com

Happy Donuts: Solid raised and glazed doughnuts, plus delightful apple fritters and maple bars. Find a second outpost in Cloverdale (1117 S. Cloverdale Blvd., Suite C). 8962 Brooks Road S., 707-838-3526, happydonuts.me

Healdsburg

Flakey Cream Do-Nuts & Coffee Shop: A favorite since the 1960s, this classic coffee shop offers a full breakfast and lunch menu. But it’s the doughnuts in the window every morning that have been drawing kids and hungry grown-ups to this spot for more than 50 years. They even have a “buy five, get one free” deal for their doughnuts. Amazing glazed doughnuts. 441 Center St., 707-433-3895, flakeycreamcoffee.com

Heather Irwin and Maci Martell contributed to this article.

The post Where to Get the Best Doughnuts in Sonoma County appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Faith isn’t a prerequisite to stop in for coffee and pastries at Redwood Gospel Mission Baking Co. — but you might just leave praising the holy trinity of flour, butter and sugar.

The North Bay nonprofit opened its new coffeehouse and bakery Tuesday, April 14, offering housemade croissants, kouign-amann, scones, sandwiches, salads and espresso drinks. The venture also serves as a culinary training program and pathway toward future employment for people in the gospel mission’s residential programs.

Tucked into a quiet medical park that houses the mission’s Family Campus, the cafe is a bright, cozy space with a large redwood community table and plenty of room to sip a morning coffee while checking emails or contemplating a warm chocolate chip cookie.

“We want to see transformation in the lives of our students and measurable impact on the community,” said Paul Haddorff, the mission’s director of food services.

A graduate of Santa Rosa Junior College’s culinary program and a former fine-dining chef, Haddorff oversees the kitchen alongside Doug Cavaliere, a longtime bakery owner whose guidance has helped students produce glossy, well-laminated pastries, fresh breads for toast and sandwiches and a rotating selection of galettes.

Only days into its soft launch, the menu is impressively executed. There’s no shortage of butter in the croissants ($4.50 to $5.50), the glazed lemon scone is a favorite ($4.50), and the kouign-amann is caramelized and crisp with a soft center ($6.50). The avocado toast with goat cheese, pickled onion and hot honey ($6) is worth a return. Sandwiches come with greens, roasted potato salad or chips, making the half chicken caprese ($10) a deal.

Food service manager LaDonna Lane completed the Gospel Mission’s program more than 30 years ago and now helps guide participants through the same process.

“These women come through the program and get a job,” she said. “And hopefully they launch and do what they’re really good at.”

The Baking Co. is part of a growing network of social enterprises operated by Redwood Gospel Mission, which also includes a coffee roastery, a catering business and a thrift store. The organization provides shelter, meals, recovery programs, job training and spiritual support for people experiencing homelessness or seeking stability.

The cafe is open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, with lunch service starting at 10:30 a.m. 2447 Summerfield Road, Santa Rosa, rgm.org

The post Redwood Gospel Mission Baking Co. Opens in Santa Rosa With Pastries and Job Training appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

The long lines at Quail & Condor were once almost as much a part of the Healdsburg bakery’s identity as its flaky croissants, sticky cinnamon buns and tangy sourdough loaves. Few seemed to mind the wait at the original, dollhouse-size shop, where the scent of sugar and warm bread could soothe even the hangriest crowd.

Still, the anxiety of missing out on the last scone or cream-filled Danish could fray nerves. Paired with the chaotic parking lot — full of sugar-crazed kids and lumbering SUVs — and the fact that there was nowhere to sit and savor your coffee and cake, it was enough to push even the most patient into a low-grade panic.

The bakery’s new location at 44 Mill St. remedies it all.

Just a week before Thanksgiving, owners Sean and Melissa McGaughey opened the doors to the 3,650-square-foot space. The building, part of the freshly minted warehouse district called The Row, has more seating, real parking, a quicker line and — as a fresh design touch — a wall of vintage skateboards. Just a short walk from their original storefront, the new digs are also next door to a yoga studio, Parish Café, Jane Dispensary and the soon-to-open Acre Pizza.

“We were wearing old, tight pants,” Sean said, recalling how cramped the former bakery had become. The buzz of a super-popular spot had its charms, but he and Melissa were ready to ease the stress on themselves, their staff and their ever-growing clientele.

“I like a little party,” he added, “just not all the time.”

A new space, a new vibe

Quail & Condor’s evolution has been a story of community from the start. What began with Melissa’s pop-up bakery at the Healdsburg farmers market in 2020 gained national fame after a New York Times article declared the couple’s bakery one of the best in America.

“It’s called daily bread for a reason,” Sean said. “Bakeries provide community. Sometimes it’s a gathering spot, and sometimes you’re just filling your pantry, but it’s an ecosystem.”

The McGaugheys’ culinary roots run deep. Before Quail & Condor, they worked together at Healdsburg’s three-Michelin-starred SingleThread, where they honed their craft under the direction of chefs Kyle and Katina Connaughton. Their experience at SingleThread — a hub of innovation and fine dining — helped shape their approach to food, blending artistry with precision.

They’ve also launched Troubadour Bread & Bistro, a dual-purpose spot on Healdsburg Avenue where they serve casual sandwiches by day and transform the space into the high-end French restaurant Le Dîner by night.

At the new Quail & Condor location, the couple and their staff can get even more immersed in the community. With its soaring roll-up doors and vast white walls (currently being transformed with murals), it not only gives the bakers elbow room but reconnects them with the people they serve.

“People see their baker, and now the bakers get to see people taking a bite of something they made,” said Melissa, who won Food Network’s “Holiday Baking Championship” in 2019 and is currently a contestant on the fifth season of “Alex vs. America.”

Though the couple hesitated to leave the funky, indie nook where it all began, the additional space — which they’re already growing into — feels like a blessing. The wall of vintage skateboards, sourced from Facebook Marketplace and friends’ castoffs, keeps the indie vibe alive.

More than just pastries

The new space has allowed for an expanded menu. While pastries are still the star, Melissa, who has Turkish roots (her father is from Turkey, her mother from the Philippines), has long wanted to add more breakfast options — some influenced by her heritage.

There’s the simit ($9), a supersized sesame bagel topped with charred leeks and cream cheese; baked eggs with garlic yogurt and chili oil ($14); and the Turkish breakfast ($22), which she describes as her most personal dish. It includes a soft-boiled egg in its shell, four triangles of cheese, olives, roasted vegetables and a side of sourdough toast with jam — “exactly the way my dad made it,” she said.

Other dishes include a sourdough waffle with lingonberry jam and Vermont maple syrup ($15); a hearty grain porridge ($12) made with quinoa, rice and oats; and a savory vegetable quiche paired with an herb salad ($15).

Don’t miss the extensive toast menu ($5–$14), which features thick slices of multigrain bread with a variety of spreads, from pistachio butter and hazelnut spread (highly recommended) to cultured butter and more substantial toppings like lox and cream cheese. There’s also a Lamborghini-level avocado toast with chili oil.

Quail & Condor also serves espresso drinks, a homemade chai latte and drip coffee. Expect more menu additions after the holidays. Open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

44 Mill St., Unit J, Healdsburg; 707-473-8254, quailandcondor.com

The post Popular Healdsburg Bakery Quail & Condor Debuts Larger Location appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Around a bend along rural Red Hill Road outside Petaluma, where green and gold grasses carpet the hills and century-old barns hunker down like sentries, you’ll find one of Sonoma’s unlikeliest foodie treasures: the hobbit-size wagon that’s home to Mary Denham’s indie pastry project, Blooms End at Neighboring Fields.

There’s no sign along the road — it keeps blowing away in this windy corridor of the valley — just a sharp turn into the parking lot for Tenfold Farmstand. Right next to the 130-year-old schoolhouse-turned-market, you’ll find Denham’s tiny perfect world, which draws customers from across the Bay Area for croissant tarts smoothed with aprium jam, golden olive oil cake with oro blanco grapefruit cream, and savory Turkish urfa butter snails with garlic labneh and herb salad.

The rural location, with cows grazing the hills just beyond and barely any cell reception, makes sense for this highly creative artist who pours her heart into everything she does, from sourcing exquisite ingredients to restoring a vintage wagon to arranging seasonal blooms for her pastry displays. “I’ve always been more at home in the country,” Denham explains, pouring a cup of fragrant bergamot rooibos tea from Oakland’s Molly’s Refresher.

Just a few years back, Denham, who is in her early 30s and grew up in the suburban East Bay, launched her business with a series of Bay Area pop-ups, working out of a shared kitchen in pursuit of being her own boss and focusing on her love of baking. “I went to culinary school, I had worked in local bakeries and restaurants, and I was always observing,” she says. “I always knew what I wanted to do, which is bake every day, source every single ingredient thoughtfully, and then talk directly to every single one of my customers.”

Denham embraces nostalgia in many aspects of her work, dressing in vintage prairie and cowgirl clothes, piling her hair in a “Little House on the Prairie”-style updo, and speaking in a romantic cadence. Her darling, custom-built shop is not a trailer, for example, and absolutely not a food truck. “It’s a wagon,” she says. “I find words very important, for how we picture and experience things.”

Denham admits she cried when she first saw the wagon, loving its oval batard shape and coloring, but not its plainness. She transformed it herself, designing and printing custom patterns for curtains and wallpaper and building rustic wood shelves to display her pastries. Secondhand stores provided mugs, plates, and even the vintage printers letterpress trays that guests use to carry their feasts to the picnic tables on the schoolhouse lawn.

“After years of doing pop-ups, I had learned to build a world within the confines of a 6-foot folding table,” she explains. “So I fill the wagon with lots of vintage accessories and fresh flowers, and really create an altar to the pastries. Transformation is really all about the details.”

Denham takes that same thoughtful approach to her recipes. “I think sweets have this great ability to transport us back to our childhood, back to specific moments in time,” the chef says of her lacy tart hand-shaped to look like a rose stuffed with vibrant pink pearl apple slices, raspberry jam, and custard cream cheese.

For her signature coffee-cardamom monkey bites, Denham cuts cardamom and orange zest-infused croissant dough into little squares and tosses them with sugar mixed with coffee from Mother Tongue Coffee of Oakland — decaffeinated, she notes, since the bites are popular with children. As they bake, the sugars meld with the butter and the tops crisp up while the bottoms caramelize into chewy bliss.

Many customers are regulars, including Julie Cloutier, a Sebastopol ceramicist, who stops in with a friend at least once a month. “It’s like taking ourselves out on a date,” she says. “The drive out sets the vibe, and Blooms End is this beautiful dream world that we get a slice of.”

In a few more weeks, Denham will partner with Tenfold to host Tomato Days, an event she launched last year with tomato-filled pastries and pie, a funky, tomato-themed mixtape, and handmade tomato pins to hand out to fans. The pie itself, a southern-style tribute with heirloom tomatoes, cheddar, basil, and red onion, has proved so popular she now offers it all summer.

Keeping the ideas flowing isn’t a challenge, Denham says, packing a to-go box brimming with a Meyer lemon moon pie, a labneh-iced cinnamon roll, a bergamot- vanilla bean morning bun, and a smoked ham-and-Emmental croissant draped in homemade plum-currant jam. “On my days off, I like to go to vintage markets and estate sales,” she says. “And customers help me out. People see that I love prairie dresses and cute old things, and they’ll bring me them.”

Customers also ask, constantly, if Denham ever plans to expand, into a larger shop, an upscale restaurant supply, or even a franchise. And with a happy smile, she always says no. She’s seen too many other bakers get weighed down with the demands of bigger businesses with bigger overhead. “Most of the larger business owners I saw were not baking anymore, because you have to give a lot of concessions to make a business succeed in the traditional way,” she says.

She prefers to be the one getting up around midnight for a final bake, dressed in a band T-shirt and Carhartt overalls. She likes to accommodate pre-orders personally, since her stock sells out so quickly. And she still thrills to each day at the wagon, when she gets to put on a vintage dress and greet her customer-friends.

“It’s hard to make money at baking, with such a small business,” she says. “It takes over your life. But I absolutely love what I’m doing, every little bit of it, so it’s a joy to devote my whole world to.”

Blooms End at Neighboring Fields. Open 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Take San Antonio Road from Highway 101 towards the coast. 5300 Red Hill Road, Petaluma. 415-949-0654, blooms-end.com

The post Mary Denham’s Blooms End is Petaluma’s Unlikeliest Foodie Treasure appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

If you’ve ever stood in line at Petaluma’s Sarmentine Bakery, you’ll know that the baguettes go fast and the éclairs even faster. The French patisserie that began as a pandemic pop-up has been winning over the hearts and taste buds of Sonoma County with its flaky chocolate croissants, lemon tartlets and fancy Financiers.

Now, husband-and-wife owners Alexandra and Louis Zandvliet are tackling brunch.

The new Petaluma-only menu, which launched last week, is a siren song of fluffy brioche sandwiches, salmon-laden croissants with hollandaise sauce, and bread pudding in a pool of crème Anglaise.

“We want people to love us,” said chef Don Provencio, who recently joined the Sarmentine team and handles the brunch menu. He became a fan of Sarmentine while working as a chef at Château St. Jean winery in Kenwood and was eager to collaborate on a heartier menu.

It’s not hard to love Provencio’s thick-cut French baguette toast soaked in vanilla custard, griddled and topped with kisses of mascarpone and fresh berries, or bread pudding made with canele (pastry thimbles of caramel), raisins and custard.

All brunch dishes feature the bakery’s breads and pastries. A few lucky day-olds make it into French toast or bread pudding — age-old recipes that turn simple loaves into sweet dishes.

Savory dishes include a croque madame topped with Emmentaler cheese and a poached egg; a salmon or vegetable croissant Benedict with scalloped potatoes; a Provencal-style tuna sandwich with capers and olives; and salade nicoise.

Because every brunch menu is required to include avocado toast, Sarmentine uses its seeded sourdough as a base for smashed avocado, goat cheese, sprouts and cherry tomatoes. You can also peruse what’s in the bakery cases, adding chocolate croissants, Paris-Brest or a brownie to your brunch.

Alexandra Zandvliet, a former midwife, began her baking career as a pandemic hobby in her home kitchen. She quickly gained a following, opening her first bakery (52 Mission Circle) in Santa Rosa. The bakery and patisserie became a beacon for the croissant and café au lait set with an ever-expanding lineup of cream puffs, éclairs, butter and ham baguettes, croissants, olive bread and dozens of other sweet and savory treats. A bakery at The Barlow in Sebastopol followed, and the Petaluma location opened in 2024.

The bakery won a Snail of Approval award in 2024 from two local chapters of the Slow Food organization — Russian River and Sonoma County North. The award is handed out annually to restaurants, food producers and farms that honor the practice of making good, clean and fair food for all people.

Brunch is served from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday through Monday — only at the Petaluma location. 840 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma, 707-623-9595, sarmentine.com

You can reach Dining Editor Heather Irwin at heather.irwin@pressdemocrat.com. Follow Heather on Instagram @biteclubeats.

The post Sarmentine Serves New Brunch With French Twist appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

You might expect pastries this incredible to be served at a fancy restaurant in the city. But in Sonoma, such treasures can be found each Saturday at an indie-minded farmstand along a winding two-lane mountain road.

Baker Lee Magner of Sonoma Mountain Breads got his start selling sourdough to his neighbors and recently launched a second retail setup on Sundays at Sonoma’s Valley Swim Club. For these pretty spring galettes, Magner macerates Stony Point strawberries in brown sugar, then lays them on a bed of almond cream in a rustic whole-grain dough. A final sprinkling of turbinado sugar brings extra crunch.

“This project has been such a great way to be catapulted into the beauty of what Sonoma County has to offer,” says Magner, who this spring will also be baking pistachio-praline French pastries and savory miso-roasted spring-onion bear claws — “like elevated sour cream and onion potato chips,” Magner says.

At Valley Swim Club, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sundays. 18709 Arnold Drive, Sonoma. For info on the Saturday farmstand, sign up at sonomamountainbreads.com.

The post Sonoma Baker’s Spring Strawberry Galettes Show Off Beauty of Local Bounty appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

As a line snakes out the door of the recently-opened Sarmentine Bakery in Petaluma — its third location now in the county — it’s easy to forget that co-owner Alexandra Zandvliet began her baking career as a pandemic hobby in her home kitchen.

In 2021, the Santa Rosa bakery (52 Mission Circle) quickly became a beacon for the croissant and cafe au lait-set with an ever-expanding lineup of cream puffs, éclairs, butter and ham baguettes, croissants, olive bread and dozens of other sweet and savory treats. A bakery at the Barlow in Sebastopol followed in 2023 and now the Petaluma Boulevard North location expands the floury empire.

The spacious new location is populated by a drool-worthy collection of bakery cases piled with cream-filled desserts like Paris Brest (pate a choux filled with praline cream) and Mille-Feuille, chocolate croissants, brioche buns, fruit tarts (the passion fruit is a favorite) and Madeleines. Tiny caneles have a sticky, crunchy crust and custardy center that buckle my knees with happiness.

The block seems to be a draw for French cuisine, with the recently-opened Brigitte Bistro across the street. A weekend brunch is in the works and there may be a few more surprises under Sarmentine’s beret. Petaluma’s hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday to Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

840 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, 707-623-9595, sarmentine.com

The post Popular Santa Rosa Bakery Brings Its French Treats to Petaluma appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

If buttercream had a fan club, I’d be its president and CEO, yet it’s taken me almost three days to get through two-plus inches of lipstick red strawberry frosting atop my Dolly Parton-themed “I Will Always Love You” cupcake.

And not for lack of trying because this is deliciously dense stuff.

Odd Cookie Bakery owner Anna Rodriguez is the wickedly creative confectionist behind this behemoth of a dessert. After getting her pastry degree at Tante Marie Cooking School in San Francisco, she operated a bar and bakery in Sacramento for several years before moving to Sonoma County.

Her pint-size Penngrove cookie and cake shop is all about over-the-top creations, like an eight-item cupcake series devoted to Parton, the country singer and musical icon.

Interpretations of the country singer’s songbook include: “Bubbling Over” (pink Champagne cake with buttercream bubbles and a yellow rubber ducky); “Baby I’m Burnin” (s’more cupcake filled with marshmallow cream topped with vanilla buttercream and toasted jumbo marshmallows); “I Will Always Love You” (strawberries and cream cake with fresh strawberries and red buttercream); “I Am A Rainbow” (funfetti cake with rainbow buttercream); and “Red, White and Bluegrass” (red velvet cake with red, white and blue buttercream).

Rodriguez also has paid homage to David Bowie and Prince with themed cupcake collections. I’ll be eager to see what she comes up with next. May we suggest singer Jelly Roll?

At Odd Cookie, supersized cookies are equally imposing. They include: “Call Me Old Fashioned” (browned butter cookie rolled in brown sugar and topped with butterscotch chips); “Oreo Speedwagon” (a soft cookie with cookies and cream swirl, cookies and cream Pop Tart center and topped with mini Oreos); “I’m Stuffed” (a cookie packed with Biscoff, white chocolate chips and stuffed with a cookie butter center); and “Chocolate Hazelnut Heaven” (dark chocolate cookie packed with toasted hazelnuts, hazelnut Oreos, chocolate chips, a Nutella center and topped with Ferrero Roche).

Cupcakes and cookies are each $5, which is kind of a steal considering the amount of sugar, butter and cuteness packed into each bite.

Open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. 10000 Main St., Penngrove, Instagram.com/oddcookiebakery

The post Every Bite’s a Sweet Surprise at New Penngrove Bakery appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

As if warm baguettes, flaky croissants, buttery sandwiches and rustic boule (round loaves of crusty bread) weren’t enough gluten-y temptation in these winter months, Sarmentine Bakery in Santa Rosa is baking authentic galette des rois, or king cake, throughout the month of January.

The round, crown-shaped cakes are a French tradition to celebrate the Epiphany, when the three wise men visited the baby Jesus. The fun of the traditional sweet dessert shared with family and friends is discovering the “feve” (bean) hidden inside the cake. The fortunate person who finds the bean in their slice is assured luck and prosperity and is named king, or queen, for a day.

For a local twist, Sarmentine has replaced the bean with a tiny porcelain Snoopy for the king or queen to find. This is Santa Rosa, after all, and the “Peanuts” puppy is a local icon. Along with luck and prosperity, the person with the fortuitous slice has the tab covered for next year’s cake.

You’ll have to sign a waiver to buy the cakes, however, taking personal responsibility if someone breaks a tooth or accidentally swallows the hidden treasure. We kid you not — a lawsuit about gobbling up a porcelain pup is no laughing matter.

Prices are $18 and $25 for the brioche galette de rois and $32 and $40 for the frangipane version. Order by calling 707-623-9595 or emailing order@sarmentine.com. 52 Mission Circle, Suite 112, Santa Rosa, sarmentine.com

Easy Rider Opening: A Southern-inspired restaurant with California flair is slated to open in Petaluma this week, featuring dishes like hush puppies with strawberry jalapeño jam, wild mushrooms and whipped goat cheese on a Meyer lemon loaf and Duroc pork chop with sweet potato grits and green beans.

Easy Rider will open in the former Drawing Board/Whisper Sisters space at 109 Kentucky St. The interior has been revamped to evoke a roadhouse feel, and there will be a large by-the-glass wine list, local beers and specialty cocktails. Chef Jared Rogers and restaurateur Dustin Sullivan of Marin’s Guesthouse are behind the project, with Executive Chef Mario Chivarria (Picco, Zero Zero) helping to craft the menu. Expect dinner daily and a boozy Southern brunch menu to come. More details at easyriderpetaluma.com.

The post Traditional King Cakes Get a Local Twist at Santa Rosa Bakery appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Red Bird Bakery has moved to Cotati. And they still have the best sticky buns. Ever.

After several years in a small Santa Rosa industrial space, former Della Fattoria bakers Linda and Isaac Cermak have moved to a more retail-friendly bakery and have expanded their menu to include pizzas, grab and go sandwiches, soup and toasts of every stripe.

Having tasted through literally everything in their shop — from the aforementioned sticky buns to yeasty cinnamon rolls, crackling croissants, patisserie items like eclairs, croissant butter horns and savory pies; cheesecake, muffins and of course, their winning baguettes and round boule — there’s no doubt that there’s something extra special happening here. It’s called French butter.

Made with a higher butterfat content and slightly fermented, or cultured, it makes all the difference in the flavor of their pastries. Though Linda says the buttery, caramel-topped sticky buns are a bit sweet for her taste, it’s well worth searching out the Cermaks in Cotati or finding them at the Saturday morning farmers market at the Veteran’s Building — all of which are at least 5,500 miles closer than Paris.

556 E. Cotati Ave., Cotati, 707-521-9838. Open daily from 7a.m. to 2p.m., facebook.com/redbirdbakerysantarosa

The post Red Bird Bakery Rises (Again) in Cotati appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.