Winner! Winner!
It’s OK to spoil your dinner
By Billy Eye
Perhaps you’ve seen Veneé Pawlowski of Black Magnolia Southern Patisserie on a local news program or read about her in the News & Record or Yes! Weekly recently. The reason: Veneé’s Bourbon Banoffee Cinnamon Roll recipe is one of twenty winners in General Mills Foodservice’s 2020 Neighborhood to Nation Recipe Contest — the only winner in our state.
A year ago, Eye was the first to write about Black Magnolia’s sinfully delicious concoctions here in the Sazerac and later in a print edition of O.Henry. It’s been a wild ride for Veneé since last March, when she found herself unemployed and with a new baby.
First, Veneé began baking for family and friends, transforming a hundred-year-old home on Summit Avenue into her own personal cottage bakery in Greensboro’s Dunleath neighborhood. There, using locally sourced ingredients, she created scratch-made sweets and treats for every occasion. Thanks to good old-fashioned word of mouth advertising (aka, the best kind), her business took off fast.
She’s since moved to temporary digs in College Hill, fulfilling special orders from Monday through Saturday (don’t forget Beignet Sundays once a month) and supplying cinnamon rolls and Bacon Garlic Cheddar Biscuits (are their four more perfect words?) for purchase at The Green Bean downtown. Plans are afoot for other establishments to carry her baked goods. And be sure to look for her delectable goodies at the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market this spring.
Veneé tells me she submitted her recipe into the contest last September. “They chose 20 winners from across the country to win $5000 each, in addition to help with launching a promotional and marketing campaign.”
Veneé Pawlowski embodies the American entrepreneurial spirit. When facing a challenging situation in a most confusing time, she spun it into pure, unadulterated success. And you heard it here first.
Craving one of those award-winning Bourbon Banoffee Cinnamon Rolls? Find them at the Green Bean this Sunday. Or visit Black Magnolia Southern Patisserie on Facebook to order the most sumptuous looking and tasting cakes and desserts in town.
