In a world that is divided on every issue, there is one thing that brings us together: food. Food helps us appreciate countries and cultures that are different from our own. Caroline Johnson, founder of GreenIsland Bakery, kept this in mind when she started her business. . Founded in 2020, GreenIsland Bakery is Caroline’s way of bringing the authentic Irish taste to Washington, D.C.
Realizing that she missed the authentic taste of Irish and European baked goods, Caroline took it upon herself to do something about it when she moved to the United States. GreenIsland Bakery offers a wide variety of authentic Irish treats from Johnson family recipes that were passed down through generations.
Keeping true to her family recipes, Caroline recently launched a new baked good: salted Caramel Shortbread cookies. Using her mother’s Irish caramel recipe, Caroline sandwiched the golden, oozing perfection between two shortbread cookies. She launched this product with the intention of making a more retail-ready version of her Millionaire Shortbread, which is Irish shortbread layered with caramel and European chocolate.
While caramel is oozy and delicious, it also is sticky and gets everywhere. To reduce the risk of a sticky mess every time a customer consumes the cookie, Caroline reached out to a few experienced brands to help her develop a caramel that would set properly while maintaining its smooth, gooey texture. “After a few trial and error production runs, we got it the way we wanted it,” says Caroline.
Although the texture of the caramel was a critical factor in the success of her new product, Caroline also took the flavor into account. From customer feedback, she learned that people prefer salted caramel rather than regular caramel as the combination of salty and sweet doubles the taste sensation. Thus, Caroline concluded that she needed to work this taste sensation into her product.
In her product, Caroline caters to the desires of consumers while maintaining the Irish culinary authenticity and her mission of bringing together different backgrounds with her Irish pastries is exemplified. GreenIsland Bakery’s Salted Caramel shortbread cookies are available now at Union Kitchen locations!
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