SHIPPING is Monday-Thursday only. Allow 2-3 business days to process your order as most orders are made individually. Johnny & Elle’s Handmade Kitchen does not carry inventory for orders, they are made as needed. We are exploring options for a shipping calendar so that you may choose the shipping time frame, but as of yet haven’t found it. If you know of a shipping options calendar that works with Squarespace, please reach out! We are simple kitchen people, tech is above our paygrade.
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SHIPPING is Monday-Thursday only. Allow 2-3 days to process your order as most orders are made individually. Johnny & Elle’s Handmade Kitchen does not carry inventory for orders, they are made as needed.
What about allergens?
If you are Celiac, or allergic to nuts, I encourage you to take caution when ordering. Though each batch of cookies, toffee, nougat, brownies, et cetera…. are made by hand, in cleaned cookware, we operate in a small space full of different nut types, flour types, and allergens in general that are not separated. We recommend going to a specialty bakery that specializes in gluten free, nut free, dairy free, et cetera….
Do you use organic ingredients?
The short answer is, sometimes. It’s not our mission to use organic, or even the most expensive ingredients, but to use the best combinations of ingredients. We use Ghirardelli chocolate in particular because of its quality, consistent traits. We use multiple sugars, flours, butters, and even vanillas based on which brands and quality traits suit the end product the best. Some say Johnny has a natural talent of utilizing the right combinations and ratios of ingredients to make the end product the most significantly and uniquely made products.
How did you make the Maurice Lenell Pinwheel Cookies Recipe?
Johnny made a couple of versions of ‘copycat’ recipes online, but they were not close, not even a little bit, to what the Maurice Lenell Pinwheel Cookies were. They were good for cookies in general, but this passion project in particular is one that Johnny had been thinking about for almost two decades. So Johnny really started from scratch, although he now had information on what ‘not to do’ when making Maurice Lenell Pinwheel Cookies version. The process that Johnny came up with is incredibly labor intensive, but that might by why Johnny & Elle’s Handmade Kitchen got closest to the original cookies than anyone else. One difference that can be noted is that Johnny & Elle decided to use natural color sugar crystals (which are very, very, very limited in options) to coat the cookie dough, where Maurice Lenell almost certainly used regular dyed sanding sugar. We made the decision to make a cleaner product, and though the end product is near identical to what Johnny remembers growing up, the added ‘pops of sugar’ crystal texture to our Maurice Lenell Pinwheel Cookies version.
What makes your handmade products better than the others?
Johnny & Elle are born naturals at flavor combinations, textural balances, and creating unique products because of this. They don’t follow classical guidelines, weren’t classically trained, and don’t live in a box of ‘must’ or ‘have to’ thoughts. This freedom to explore, without worry of how we will be perceived, without structural societal restrictions, without the arrogance of perfection… these are the things that make Johnny & Elle’s Handmade Kitchen unique, so you know when you trust us with your support, we will deliver something you can’t get anywhere else.
Why all the “Chicago” connections?
Johnny’s claim to fame is creating an award winning giardiniera and condiment company, “Chicago Johnny’s Co.” He also spent over a decade researching Chicago style pizza making at home. Johnny authored “The Chicago Pizza Cookbook” available on Amazon here. Johnny has been featured on ABC’s Windy City Live and WGN Morning News. Elle grew up working in restaurants, born in Chicagoland, took a slight early 20’s detour to Florida to have some very bad pizza and sandwiches, and ended up back in Chicagoland.
How do you develop your unique recipes?
Most recipes are created with a spreadsheet, note taking, and an open cabinet of ingredients. Sometimes we’ll look at basic ratios of sugar to flour, or salt content, or something along those lines. However, almost all of it is trial and error. Make a small batch, try it, really sit on it for a few hours, maybe some days. Take some notes on our thoughts, then try to develop contrast of flavors or textures, or fortification of flavors or textures… should we go savory, should we go sweet, what is the best flour combination for depth of flavor… would this benefit from a different fat type…. So the short answer is, experience and a natural understanding of balance of flavor.
What do you do in the kitchen when you aren’t baking?
Johnny & Elle started years ago as a Cajun & Creole Catering And Events business. Cooking crawfish etouffee, jambalaya, gumbo, dirty rice, red beans and rice, voodoo chicken, et cetera in the mid 2010s. After a brief trip to JazzFest in New Orleans, Johnny knew he wanted to quit his job at a corporate bakery and sweat it out in the sun, selling Johnny & Elle’s own scratch made food. A few days in the heart of New Orleans, walking Frenchman St., seeing the artistry, the vibrancy of life that was like being in a different country… it changes a person. Johnny & Elle took to New Orleans lifestyle, culinary history, and sparked inspirations of childhood watching Emeril, Justin Wilson, and Paul Prudhomme on television and reading Edgar Allan Poe and Louisiana ghost stories as a child. The blend of history and culinary and oddities comes together in a trifecta of beauty in New Orleans.