Micro Baker Em Wilson known for Pretzels and Pastries
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- On the last Sunday of every month, you'll find Emily Wilson at the Richmond Flea, her SUV hatch filled from floor to roof with trays of sweet and savory pastries.
She is known for her West Philly soft pretzels and her viennoiserie program that includes pastries like a cardamom pepita twice-baked croissant or double chocolate croissants made from laminated dough.
She makes danishes, both sweet and savory, like mama's meatball with seasoned ricotta, homemade sauce and her mom's recipe for mini meatballs.
Emily grew up in Wayne and got her first baking job at a donut shop in Florida before coming back to Philadelphia and honing her craft.
By 2023, though she was out of work and short on cash. So she started doing sidewalk bake sales outside of her West Philadelphia home. They took off in a big way.
She now shares a kitchen wtih another micro baker, Bake Bake Philly, at Globe Dye Works.
A poetry major in college, she says the pastries have become her creative outlet. Her croissant crunch cookies are made from the crumbs that fall on the tray when she cuts her croissants.
She saves the scrap dough from her croissant trimmings as well, re-laminates it and turns it into something she calls a snail.
It's a cinnamon roll-like shape but with the airy buttery taste of a croissant.
Her classic sweet flavor is a brown butter cinnamon snail.
She dubbed her first savory snail "pistachio pesto garden" because it was made with basil and tomatoes from her garden.
She says her goal is not to make money but to feed people and build community.
She holds pretzel-making classes too at her kitchen at Globe Dye Works.
Em Wilson Pastry | Instagram
Globe Dye Works, Suite A206
4500 Worth Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19124
May Pretzel-making Classes
May 3 & 4, noon-2pm
May 21, 6-8pm
email - emwilson7895@gmail.com | ordering + class tickets - hotplate.com/emwilsonpastry
Richmond Street Flea
Last Sundays of the month, April-November
