Anthony and I took a trip to the bakery to see where all the magic happens in all of their baked goods that are always a hot commodity around Lake County.
If you have never been to the Libertyville Farm, you need to get up from under the rock you’re under (just kidding). Seriously the farm not only features a petting area with a multitude of sheep, goats and other animals, but they also offer mini-golf, a mini-train ride, cow bounce house and an Old World carousel where you can taste a little bit of history.
In addition to all of those highlighted family-fun activities, gaze upon the eyes of the puppies and try not to adopt one of these little critters. They also house the Dogwood Garden & Pet Center, Magnolia Café & Bakery, the Cedar Chest Thrift Shop and the Sugar Maple Country Store.
Lambs Farm also gives back, as all of the businesses in the fantastic farm benefit programs for people with developmental disabilities.
On our trip, Anthony and I watched how all of the delicious sweet treats are created. Lambs Farm Chef Julie Swieca-Gannon walked us through the process as well as informed us of other sweet tooth eats are baked there.
Swieca-Gannon was aided by workers Jimmy, Seema, Chris, David, Peter and Joanna while baking their legendary butter cookies.
The process begins with Julie and the rest of her helpers feeding a tray of dough into a contraption that gathers the dough and shapes these pieces into mini-stars. They shaped and baked at least 2,000 cookies in one sitting.
From there, this system is a streamlined process where these trays are moved to a table where many gather around these star-shaped cookies to place sprinkles on the treat.
Soon enough, these stars are ready to go into the oven, rise and ready to be served.
Besides baking batches upon batches of cookies, Swieca-Gannon and company bake bars, brownies, cannoli, breads and other varieties of baked goods.
[caption id="attachment_4614" align="alignright" width="219"] Jimmy and Swieca-Gannon[/caption]
Swieca-Gannon’s staff that include Joanna, Peter, David, Chris, Seema, Jimmy and others also work in other parts of the farm like the country store.
Take your family out to visit Lambs Farm this weekend. The farm stays open till November 1.
Continue hereto watch the cookie making process on Visit Lake County’s webisode with Director of Marketing Anthony Haag.
