Auzerais Bellamy’s Blondies Are A Proustian Delight Made In Brooklyn

When Auzerais Bellamy was a kid growing up in Hayward, California, a church friend of her mom gave her a homemade pecan praline she never forgot. This Proustian moment translated, many years later, into Bellamy’s pursuit of her own dessert perfection. After 10 years of development, she hit on the winner: a blondie topped with just the right proportions of pecans and salted caramel. Her direct-to-consumer bakery, Blondery, headquartered in Brooklyn, now ships blondies all over the country — and not just the signature version but also a red velvet, a strawberry rosé, a cinnamon sugar, and a gluten-free.

I asked Bellamy what was so special about her childhood memory, the pecan praline that inspired it all. What was it about that particular sensory experience that struck such a deep chord? She said, “It was the texture, the butter, the packaging…. honestly, it was quite an experience. It tasted like love.”

Bellamy’s first culinary job was as a pastry cook at Wente Vineyards. She recalls, “I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and wanted to learn. As I matured in my career, I began to notice the levels of pastry. I saw that the banquet/hotel work was all about volume and that home baking was where you could be more creative. Restaurants and bakeries attracted me most because they were places where I could work at a fast pace but with great detail.” And it’s the meticulous attention to detail that makes her blondies stand out.

But it’s not as though launching her own business was easy. As a woman of color, she encountered several barriers to entry, none of which were atypical but all of which were nonetheless daunting. Bellamy says, “I didn’t have ‘family money’ or resources to tap into, and I’ve been adjusting to system barriers since birth, so I navigate it by not thinking too much about it and just doing what I want to do. If someone doesn’t want to work with me because I’m a woman of color, it’s their loss and I’m grateful for the redirection.”

And in a welcome twist of fate, the pandemic, which has shuttered so many small businesses, actually boosted Blondery’s sales, likely because of the direct-to-consumer model. Bellamy’s even making elaborate $195 birthday cakes that can be shipped overnight virtually anywhere. She adds, “In June, we made three times what I made in all of 2019. I beat my sales goal for the year by 65%, and sales have been up consistently 1000%+ since June. I’m super-excited because I’ve also hired two employees, moved into a bigger kitchen space, and my customer retention rate is well above average. We are on track to have a really great year!”

And I can attest that the blondies, a dessert genre I hadn’t really considered as a standalone before, are brilliant — dense, balanced, lovingly crafted.

There’s often a waiting list to order, but it’s usually only a matter of days before Bellamy is fully restocked and ready to roll again. Check out the Blondery menu here.