Jenna Vanacore had always enjoyed baking but, when she was diagnosed with celiac disease 12 years ago, she went into overdrive. “I was frustrated with the lack of choices,” she recalled, “and not happy with most of the products.” If her sweet tooth was to be satisfied, she was going to have to do it on her own.
From baking for herself, Vanacore went on to selling her products on Etsy and at local farmers markets, to adding wholesale accounts in 2022 and then, in October, launching her Massapequa shop, The Gluten Free Treat Shop. It’s a light-filled, welcoming space, done up in pastels and white marble.
Celiac disease, for the uninitiated, is an autoimmune condition that renders sufferers unable to digest gluten, a protein found in wheat as well as in other grains such as rye, barley and triticale. It affects about 1% of the population, and there are many more who identify as gluten sensitive or gluten intolerant, or who just prefer to avoid it. Still others are allergic to wheat.
One signature item at the shop is the big, diner-style cookie covered with sprinkles. “That’s what every kid wants at the diner,” Vanacore said. She views children as her toughest customers because “they will always be honest if they don’t like it.” All the cookies — sprinkles, traditional chocolate chip, dark chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips — are $6.50 apiece, three for $10, a platter of nine for $28. The shop’s offerings change with the season and her whim, but you’ll always find platters of rainbow cookies ($22), individual cakes ($8), packs of biscotti ($15), muffins ($4.50), bagels and breads ($3 to $9.75).
The proscribed gluten is precisely the element of wheat flour that makes it so helpful for baking — it’s the protein that provides structure. But Vanacore said that she’s found techniques for solving the challenges of baking without it. It has been the logistics of running a gluten-free business that have been more difficult than the actual baking.
Jenna Vanacore is the baker-owner of The Gluten Free Treat Shop in Massapequa. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
Back when she was baking at home, she had to maintain a 100% gluten-free kitchen to avoid cross contamination. (She is forever grateful to her non-celiac husband for never complaining.) When her business outgrew her home kitchen, she was unable to rent space in a shared coop kitchen — as so many fledgling operations do — because, again, the risk of cross contamination was too great. Last year, when she came across the former Baked by Emily Rose space, she initiated a de-glutenization that involved having the ovens professionally cleaned and replacing their fans. Everything else in the kitchen — mixers, pans, utensils, storage bins — was replaced.
She’s mindful that while gluten-free baked goods are increasingly popular, they are often bought by people who prefer to avoid gluten but will suffer no physical harm if they accidentally consume it — which can lead some purveyors to be less serious about cross contamination. That’s why she is so adamant about maintaining a gluten-free space, why she posts a “no outside food and drinks” sign on the door and why “gluten free had to be in the name of the shop. It’s so important,” she declared, “I want to shout it from the rooftops.”
The Gluten Free Treat Shop, 518 Broadway, Massapequa, 516-804-0250, theglutenfreetreatshop.com. Open Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Erica Marcus, a passionate but skeptical omnivore, has been reporting and opining on the Long Island food scene since 1998.
Dining and Cooking