This New Yorker is baking Passover treats from an apartment

As any kosher foodie knows, it's hard to find truly delicious kosher desserts at your average New York bakery or deli—hence the general preference to bake treats in the comfort of one's own home. That's hopefully about to change thanks to Jamie Fomberstein's two-month-old business, Kosher Sweet Kravings.

The 32-year-old, mother-of-three bakes holiday-themed desserts that are kosher. (Full disclosure: although all of her ingredients, utensils and the kitchen she cooks out of are fully kosher, she is still waiting on her official certification.) She started off with delicious hamentaschens for Purim in mid-March and is now taking orders for Passover mandel breads, jumbo macaroons and matzo cracks. 

"I always had trouble finding really good holiday-themed desserts that are kosher," she says. "There's always a long line at the store, they are overcooked and hard to find." 

After having her first child—who is now three years old—Fomberstein stopped working in real estate but, a few months ago, she felt the need to start something of her own. "I was always entrepreneurial and very creative," she explains. "I was in the Hamptons with my kids and we were at the house and I said, 'I want to do this.' So I created an Instagram account and had no business plans—and here we are!"

Following in the footsteps of many other at-home cooks that took to Instagram to launch food-related businesses that New York customers tend to flock towards, especially after a pandemic that left many eateries closed for months on end, Fomberstein is clearly onto something: her orders are increasing exponentially and, if comments on her Instagram page are of any indication, folks are loving what she's making.

She creates her own recipes inspired by the desserts she has grown up eating, including a pecan chocolate chip mandel bread, a funfetti white chocolate matzo crack and chocolate dipped jumbo macaroons.

The process to order any of her treats is a simple one: would-be customers are invited to fill out an order form right here and expect their delicacies just a few days later. Fomberstein offers free delivery on the Upper East Side, where she herself lives, or nationwide shipping for $15. (She'll even overnight orders so that they won't melt.)

Although she currently bakes her very own recipes out of an empty apartment that a friend of hers has given her access to, she hopes to soon migrate to a bigger, industrial space not too far from home. 

Given her present-day situation, though, Fomberstein is happy to also offer some tips to home bakers who hone their craft in small apartments. "You have to learn your oven!," she says. "In a New York City apartment, the top and bottom racks of the oven usually cook unevenly so you'll want to test what you're making time-wise." Another piece of advice: use silicone pad mats when baking so as not to waste space with keeping stock of parchment paper and things of the sort. 

As Passover approaches, Fomberstein warns that she'll have to close off orders by the end of this week. Worry not, though! The baking guru reveals that, once the holidays are over, she plans on selling Shabbat boxes filled with goodies to devour during Friday night dinner.

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