Cinnamon Roll Lady’s second book rich in Cape Breton culture and cooking

PORT HOOD, N.S. — Mary Janet MacDonald, who many know as the internet’s ‘Cinnamon Roll Lady’ didn’t think she had another cookbook in her, but boy is she ever glad that she did.   

“Tunes and Wooden Spoons: Love Without Measure” is already an Amazon bestseller and it follows the equally successful “Tunes and Wooden Spoons: Recipes from a Cape Breton Kitchen.”  

The latest serving has some of her favourite recipes, just like the first book that caught fire hot on the heels of her popular Facebook cooking show that began entertaining the masses during the pandemic, especially with that famous cinnamon roll recipe.   

The hook this time, though, is that she’s reached out to some senior bakers, mostly on Cape Breton’s west coast, for their must-have dishes.  

Along the way, she discovered that not only are these cooking creations family favourites, but the women who have put them together are pillars of their families with interesting backstories all on their own.   

“There’s good memories,” MacDonald said from her Port Hood home.   

“I got a lot out of those interviews from those beautiful women who were just quiet and unassuming women who were the backbones of their families. They were there and doing so much and worked so hard in those days.”   

A second book was first proposed in January by Vernon Oickle, the managing editor of MacIntyre Purcell Publishing, and she initially said ‘no.’ 

She considered that first book her one shot to share the recipes she’d known for years, though she had more.   

She then brought the suggestion to a family gathering and Margie MacDonald, her eventual co-author, simply asked what she loved most about writing the first book.   

“I said, ‘I loved that I could pay tribute to my three mothers and that they’ll live on in those pages and long after they’re gone. I’ll live on for my grandchildren and great-grandchildren that will come.”   

Her co-author said all the mothers and grandmothers in her latest book could be remembered in the same way.  

Thoroughly convinced by that comment, she turned to family members, many of whom are in their 80s and 90s and then realized she was mapping the west coast with her contributors. Cultures and history followed to create an interesting concept.   

In the book, you’ll meet Anne MacLellan whose interesting backstory includes a meeting with former U.S. President John F. Kennedy.  

She met JFK in April of 1958 when he was still a senator, had him sign an autographed photo and had a brief conversation with him.   

Kennedy would later send a letter to MacLellan to tell her how much he appreciated that meeting.   

Her recipe for Annie’s molasses cookies looks pretty tasty, too.   

Hermina van Zutphen details her family’s migration from Holland to Canada, her love for her large family and her homemade breads, buns and rolls.    

You’ll also meet a Mi’kmaq grandmother who faced down discrimination and an Acadian grandmother who saw her father go to work at the gypsum plant while her mother tended the farm.   

Jessie MacDonald was 106 years old when the book authors sat down with her to hear her story, learn her recipe for pinwheel cookies and even listen to her recite a poem from her school years.    

Janet would later personally deliver a book copy before it hit the store shelves, as she did with all contributors. Jessie opened the book to her picture’s location and said ‘not too bad’ before spending an afternoon going through the entire book and commenting on it.   

“Last Monday, I attended her funeral,” the author recalled.    

“She’s passed on, but at the wake and at the funeral I talked to a couple members of the family and they were just so honoured to see her in that book for everyone to see. I’m so glad to have picked her. To think that she just sat that day of the interview and recited that Robert Louis Stevens poem … that’s what she recited to me that day.”   

MacDonald’s first book has sold over 17,000 copies to date. First orders for her second have been snatched up, as well, and a second order is in the works.   

She said ‘a ton’ of books were sold during its book launch on Oct. 15 in Antigonish and is hopeful many more will be moved during a book signing event at Indigo Spirit at the Mayflower Mall today from 1-4 p.m.   

Either way, she remains surprised by the popularity of her book and weekly Facebook broadcasts that got her surprising writing career started.

“Really, if you knew me, I’m just a mom and a grandma baking in the kitchen and I love to bake for my kids and grandkids and my husband,” she said.   

“For this to happen to me and to have … followers that mean so much to me, I just can’t get over what happened. It happened and I’m serving a purpose in this world and that is fine.”   

Facebook broadcasts will continue to be weekly events until the end of December when they will switch to monthly.   

“It was a COVID thing. You are not doing it for money. I never reached out for any sponsorship or anything like that. It served a purpose.”   

Another venture may follow. Details of that are a best-kept secret for now.   

She said she won’t do a third book, but she’s said that before, too.

– Greg McNeil is a multimedia journalist with the Cape Breton Post. Follow him on Twitter @CBPostGreg.