Remember Peggy's Cinnamon Rolls? Well, they're back

Cinnamon roll lovers, here’s a name from Tacoma’s pastry past - Peggy Waldherr.

Remember her? She was owner and baker of Peggy’s Cinnamon Rolls, which operated in Freighthouse Square from 1987-2007. Rising commodity prices and overhead costs put Waldherr out of business back then. She was looking a few years ago to return to baking, but didn’t want to take on a new business by herself.

Now? Her seven-year hiatus is over. She’s baking again at Cafe Gabrielle, a month-old cafe and bakery in Port Orchard, owned by her friend Gabrielle Freeland.

“It’s fun for us to do it again, people still remember us,” said Waldherr about baking professionally again with her husband, Bob. “You know, it’s nice to be able to make my cinnamon rolls again. I’ve been making them at home for family and friends, but it’s nice again to sell them."

For newcomers to Peggy’s rolls, her cinnamon rolls are a raised yeast dough made with butter. Her rolls are topped with butter cream frosting, not cream cheese. "Cinnabon can have all the cream cheese," said Waldherr with a laugh. “This is the way I’ve always done it, with butter cream. That’s how I did when my kids were little and when we had the deli and the bakery."

Waldherr also is baking cookies and carrot cake for the cafe. A night baker makes fresh bread daily at Cafe Gabrielle.

Here’s something interesting - remember Peggy’s old space at Freighthouse? It most recently was Seasonal Delights, also a bakery that served cinnamon rolls. That bakery closed last year. Well, cinnamon rolls are once again slated for that space. I spied a “coming soon” sign for Sasquatch Cinnamon Rolls. Track their opening on their Facebook page.

Cafe Gabrielle707 Bay St., Port Orchard; 360-602-0246, facebook.com/CafeGabrielle

This story was originally published March 11, 2014 at 6:28 AM with the headline "Remember Peggy's Cinnamon Rolls? Well, they're back."