McFarlan Bake Shop — Restaurant in Hendersonville

McFarlan Bakery is a pretty historic bakery in downtown Hendersonville on the third block of Main Street. They advertise on their website “made from scratch” baked goods, circa 1930.

I mean the baked goods weren’t baked in 1930 and for sale now. The business was started in 1930 and the baked goods are baked fresh. So yeah.

I decided to stop by because I was on the hunt for gingerbread cookies, and was headed into Hendersonville to swing by the Blue Ridge Humane Society Thrift Store to donate some of Mrs. Buttersworths outfits that didn’t fit him. None of his outfits fit him because he cons all of his sitters into believing that I don’t feed him enough, and ends up eating enough for three dogs on days that I’m at work.

Parking on Main Street can be a little complicated around the holidays, so if you don’t find a spot offhand, I suggest just parking on one of the side streets or over on Church Street, and enjoying the quaint little walk over to the bakery. When you see the large Coca Cola sign on the side of the building, you know you’re pretty close.

Place you’re order inside with the people behind the counter.

So when you first walk in the door you’ll notice the enchanting aroma of fresh baked goods, and cases upon cases filled with all kinds of delights from macaroons, to rum balls... rum cakes, cakes made to order, eclairs, cookies, shortbread, donuts - and way way more.

They even have “Stollen Bread”. It seems pretty brazen to advertise that they’re selling Stollen goods, and kinda illegal too. But, I’m certainly not one to judge & (admittedly) the loaves did look very tasty and would be a perfect addition to any holiday brunch.

There’s outdoor seating only, on the sidewalk - if you’re looking for a place to enjoy your pastries or made to order sammich*. Until the spring when the weather warms up, i’d suggest bundling up if you want to eat there.

They had so many delicious baked goods to choose from I got some extra to deliver to my neighborhood while caroling and spreading the holiday cheer.

Just kidding - I put my phone on “do not disturb” as soon as I got home, and watched Netflix in my pajamas with Mrs. Buttersworth, and vegged in peaceful solitude.

I dropped my bag of goodies on the way back to my car from the bakery (I was kind of in a rush since I purchased a loaf of Stollen Bread), and smudged my gingerbread mans lips so looked like he had just got home from a long night of drinking apricot schnapps.

The gingerbread man (or er person, that does sound kind of sexist - now that I think about it) was not only super adorbs & festive, it was chewy (my fave), fresh, and had just the right amount of molasses flavor & ginger snap to it. The cookie was, no doubt made from scratch - which is such a delight.

PS; while I was at the Thrift Store donating - I made sure to stop in and do some shopping and found some pretty ah-mazing treasures like antique Christmas ornaments for gifts, a container for Mrs. Buttersworths dog biscuits, as well as a vintage book...

Drove specifically to Hendersonville to experience this artisan style bakery and was woefully disappointed. I have been scouting bakeries to find an authentic sourdough bread. Their website and description looked very appealing and seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. After purchasing the so-called “sourdough”, I took advantage of one of their outdoor tables to sit down and try a sample and I even brought my own butter to enhance it. There was absolutely nothing sourdough about this bread at all… it didn’t smell like sourdough bread, it didn’t taste like sourdough bread, and the consistency was that of very soft normal white bread. Three different people tried it and all had exactly the same reaction. Don’t buy their sourdough bread expecting any kind of a unique experience… You might as well go to the local grocery store and buy Wonder Bread right off of the shelf. When we went back inside to confirm that this was their version of sourdough bread, they said Yep, this was it. We also tried the apple fritters and I can’t say I have ever had one that was more encrusted and layered with sugar. If you’d like a super sweet apple fritter consisting of basically caramelized sugar, then this will be the place to go but if you would like to taste something other than sugar, get something else. All in all, a negative experience and certainly did not live up to expectations....

I have heard for years how good this bakery was. So when my mother-in-law requested a chocolate pie for her birthday, I checked the website and they had a swiss chocolate pie posted. I called and asked if they had a chocolate pie and would have one in the display the following morning. I was told that they had a swiss chocolate pie but to insure that I had one by 11am the next day I would have to order and pay for it by phone. I placed the order for the Swiss Chocolate pie and paid by credit card. It was an outrageous prices of $18.31 but that was ok since I didn't want a chocolate pudding tasting pie. Well we go to pick it up the next morning only to receive a French Silk Pie(which my mother in law had specifically said she didn't want) I was then told that they only make the Swiss Chocolate seasonally. Now this was a special order pie so she should have been able to make what was ordered plus I was not told that is was a seasonal pie. The French Silk pie was just an Oreo cookie crumb crust filled with what tasted like Jello chocolate pudding with whip cream on top. I could have made this at home or purchased a better tasting frozen French silk from the grocery store for much less. The least they could have done was put it in homemade crust. There was nothing about this pie that was worth the $18 plus dollars we...