KANSAS CITY, MO — When walking into AMIE Bakery, there’s a lot to take in. Aside from the products, scenery and overall vibe, one can’t help but notice that everyone on staff is happy to be there. This is a culture of camaraderie, whether it’s the baristas making lattes or the bakery team forming laminated dough for the items that accompany them.
That culture starts at the top with owner Amie Smith herself, but it permeates through other leaders, including Alyssa Hurlstone, the bakery’s executive pastry chef.
“The most fun in our bakery right now is shaping croissants because it’s usually multiple people standing at the table, and we get to take a minute to have conversations with each other,” Alyssa said. “When we have a group of us working on a project together, it’s the most fun.”
Coming together
Alyssa has traveled along a winding road that led her to these moments at AMIE. A native Midwesterner raised in a family of artists, she studied at the French Pastry School, followed by the chance to work at the famed French Laundry restaurant in Northern California’s Napa Valley. From there, she followed opportunities in Las Vegas, Miami, Austin, TX, and Washington, DC, before landing in Osterville, MA, on Cape Cod, home of AMIE Bakery.
After a year and a half at the bakery, Alyssa’s dynamic with Amie is something special, and one that Amie envisioned from the first time they met.
“You could say I waited 10 years for Alyssa to cross my path,” Amie said. “She has the talent and breadth of skills I’d been looking for, for a long time. When we had our first conversation, it was such a good dialogue, and I just thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if I could get her in here?’”
For Alyssa, it was Amie’s vision — or, more specifically, how that vision manifested in the building itself — that drew her to the bakery.
“Honestly, it was the building, the space, that brought me to AMIE,” Alyssa said. “I used to drive by it all the time, and I was intrigued. When I walked in, I saw a really thoughtful space that didn’t pull any punches. Amie has an aesthetic in mind, right down to the branding on the cups. She accomplished it all despite her hurdles with the building. When you walk in, you can tell this is a place designed with intention and that the bakery operates with details in mind.”
That said, the spark between these two goes beyond an appreciation for the details and into a deep mutual respect for what they both bring to the table. In many ways, Alyssa’s upbringing in an artistic family allows her to see big ideas through a practical lens.
“We complement each other well,” Alyssa said. “Amie’s a big-picture thinker where the sky’s the limit, and I’m like the ‘nerd with the clipboard’ saying, ‘Actually, if we do that, we won’t have enough freezer space.’ We create a really good balance in that respect.”
Skills in action
With Alyssa’s catalog of product experience, she’s often able to create renditions of Amie’s ideas that not only satisfy those big dreams but also can be made in practical ways.
One of the most recent additions to the lineup includes a special Lemon Sugar Danish on the summer menu. Inspired by palmier and kouign-amann, this laminated pastry is made with a yeasted dough, sugar, butter and lemon zest.
“It has a bright, lemon aspect, but also a crispy kind of kouign-amann caramelized effect,” Alyssa said. “It’s probably my favorite product I’ve made here so far.”
Developing baked goods such as this, it’s no surprise that Alyssa is AMIE Bakery’s resident lamination expert.
“Alyssa’s lamination skills enabled us to make our own croissants in-house for our dry pastry case,” Amie said. “We didn’t have that before. She brought us this capability that I wanted but never had the in-house resources to do because it’s so specialized.”
Big moves like that don’t happen overnight; they take planning and patience. In fact, one of the biggest lessons Alyssa’s learned in her career is patience, whether it’s tinkering with laminated dough or doing everyday tasks.
“You have to be patient,” she said. “You need patience in every aspect of the craft, whether it’s being patient with yourself or with the process.”
It’s also about putting care into each step, big or small, and understanding that every aspect of the process impacts the finished product as well as the team.
“It’s about taking a deep breath,” Alyssa said, “and trusting that the fun things will come.”
This story has been adapted from the September | Q3 2025 Craft to Crumb mini-mag. Read the full story in the digital issue here.
