The switch from sweet to savory can be challenging for a cook, but for Shawnda Moye, it was a natural progression steeped in Southern tradition. Moye, who learned how to cook for her own family as a young teen in Cincinnati, opened Southern Sweets four years ago in Cleveland as a pop-up concept. Dedicated to churning out homestyle treats such as s’mores breakfast pastries filled with Nutella and topped with toasted marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers, Moye sold her confectionary collections all over town in hip, trendy locales such as Platform Beer Co. and Piccadilly Creamery.
But last year, a trip through Nashville and some of its hottest breakfast spots, such as the Loveless Cafe and Biscuit Love, helped Moye realize there was a dearth of grab-and-go breakfast options in Cleveland.
“I want to create an excitement about biscuits,” says Moye.
Taking her same pop-up approach, she started Biscuit Heads by offering a slew of sweet and savory biscuits, as well as biscuit sandwiches across town at the Crispy Chick, Pour Cleveland and more.
“Outside of Cleveland Bagel Co., I noticed Monday through Friday, you’re not finding that homemade breakfast sandwich that’s going to be quick and delicious,” says Moye.
For each pop-up event, Moye bakes 50-100 biscuits on the fly, each one thick, flaky and flavorful. Although they’re enormous enough to stand on their own, they’re better when paired with smoked corned beef, cage-free eggs and homemade pimento cheese, or a variety of other rotating local ingredients, such as blueberry chamomile jam from the Home Pantry.
“There is so much great talent and good food locally, and we need to showcase these makers of deliciousness,” says Moye.
Although this deep dive into breakfast remains a hearty new direction, Moye retains some of her Southern Sweets style with the Cinny Biscuit, a cinnamon roll-biscuit hybrid with brown sugar, cinnamon and orange zest added into the mix — before it’s topped with icing, of course.
“It takes you back to growing up with that nostalgic feeling of having biscuits from scratch, made with love,” says Moye.
Available for pick-up at Six Shooters Coffee, 16021 Waterloo Rd., Cleveland, Ohio, 44110, 7 a.m. - 12 p.m., sixshootercoffee.com
