What We Make A taste of nostalgia: Marie's Nutcracker Sweet sends nut rolls around country, world

Mar. 26—Editor's note: What We Make and Evolving Enterprise, a bi-weekly series, will spotlight innovative and dynamic companies driving the local economy through manufacturing and distribution, technology development and education, all while connecting our region to the world.

WINDBER, Pa. — The origins of nut rolls are hard to pin down since many Central and Eastern European cultures have a version of the sweet pastry.

But nostalgia for the treat, served typically at holidays, has been a driving force for Marie's Nutcracker Sweet for decades.

"It's very cool to be able to provide that to people," said Patrice Folmar, co-owner of Marie's Nutcracker Sweet. "It's an honor to have people appreciate something so much."

Folmar — the daughter of Marie Duffy, the company's original owner and namesake — now runs the shop at 2400 Jackson Ave. in Windber with her husband, Andrew, and their daughter, Libby.

Folmar has helped out on and off since the beginning, but got more involved in 2008 after she left the Army. In 2018, she and her husband took over the family business full-time, and two years later, they moved it to its current location — the former Life Church.

Marie's not only has a loyal local customer base, but also ships nut rolls all around the country, and in some cases, the world.

Annually, the business sells a total of around 10,000 units or more of their 11 different varieties. That ranges from the traditional nut roll — made with walnuts — to those with apricot, raspberry, pineapple cream cheese and poppy seeds, plus variations with raisins.

"It can be labor-intensive, but we have it down to a science," Folmar said.

To this day, the only mechanical part of the process is the dough-making. From there, the fillings are spread by hand and the pastries are hand-rolled.

Marie's Nutcracker Sweet started as a home operation by Folmar's mother in 1978. Duffy and her sister were working on perfecting a family recipe. When the sweet pastries tasted similar, they started giving them as gifts.

Duffy said she started baking nut rolls because she was looking for a way to make some money and give gifts around Christmas.

"I didn't set out to create a business," she said. "It was just people asked me to make them."

As word spread about the quality of her nut rolls, the demand grew, and so did the budding business.

"It just kind of snowballed from there," Folmar said.

For more than a decade, the operation stayed the same until the Duffy family opened a Harry's Pizza on Bedford Street in Johnstown. That allowed them to run a restaurant, and it gave Duffy an opportunity to make her popular nut rolls.

After that, the Duffys added a bakery to the couple's house, where the operation continued before the Folmars took over and moved the business to Windber so they had more room.

Andrew Folmar said that it has become increasingly hard throughout the years to find homemade nut rolls, as family members who traditionally made them either pass away or get too old to produce the pastries.

Marie's allows people to enjoy their favorite snack and support a local business.

"We can help fill that void," Andrew Folmar said. "It's a great feeling to make people happy."

He added that he and his wife are keeping the operation as local and down-to-earth as they can.

The couple have heard from people around the country who have relatives who still live locally and send a Marie's nut roll every Christmas or Thanksgiving as a gift.

They also hear from people who want nut rolls for other reasons.

Patrice Folmar recalled a local woman who stopped in the shop one day to get a couple rolls and said she was just diagnosed with cancer. Before she started her treatment and lost some of her ability to taste, the woman said, she wanted to enjoy a nut roll.

Andrew Folmar remembered another time when they were contacted by the children of a man on his deathbed. All their father wanted one last time, Folmar was told, was a nut roll.

Shipping the sentimental food products was also made easier by Patrice Folmar's father, Tim Duffy. He found and improved upon specialty boxes to preserve the rolls on their way to the final destinations, such as to a regular customer in the Virgin Islands.

Patrice Folmar said the company has used the same business for years to create the boxes that are the perfect size for shipping a nut or fruit roll — there's also a double-unit box.

As for the growth of the business, the Folmars credit Tim Duffy's forward thinking and the purchase of the website name nutrolls.com for a large portion of their continued success.

"Our website is really what has grown throughout the years," Patrice Folmar said.

On the page, visitors can explore the numerous varieties and even place an order for a roll or buy gift certificates.

Marie Duffy agreed with her daughter's evaluation. She said the website gave the rolls a good boost and spread the word.

The company founder commended her daughter and son-in-law for carrying on the family business.

"It's wonderful," she said, adding that she thinks Patrice Folmar is a better baker than she was. "I was happy to hand the baton to her."

But Marie Duffy hasn't completely hung up her apron. Recently, she started making specialty cheesecakes sold through Marie's that are available weekly on Fridays.

The Folmars are also dabbling in selling gobs, and considering the future possibility of selling rolled ice cream. Aside from the Windber location, they frequent local festivals, such as the Cambria City Ethnic Festival and the Johnstown Slavic Festival, to sell their wares.

For more information about Marie's, visit www.nutrolls.com, call 814-269-4271 or visit the company's Facebook page.