Emma Slater is filling a pastry niche in Chittenden County

If Emma Slater, owner of Twisted Halo Donuts, had stuck with what she refers to as her first “adult-feeling” job, perhaps she would be the one writing this article. A native of Charlotte, Slater was one of The Charlotte News’s first interns as a teenager.

Growing up, Slater spent a fair amount of time in the kitchen. “My grandmother was an incredible baker of bread and pastries,” she said, “and my mom was a really incredible cook.”

In college, Slater gravitated toward languages. After studying French and Arabic, she moved to Algeria where both languages are spoken.

“Most kids who grow up here want to spend some time away before they can figure out their niche,” she said. “There were less Americans there than in other Arabic countries, so it was great to be thrown into the deep end and get full emersion.”

When the pandemic hit, Slater returned home and began working as a barista. She thought there was a lack of what she calls “approachable pastries” in Vermont, describing them as something you can eat on a daily basis, so she began to bake.

She picked the name Twisted Halo because that was her original donut shape.

“I discovered I really enjoyed the science and precision of baking,” Slater said, noting that when doing so on a larger scale there are additional challenges which she enjoys, involving logistics, people and managing the process.

Since she started Twisted Halo in 2021, Slater has baked 76 different flavor variations. She is currently baking a more manageable group of 12 and has moved away from pre-orders to fully wholesale which she said gives her more breathing room to develop new flavors and types of donuts.

Her personal favorite is a sour cream cake donut with orange glaze, but she confesses that she does not enjoy baking it on a large scale because it involves a lot of extra work like using flour with lower protein content and micromanaging the temperature of the dough before it goes into the fryer. Her favorite donut glaze is made with tulsi basil from Head over Fields Farm and blueberries from Adam’s Berry Farm.

Twisted Halo’s most popular donut is the cinnamon-sugar churro followed by the lemon blueberry brioche. Slater’s creations include sour cream cake, raised and glazed donuts as well as cream filled brioche. She uses 100 percent canola oil, and her flour comes from the Nitty Gritty Grain Company.

One of the things Slater enjoys about baking is the opportunity to use local ingredients with an emphasis on organic ones.

“We get inspiration and ingredients from farmers markets,” she said, noting that when there are surplus items or imperfect ones, she scoops them up for her donuts.

Last year, heavy rain damaged the strawberry crop, so she and her team went to several farms, buying berries that weren’t going to last for more than a day. “The next week everyone got strawberry donuts,” she said.

Twisted Halo isn’t a family business, per se, but it’s mostly made up of two families: Slater’s and her friend Marissa Guidry’s. In peak season, there are three part-time employees and one full timer. At the farmer’s market, they may have as many as five people.

In the past, Twisted Halo has created some breakfast sandwiches at Champion Comics using local sausage and cheese, tomatoes from Head over Fields, and rolls from Nitty Gritty Grain Company’s flour. She would love to expand her menu and enjoys making croissants and scones but recognizes that she has created a lot of hype about her donuts which now have a devoted following. She’d love to have her own brick and mortar store and is in the process of trying to find one.

In addition to new products, Slater is working on some merchandizing, collaborating with some of the vendors at the farmers’ market. And although she hasn’t had a full weekend off in at least four years, she is building non-kitchen time into her schedule on Mondays and Tuesdays.

For now, Twisted Halo is based in the Champion Comics kitchen in Williston, but they also sell their wares at the Old Brick Store in Charlotte, Misery Loves Company in Winooski and the Shelburne Farmers Market.

In Shelburne, Slater tries to make sure she has at least half an hour away from the fryer to interact with the public and last year she made a point of trying to remember the favorites of some of the Little Leaguers who came by every week. “Seeing people enjoy the donuts is the best part of the job,” she said.