Pastry Chefs have feelings too

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year's with family and friends. The holidays were pretty low key at our house this year. Not only did I take over dinner making responsibilities but I was also prodded into baking cookies to give to neighbors and family friends. I say that I was prodded because to be honest, I really did not feel like baking. however, once I accepted the fact that my mom was determined that I was going to bake, I started planning with enthusiasm. Soon, my list of cookies was extensive and needed dwindling down. I narrowed the list to one or two from each category: cakey, crisp, soft, chocolate, traditional, and unexpected.

My mother wanted to bake with me, bless her, but I haven't learned to share the kitchen with someone who doesn't know what they are doing. So I would ask her to measure a cup of milk or melt a stick of butter, then she was relegated to dish duty.  With my mom's... ahemm... help, I baked off all the cookies.  After all of the cookies were baked and cooled, I mixed icing and began decorating. This is where my pastry skills were tested.

Being a perfectionist, I wanted to do most of the cookies over. One snowflake cookie had squiggly piping, one gingerbread man's eyes were too far apart, etc... I wasn't excited about everyone receiving my cookies and them knowing that I was a professional. I didn't want to ruin my reputation over some Christmas cookies; suddenly I regretted judging a fellow patry chef's cake pictures posted on facebook.



Here are the plates of cookies that were given out: (clockwise from the top left) piselle, mocha madeleines, stained glass tree& gingerbreadman, pecan linzer sandwich cookies, chocolate macaron, peppermint macaron, honey macaron, pumpkin pie macaron, chocolate blackpepper crisp, chocolate cayanne snickerdoodle.



A plate of cookies was not enough, so I also made mini gingerbread houses filled with candied ginger chocolate truffles. The roof was not attached, so you could lift the roof and pick a hidden truffle.

The day before Christmas Eve, as plates of baked goods began to be exchanged, I realized that if I was worried about people judging my cookies, it was nothing compared to angst they felt about handing over their treats. Some seemed apologetic as my mother accepted their plates, almost all stated their apprehension about giving a pastry chef their baked goods.

Here are lists of Do's and Don'ts when exchanging baked goods with a pastry chef.
When giving a chef your baked goods:

1. Do take advice from Julia Child and never apologize.  Be confident in your baking.
2. Do ask for feedback, once, appropriately. If you get a fluff answer, the chef was probably being polite. Appriciate that.
3. Do not assume that a chef makes something better than you. There are a lot of fruit cake recipes and yours might be better!
4. Do try different recipes to change things up.
5. Don't over-extend your self trying to impress the chef. The simplest food in  the world can be the best food when made correctly.
6. Do ask for baking advice or recipes the chef might know about.
7. Don't ask for a good recipe for dirt and worms. (true story)

When receiving baked goods from a chef:

1. Do not exclaim that whatever it is, is too pretty to eat. It was made to be eaten.
2. Do not rave about your expectation that everything will be delicious, a modest mmmmm will suffice.
3. Don't expect baked goods every time you see them, chefs have busy schedules.
4. Don't say that's too fancy for your tastes. keep an open mind!
5. Don't say that was too simple or you expected more from a pastry chef unless you'd like a throw down!
6. Do: say thank you and EAT IT