Drop In & Decorate: Johnson & Wales University's Pastry Arts Club: decorating and donating

Cookie love, too

"Thank you doesn't begin to say how we feel about the beautiful cookies we received today. They are a work of art and a special gift for the women of Abby's House. We will give them out tomorrow at our Mother's Day luncheon. We are so excited to have them as they will add that special touch to the tables and a festive feeling for the day." Abby's House, serving homeless and battered women in Worcester MA

November 29, 2009

Johnson & Wales University's Pastry Arts Club: decorating and donating

For the past four years, students from Johnson & Wales University, along with Chefs Linda Kane and Michelle Pugh of the Community Service Learning Program, have come to our kitchen to help make cookie dough and prepare other materials (packing bags, volunteer goodies, etc.) for our December Drop In & Decorate® event.

This year we're thrilled to expand our connection to JWU, the nationally recognized culinary college based right here in Rhode Island, as culinary students in the Pastry Arts Club, under the direction of Chef Christina Harvey, will take on the baking of the cookies for our flagship December and Mothers Day events.

Recently I visited the JWU pastry kitchen, along with former JWU pastry instructor and executive pastry chef Cindy Salvato, to do some practice cookie decorating. And, of course, we turned the evening into a mini cookies-for-donation event.

Everything was just as it is in my kitchen, except bigger. Bigger oven, that holds up to 20 sheet pans at one time. Bigger mixer, that makes enough icing for more than 100 cookies in one batch. Bigger everything.

Where did the cookies go?

To The Mansion Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Central Falls, serving 64 low-income elderly residents, where director Teresa Choporian (center, below) and staff handed out the cookies at the annual bazaar.

Stay tuned for more photos from "the bake" later this week, as I go back to the JWU kitchen to help the Pastry Arts Club make hundreds of cookies for our flagship event this coming weekend.

Thanks to Cindy for the use of some of the photos in this post.

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Special thanks to Kalyn's Kitchen, Tartelette, Lucullian Delights and Last Night's Dinner.

Posted at 08:10 PM | Permalink

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