Dana Pollack - Dana’s Bakery: 100 Decadent Recipes for Unique Desserts

DECADENT RECIPES
FOR UNIQUE DESSERTS

DANAS BAKERY

DANA POLLACK

OWNER OF DANAS BAKERY

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FOR MY DAUGHTERS LENI AND ELLA.
May your lives be as sweet, if not sweeter, than the desserts in this book.
I love you, forever and always.

I am a firm believer in dessert after every meal. Yes, I said it. Every meal. Before you say Im crazy, let me explain! It doesnt always have to be an over-the-top ice cream sundae; it can be simple like a small piece of chocolate, or a piece of fruit. For me, its usually the chocolate. But I like to end every meal on a sweet note, which has been the driving force for me career-wise and also the inspiration behind this book.

The recipes Im sharing with you are designed for bakers of all levels. From home cooks to pastry chefs and everyone in between. Are you a beginner whos never picked up a spatula before? No problem, these recipes are for you, too.

Long before I even realized that food was my thing, getting in the kitchen and baking was always my true happy place. It relaxed and excited me at the same time. Baked goods are consumed during celebrations or as comfort foods. No matter when they are eaten, they bring a smile to everyones face. To me, that is powerful!

Danas Bakery is not your ordinary bakery. Were all about coloring outside the lines, thinking outside the box and putting our signature DB twist on everything we touch. How do we do this, you may ask? By turning classic desserts into our own creations with fresh and unique color and flavor profiles.

Danas Bakery is not your ordinary bakery, and this is not your ordinary cookbook.

The recipes found in here are all delicious desserts, but they are reimagined in true Dana fashion. I want you to have fun making them, but I also encourage you to get inspired and feed that creativity as well. Put your own unique spin on whatever youre makingmake the dessert uniquely yours. Feeling daring? Change the fruit flavor, or add your favorite candy to the filling or cake layers. Purple not your color? Make the dessert but change up the color!

Dig in, have fun and dont forget to show me all your amazing creations by tagging @danasbakery and #DanasBakery!

I DID IT ALL FOR THE COOKIE

When I was a kid, my paternal grandparents came over from Israel to visit a few times every year. The morning before big family dinnersat tables piled high with homemade kugel, braised chicken and sometimes challahId spend hours making rugelach with my Grandma Polly. Id watch her nimble fingers press out the tender cream cheese dough before she pulled out the rolling pin to smooth it out, stretching it thin with each roll. Shed mix the cinnamon sugar together, and Id sneak a taste while she chopped the walnuts into bits.

Making rugelach with Grandma Polly and Grandpa Kiko

When it was time to curl each piece of dough into a cookie, she showed me how to carefully pinch the ends so they didnt unravel in the oven. I loved the way rugelach made the kitchen smell while they baked. Once they were out, you could count each layer of filling and pastrythey were married together into one neat package, like magic. Being with my grandmother in the kitchen, then sharing meals at her table with my parents, showed me how food can bring family together, but it was always dessert that kept us coming back for more.

Grandma Doris cutting birthday cake

My mothers mother, Grandma Doris, was the type to eat dessert before and after dinnersomething I still do to this day whenever possible. There was a tub of Cool Whip in her freezer at all times for impromptu strawberry shortcakes.

You didnt need an occasion to have a strawberry shortcake at Grandma Doriss house, but it was mandatory on her birthday. When she didnt finish the night with a strawberry shortcake, shed end it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Three generationsmy mother Gail and Grandma Doris visiting me at our original bakery location

Even though she passed away at 93 years old, old age took Grandma Doris too soon. Hours before she passed, I went to say good-bye. She had been unresponsive that day, but when I got there she grabbed my hand and said, with excitement in her voice, I want my ice cream! We always had a deep, sweet connection.

As I got older, the rugelach sessions with my grandmother got more creative. I had just mastered her chocolate rugelach when I started playing around with the fillings, adding cereal and candy or whatever else we had lying around.

Although Ive always been a self-proclaimed sugar fanatic, I had no idea sugar would be a thread through my life and ultimately crystallize into my lifes work.

SWEET BEGINNINGS

I came to baking as a profession in a roundabout way. The arts called to me first. I was always in some sort of craft or drawing or painting club, so of course I ended up at art school when it came time to pick a college. It felt like a good fit for my creative energies. While I always loved making things with my hands, when I discovered photography something clicked. I loved learning about great photographers and how they could turn an image into a story by capturing real-life events at that very moment. I loved learning how to make an image pop, how to bring it to life and how just the slightest shift of focus or the omission of a detail could make or break a shot.

After college, I landed in the go-go world of magazines, with their splashy headlines and glossy images. The pace was fast, the people were fun and the hustle was real. Working well under pressure, I thrived in that life for many years.

I was a photo editor for a muscle magazine at the time my day-to-day work life involved producing photo shoots, attending castings, staring at bulging muscles, fixing tan lines and adding highlights to the biceps of men who could bench-press meliterally. It was fun, but I knew there was something missing in my life.