The Pittsburgh Dish

079 Holiday Baking with Chef Alekka Sweeney

• Doug Heilman • Season 2 • Episode 79

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Flaky pie crust isn’t magic—it’s method. We sit down with Chef Alekka Sweeney to unpack the science and the small choices that turn holiday baking from stressful to satisfying. 

We go beyond pies to build a full, flexible holiday playbook. Stock the pantry with non-perishables now, refresh tired baking powder and soda, and freeze multiple dough discs so you can bake on your schedule. Alekka shares her favorites—bourbon chocolate pecan pie, apple filling with real sauce and texture, and plum or pear frangipane tarts.  When guests want “just a taste,” mini pies in muffin tins offer variety without leftovers. 

We also highlight class offerings like the always-sold-out “I Forgot To Make A Pie” session with dough practice and fillings, and her upcoming live demos. The throughline is preparation: test new recipes before the big day, plan components you can make ahead, and use the freezer as your ally... all keys to sweet success. Happy holiday baking!

Subscribe, share with a friend who loves dessert, and leave a review with your biggest pie question—what should we bake together next?

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Doug:

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. If you are the not-so often baker like me and your pie plate is as dusty as the flour in the cupboard, then this week's show is for you. We get a lesson in pie baking and more from Chef Alekka Sweeney.

Alekka:

Looks like the game Simon.

Doug:

I know, and we can we can do. When you start getting really rowdy, I can answer you.

Speaker:

Keep your hand on that button.

Doug:

I usually keep it right there. No one has done it. In post, I'll take it out. We want to keep that explicit rating off of the podcast. Okay, fine.

Alekka:

You get more listeners that way.

Doug:

Well, that's it. Well, thank you so much for coming over and for being on the show. Would you take a moment to reintroduce yourself to our listeners?

Alekka:

Uh I'm Chef Alekka Sweeney. I'm a private chef here in Pittsburgh. So I think it should be like Saturday Night Live when like the Five Timers Club, you get a jacket. Oh. So this is my third time. Well, you gave me some soup.

Doug:

I did. I we did have a little snack, I'll say, before we started. Well, if we get uh if we get more followers like you, and in fact, you have been such a great ongoing friend and supporter of the show, then we could probably afford some merch. Okay. Maybe you'll get a jacket someday. Jacket will be a good one. Maybe I can work with a t-shirt first.

Speaker:

Okay, I'll go with t-shirt's fine. A magnet.

Doug:

Oh, there you go. A sticker. A sticker. I can give you a sticker today. Well, Alekka, I've asked you to come back on the show because I know you are such a uh, I'll just say a champion and expert in the world of baking, which I am not. I am the occasional baker. And we're getting into the fall holiday season. I think everyone has maybe a pumpkin pie on the brain. And so I thought it would be great to take this episode and talk about baking, some tips, tricks, ingredients, things that you know about. But before we dive in, I'd love to dive into some of your history. You have quite a resume in baking. Yes. Tell me a little bit more about your baking history.

Alekka:

Well, I always tell people that I didn't choose baking. It chose me in kind of a roundabout way. I was working um in a restaurant in Philadelphia where the pastry chef at the time kind of disappeared for a month with kind of some of his own issues.

Doug:

So you became a pastry chef.

Alekka:

I did because I was the, you know, you were it. I was young.

Doug:

Yeah.

Alekka:

Nobody else wanted to do it. And they kind of turned to me one day and said, We need a wedding cake this weekend.

Doug:

Oh my gosh.

Alekka:

Figure it out.

Doug:

Wow. Yeah. Not just a dessert for this service, but somebody's big day.

Alekka:

Yeah.

unknown:

Wow.

Alekka:

So I relied a lot on Martha Stewart.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Alekka:

And uh Joy of Cooking. And there was a woman there that did help me, but that's how I got into it. And I think the way that my mind works, I have more of a statistical mind where formulas really resonate with me. So I think that's why I really like baking.

Doug:

Baking. Because there is more formula and more science. Exactly. A little more planning.

Alekka:

And then you get to be creative.

Doug:

I am so none of those. It's easy. I like to say I'm the occasional baker. My mom is the pie master, but I just occasionally bake maybe half a dozen times a year. So I've picked up some things. So I know you have so much more knowledge than me.

Alekka:

Well, this was also a classic French restaurant. Oh my goodness. So that's, you know, from right out of culinary school, I just landed myself into learning how to make classic French pastries.

Doug:

And when you were in culinary school, was pastry part of it. It is.

Alekka:

It is part of it's usually the last session you go through. And I remember the chef instructor said to me, I remember we all walked in, it's a cold kitchen. This is Pennsylvania Culinary Institute. And I, first thing I did is I turned on all of the convection ovens without even thinking about it. And the chef walks in and he's like, Who turned on the ovens? And everybody's like, Oh my God, oh my God.

Doug:

This was in culinary school.

Alekka:

This is culinary school. So I just kind of like raise my hand, like, yes, chef, that was me. And he pointed at me. He's like, You're gonna be a good pastry chef.

Doug:

Oh. Well, that's just great. And this was part of your curriculum, but it wasn't necessarily a core focus. And then all of a sudden you get this wedding cake in the French restaurant. Yeah. Yeah. And from there, let's jump ahead a little bit.

Alekka:

So then I moved to Atlanta.

Doug:

Yeah.

Alekka:

And like I said, it's public that I lied on my resume to be the assistant pastry chef for a company there that had three restaurants and a catering company.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Alekka:

This was not French, but the pastry chef was really way above his time with plated desserts.

Doug:

Wow. Okay.

Alekka:

So he told me that he had a choice. He pretty much figured out my first day that I did not know what I was doing. He figured it out. So he made me into a project. I was there for five years. Oh, wow. So learning how to do like chocolate work and how to like really refine, you know, what I've learned and using like silicon molds and how to put a plated dessert together.

Doug:

Did that really expand your craft those five years?

Alekka:

It did. And then also, you know, at 25, 26, I think, I had to manage a staff.

Doug:

Wow. Yeah.

Alekka:

Learning how to do that.

Doug:

Can I jump us a little bit further?

Alekka:

Please do.

Doug:

So you end up in Chicago.

Alekka:

End up in Chicago.

Doug:

And tell me about your business there.

Alekka:

So at that time, the food network had just started and like the ace of cakes and cupcake wars. Right. Got to be really popular. And that time I was, I wouldn't say, I think I was, I was tired of working for other people. I think an entrepreneur gets to a point where they're like, I want to do this myself. So I did a lot of market research around to Chicago and I couldn't find a place that was just dedicated to baking and pastry classes. It would be like sushi and pasta and and maybe an occasional class.

Doug:

But you found a gap in the market. I found a gap in the market. Awesome.

Alekka:

And uh my real estate agent found a Montessori school that already had everything that I needed. Wow. So I signed the lease and I started my company there. And I started out with a basic cake decorating class. And in the decade that I had it, that was hands down my most popular class that I taught.

Doug:

Remind me the name of your business.

Alekka:

Give me some sugar. That's for my Atlanta days. Yeah. Like, come here, baby, give me some sugar. Oh.

Doug:

Now life happens and we move forward again. And now you're here in Pittsburgh. And what are you doing right now in the world of baking?

Alekka:

So I am teaching as many baking classes as I can and offering them at my shared kitchen space.

Doug:

This is the Hilltop Shared Kitchen.

Alekka:

Hilltop Shared Kitchen in Mount Oliver.

Doug:

And did I also just see you were teaching a class recently at Botany Hall, who we just had on? Oh yeah, test.

Alekka:

And you had like 10.

Doug:

I made 10 batches of pie dough. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I don't think I've made one batch of pie dough.

Alekka:

I want to thank Erin G. McDowell for that. So I make her all butter pie crust. And there's a way I'll I'll tell you my tips for that, but I did that. I timed myself. I did that in about an hour and 15 minutes.

Doug:

Those 10 batches of all buttercrust pie dough.

Alekka:

Yes.

Doug:

Oh my gosh. So Alekka, I think what we're saying, and I think I might have made the right choice. I want to talk about baking for the rest of this episode. And you have the skills to do.

Alekka:

I think I do. A couple.

Doug:

A side question: Do you ever do baking classes uh for kids?

Alekka:

Yes. Okay. Um, I like to do them in the summertime and my kids' summer baking camps. And then I'm gonna have one after the 25th of December. There's like that time that kids are not back at school. Yeah. And parents are like, what am I gonna do with my kids? And like the holiday high is down, you know, is gone. Yes. So I do a kids' winter baking camp.

Doug:

I love this. So you've got stuff in the works right now. Yes. Okay. Well, we'll get to that. Let's make sure we talk about anything you have upcoming, any events. But I do want to cover pies.

Alekka:

Let's oh, I I could talk pies for all day.

Doug:

Okay.

Alekka:

All day.

Doug:

We could go into cakes and other pastries, but I'd also like to talk about ingredients and even equipment. If you have any tips around any of that, where would you like to start?

Alekka:

So um my dad always laughs because I always have from this probably this time of the year until January 1st.

Doug:

And we're talking about mid-October. Yes.

Alekka:

I have a glass measuring cup Pyrex of water in my parents' refrigerator at all times. There's about a cup of water in there.

Doug:

Chilled water.

Alekka:

Chilled water in preparation of making pie dough.

Doug:

Okay. So you're ready.

Alekka:

My first tip of making pie dough is everything cold.

Doug:

All right.

Alekka:

Butter, the water. Um, I have a bag of all-purpose flour in my freezer.

Doug:

You do. You know, I know that we want chilled butter because it becomes more flaky when we work it in, but um, why all the other things? Like, why is it important to keep the flour cold and and the cold water?

Alekka:

Think about your body in the wintertime. You're really tensed up.

Doug:

Okay.

Alekka:

And then your body in the summertime, you're kind of like fluid and on relaxed. So you the whole goal is to to really slow down the development of the gluten in the flour.

Doug:

Okay. So keeping it chilled.

Alekka:

So keeping it chilled.

Doug:

Keeps it tense, keeps those proteins tense.

Alekka:

They tense up. And it's also easier to, you know, mix in cold butter because you have to I have hot hands, what they say in the pastry world. They're pretty warm. So if when I'm working with ice cold butter, it's easier for me to incorporate that into my flour and salt.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Alekka:

And I keep my butter. I was taught a long time ago that the butter should look like sand.

Doug:

Okay. Not the peas a little smaller.

Alekka:

A little bit smaller. Okay.

Doug:

When you work it in, when you work it into the flour.

Alekka:

Correct. So I went to Chicago and somebody taught me a completely, totally different way that blew my mind. Because you have pie dough does not have any leavening in it. There's no baking powder, there's no baking soda, there's no yeast.

Doug:

You're relying on the that little percentage of water in the butter.

Alekka:

And the water that you put in there.

Doug:

Yeah.

Alekka:

And it evaporates and creates steam and gives you those layers.

Doug:

That flakiness.

Alekka:

So my trick is when you put your there's two ways you can do it. Some people take like the bigger end of the box grater and the great cold butter into the flour. I do that when I make scones. Yes. Okay. But when I do pie dough, I will cut my one stick of unsalted butter into about four big chunks.

Doug:

Yes.

Alekka:

And then I'll put it in my flour and just make sure that those chunks are coated in the flour first.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Alekka:

Then I'll use my hands, or you can use one of those pastry cutters. I have my grandmother's. I'm a big tactile person.

Doug:

I want you want to do this with your hands. You like this. Yeah.

Alekka:

So I I kind of tried to make the butter look like Pringles. Okay. Does that make sense?

Doug:

Yeah, like little sheets.

Alekka:

Like sheets. Uh-huh. Before I add the water at all. Okay. So some will be in like I call them Pringles. Some will be in the shape of the size of like a jolly rancher. You know, all different shapes and sizes. Because you have to remember when you add the liquid in, you're mixing it some more.

Doug:

Yeah. And so you're not using a food processor typically for your crust. Well, you can, I mean, you can tell me yay, nay. I don't know.

Alekka:

You can't. Yes, you can't, but you really want to be mindful of how much you're processing everything, especially when you're adding the water.

Doug:

And more accessibly, let's just say your approach is don't use a processor. You would rather do it with your hands and a pastry cover.

Alekka:

Yes. Well, I was taught one day in call it when I went to advanced pastry school. The instructor took everything away that was plugged into the wall. Uh-huh. And it was one week of doing everything by hand. Because if your kitchen aid breaks or your cuisine art breaks, you have to have a plan B.

Doug:

Well, here's what I love about that anyway. A lot of folks don't have those appliances. And it's actually more satisfying.

Alekka:

I find it very, it's almost like yoga for me when I make pie dough. So the amount of water that you put in my recipe, not my recipe, the recipe I follow says three to four tablespoons. Okay. And I when I teach my baking classes, the first thing I say to my students is trust the process. Because I'm a grams girly. I measure everything out on a digital scale. I don't expect everybody to do that. So the amount of water really depends on what's going on outside. So if it's humid out, you'll probably need three tablespoons of water. If it's like it is right now, very dry outside. Very dry outside, you'll probably need more.

Doug:

Yeah, like closer to four.

Alekka:

Closer to four. So I tell my students, you can always add, you can't take away.

Doug:

Right, right.

Alekka:

So especially after you add in the amount of water till it looks like a shaggy dough, like a shag rug, then we will dump all of that out onto the table. And people kind of panic because there's still some dry portions of the flour. And I say, well, this is the step that we're gonna hydrate the flour more into with the water and the butter.

Doug:

So is this where we're like kind of bringing it together, forming it in a disc? Into a disc. And then you have us. I did this once with you. This is why I remember. We wrapped it in plastic wrap.

Alekka:

Right. And a lot of people I will tend to put it what I call like a bowling ball.

Doug:

You don't want that.

Alekka:

You don't want because you want to think about your next step, which is which is rolling out.

Doug:

Right.

Alekka:

So I encourage people to put it in a disc, like a hockey puck.

Doug:

Yes.

Alekka:

And that also you could make multi- you saw all those batches of pie dough that I made in that big tower.

Doug:

Well, this is the picture I saw at Phipps Conservatory. You had like 10 of these of dough. And so how long does that have to rest to hydrate?

Alekka:

So at least a half an hour.

Doug:

Okay. Like that's the minimum.

Alekka:

That's the minimum. Because you want that butter to resolidify, you want the flour to hydrate. And you're putting it back in the fridge. And putting back in the refrigerator. For the butter to harden back up. So a lot of people ask me, how long does the pie dough last? And this is a really good story. I made a batch of pie dough at Phipps's last week and I brought it home and I used it three days later to make a tart. And my dad, who's had 57 million of my pie, said to me, He's like, Alekka, your crust tasted, you know, the texture was different. The pie dough that I had in the refrigerator for three days. And I said, Well, that makes sense because refrigerator sucks out the moisture of things. And I said, It's not as flaky as you're used to it being. It's because it's been in the refrigerator for three days. So it I mean, it still tasted good. Yeah. But he's used to like me making pie dough and using it and baking it the same day.

Doug:

But you could probably go a day.

Alekka:

You could go a day. Oh, yeah, absolutely. But I would say it's kind of pushing it for after like four or five days because you'll get like this gray kind of we don't want that. Yeah.

Doug:

Can you freeze it?

Alekka:

You can freeze it. So unsalted butter lasts for three months.

Doug:

Okay.

Alekka:

Salted, because salt is a preservative. That's about six months.

Doug:

And you're talking about putting it wrapped tightly in the in like some plastic wrapper.

Alekka:

And a freezer safe bag.

Doug:

And then in the freezer.

Alekka:

So if you make multiple batches like the in those discs, then you can store a whole bunch in your freezer, pull it out the night before you want to use it and put it in your refrigerator. Yes.

Doug:

Let it come back to temperature in the fridge part.

Alekka:

Yes.

Doug:

And so somebody out there listening could, if they're going to make a pie in October, November, and December, they could make three batches right now.

Alekka:

Yeah, I'm like, make your pie doughs now. Oh, yeah. And put them in your freezer and take it out. And I use this pie dough for sweet and savory.

Doug:

Okay. That's why you don't put any sugar in your crust. You don't do the can I say it? You don't do the pat sucrée?

Alekka:

No, you got it. That's it. Is that it? Yeah, and there's pat brusset, too. What's that? That's kind of like the same as pie dough.

Doug:

All right. But you do put a little salt in your use correct. Because you use unsalted butter.

Alekka:

And I put uh fresh herbs in this one. Oh.

Doug:

So you can kind of savory one.

Alekka:

Yeah, you can jazz it up, as my dad would say.

Doug:

Sounds fun.

Alekka:

So I would put any other add-ins into the flour before you put the butter in. If you want to put dried herbs or nutmeg or anything like that, put that into the flour and the salt and whisk that together.

Doug:

Before you incorporate your then add your butter and your water. Got it. Can we get a that easy sort of recipe you say you like to go through? Can we get that for? Yes.

Alekka:

I'm going to credit Erin Jean McDowell. Well, we can even link to her. Yeah, please do, because she wrote the book on pie, which is my pie bible. I have this recipe memorized. It's a cup and a quarter of all-purpose flour, a quarter teaspoon of salt, one stick of unsalted butter, three to four tablespoons of cold water.

Doug:

That refrigerator, cold water.

Alekka:

Yeah. Come to my house, you'll see the water in the refrigerator. So if you don't have that in the morning, if you wake up and you're like, I want to make pie dough, then put some ice in water and put it in the refrigerator. Yes, that will help get your water really cold. Right. But trust the process with the water part.

Doug:

All right. So you have me thinking too about these ingredients. And you mentioned unsalted butter and the flour. Can we talk about ingredients for a moment?

Alekka:

Well, I'm telling everybody to buy your non-perishables now. Oh. Yes. But I like King Arthur flour.

Doug:

Yeah, I like that too.

Alekka:

I like Kerrygold butter.

Doug:

Butter.

Alekka:

Mm-hmm.

Doug:

My mom's a King Arthur, and then she also finds this other flour brand, Robin Hood. She feels like they've had maybe just a slightly different.

Alekka:

Can you get that here in Pittsburgh? I haven't seen it.

Doug:

I think she actually asks her local grocery store for it because she did have it for years, and then post-pandemic it kind of took a long time to come back. But King Arthur, everyone seems to love King Arthur.

Alekka:

Yeah, but if you don't want to spend that money, I've made this pie dough with gigante agale flour and unsalted butter. And it doesn't affect it really doesn't. If you don't remember the last time you bought your baking powder and your baking soda, get rid of it. Chuck it and buy fresh.

Doug:

Yeah, because it's such a special thing, right?

Alekka:

Like think my dad is infamous of running out the day of Thanksgiving and getting stuff. So you can get your corn syrups now, your brown sugars now, your pumpkin puree's, your nuts, anything that's non-perishable, stock up on flour and sugars.

Doug:

Let me ask you uh I like to keep like nuts and like coconut in the fridge. I do too. Oh no, I do it in the freezer. You put it in the freezer, it kind of prolongs the life.

Alekka:

Yeah.

Doug:

And so I'm thinking about like the baking soda I like, which comes in an orange box. I might remember when I bought it last, but if it's been open and in the cupboard, it might have absorbed it.

Alekka:

It's always good to start fresh. Yeah. It really is, just to have that extra insurance. And they're only like a couple dollars. Yeah, they're not that expensive. This is Chef Alekka, and you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug:

When you bake pies, you mentioned you do some savory things, but what are some of your favorite go-to sweet pies? I'm sure everyone thinks about pumpkin. Do you have anything else in your brain?

Alekka:

I like my uh bourbon chocolate pecan pie.

Doug:

Whoa, that sounds amazing. So this is like a pecan pie, but a little boozed up and with chocolate in it. Wow.

Alekka:

I turn my pies into tarts.

Doug:

Okay.

Alekka:

So I use the same pie dough, but I'll put it in a tart pan. So I've been making a lot of these plum frangipan tarts lately.

Doug:

And frangipan, is that like an almond cream?

Alekka:

That's almond flour, almond extract, flour, eggs.

Doug:

Plums may not be available that much longer, but they've been beautiful, right? Yes. Red, I've seen green. This could be really gorgeous. And you could probably do something with pear.

Alekka:

I was gonna say you could poach a pear and do that. Again, I'm gonna refer to the book on pie, her apple pie filling. Because I'm really particular about my apple pie filling.

Doug:

I know we could You don't buy a can, Alekka.

unknown:

Oh my god, no.

Alekka:

No, I don't.

Speaker 2:

No, okay.

Alekka:

I know there's people who like their apple pies certain ways. Right. I like mine a certain way. I like it to be a little bit of a mouthfeel to it. And I like a sauce. Like the apples to create a sauce.

Doug:

Gotcha.

Alekka:

And I always finish whatever sweet or savory pie that I'm making before I bake it. I will brush the top with a mixture of egg and water.

Doug:

A little egg wash and malden sea salt. All right, the maldon salt. Those are the bigger crystals. So you get a little crunch.

Alekka:

Yes. The sweet and savory. Yeah.

Doug:

I love that. All right. So we've been talking about pie for a while and we mentioned some things on ingredients. Do you have any other tips for other desserts that folks might be making this time of year? Uh, cake, a crumble, anything up your sleeve where you're like, oh, I always do this.

Alekka:

My other piece of advice, especially for the holidays, is don't attempt something you've never done before.

unknown:

What?

Alekka:

That you haven't practiced yet.

Doug:

That you're gonna take to somebody else's house or serve other people. Make it in the safe space in the immediate family. Try it once.

Alekka:

Yeah. Yeah. So I like to do bread puddings.

Doug:

Oh. Day old bread kind of situation.

Alekka:

Okay. And make that a sweet bread pudding.

Doug:

Oh. What do you throw in there?

Alekka:

It really depends on the season. I would just do a little like cinnamon, sugar, brown sugar.

Doug:

Doesn't need to have any fruit or anything. You can.

Alekka:

Or maybe some dried fruit. Oh, yeah. Because you have to let it sit and the bread hydrate with those liquids. So I would put the dried fruit because you don't want burned dried fruit on the top of your bread pudding.

Doug:

No. But maybe nestle some dried cranberries in there and let them hydrate and plump up.

Alekka:

Or when I lived in Atlanta, I made a crispy cream bread pudding.

Doug:

Oh my goodness. Yes.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Doug:

Would you use crispy cream donuts? Yes. Oh. That is decadence. That is decadence. I love that.

Alekka:

But you want to think about what's available at the store. So right now we're seeing a lot of pears, you know, apples. This is what's in season. Just what's in season.

Doug:

And pumpkin's always kind of in season, but I think the the key here is you want to buy pumpkin puree. Yeah, not pumpkin pie filling. You don't want people to do all the spicing and other whatever's in there for you. Buy the pure pumpkin puree.

Alekka:

Correct. And I still have about six cans that I bought last year because I went into a panic. That's still good. Oh, it's still good. I'm going to use them, you know, this year. With pumpkin pie, I like to kind of change it up. I do a pumpkin pie cheesecake. I do a pumpkin cheesecake instead.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Alekka:

With a graham cracker crust. Kind of trying to like take what's always tradit what's traditional and kind of mix it up. Mix it up a little bit. Yeah.

Doug:

I saw a pumpkin flawn recently. Yeah. And I've done pumpkin scones. I think I just saw those somewhere else as well. Yeah, like it doesn't have to be the pie. Correct. Right.

Alekka:

So, you know, pies are really traditional, but I also make my pies. Because, you know, if you're having people over, you get people who like apple pie or people that like pumpkin pie, people that like pecan pie. So I've started making, I think I told you this, my pies in the cupcake pans.

Doug:

Yes, like personal. We talked about this last year, I think.

Alekka:

Yes. You have like personal, so you're not stuck with three quarters of this pie, one slice of that one.

Doug:

You're making individual muffin tin pies, and each muffin tin has a little bit of crust and then the filling. Yeah. And you're making a few apple.

Alekka:

Yeah, you make like four apple or you whatever. Yeah. When it comes time for dessert after the holidays, people are usually really full. Yes. Or they're like, I'll just have a little slice of pie, or I'll just have a I'm like, here's an individual one. Or you can take it home with you and eat it later.

Doug:

Perfect. I want to jump around to something else I know you make into the holiday season, and I'm not gonna say it right.

Alekka:

The Booster Noel.

Doug:

Thank you. If listeners don't know what this dessert is, it's a more cakey, right? It's a cakey thing. And it looks like a log that's fallen in the woods and maybe has some mushrooms growing out of it. But am I wrong?

Alekka:

I'm not wrong. I've seen yours. That's great. So I equate it to the pumpkin log, or like a pumpkin roll. Like the pumpkin roll.

Doug:

But this is like chocolate.

Alekka:

So it's a chocolate sponge that you fill with a butter cream and you roll it up.

Doug:

Please keep going.

Alekka:

Some people fill it with like the plain buttercream, some people color it chocolate. So what you have to do with the log, you cut like the bottom quarter of it off. At an angle, right? At an angle, and you reposition it on the big part. So it looks like on the side. Like it looks like a little knot. It looks like a knot cut. Yeah, it looks like a branch. Yes. So then you fra you, I would make my chocolate buttercream and put it on. I'm gonna call it a log for you. Yes, thank you. Say the say the real Bouche du Noel.

Doug:

Lovely.

Alekka:

Thank you. And then I make meringue mushrooms.

Doug:

Yes, I have seen these. I've had one of yours. You showed me this, and maybe we were at KDKA and you had one on TV.

Alekka:

And then you make sugared cranberries.

Doug:

Oh, are you using real cranberries?

Alekka:

Real cranberries.

Doug:

Okay, fresh cranberries.

Alekka:

Fresh cranberries. Okay. And take fresh rosemary and kind of sugar the rosemary. Just putting it in egg whites.

Doug:

Yes.

Alekka:

And I take my sugar and I make it into super fine sugar in the food processor. Okay.

Doug:

So you're taking regular granulated sugar and pulsing it a few times to get it a little more fine.

Alekka:

It's finer. So it looks like it's frozen. Frosted. Frosted.

Doug:

Yes. And this is your little sprig of holly or evergreen then in the bouche de Noël. I can't see it. I'm not even going to bother.

Alekka:

Yes.

Doug:

Yeah, it's beautiful.

Alekka:

It makes a really lovely centerpiece.

Doug:

Can you send me a picture of one of these so we can put it on social this week?

Alekka:

Yes, I will. So I'm excited. I'm doing that as a demo.

Doug:

I love that. Is there any other besides pie and the log? Is there any other dessert that you find that you're making over the the winter, fall, winter season?

Alekka:

For clients, well I'm just gonna say what I make for my family. This one thing is is not that difficult, but we always have monkey bread. Oh yes. For uh Christmas Day.

Doug:

We called it bubble bread in my family.

Alekka:

Okay.

Doug:

And if folks don't know what this is, we always used uh bread dough.

Alekka:

Oh, I just use the Pillsberry. I like your version better. Tell me more. So I buy the the Pillsbury grand biscuits. And you cut them into quarters, put it in a bag of cinnamon sugar, layer that in a bunt pan, then on the stove you cook brown sugar, butter, some vanilla, and you pour that over the uncooked biscuits and you bake that.

Doug:

Oh, yours is different than the one I grew up with. So ours was usually store-bought bread dough. We would make it into bite-sized balls, maybe like the size of a golf ball. We would dip it in butter, roll it in cinnamon sugar, and then stack them in a bunt pan, and then pour the remaining butter, maybe sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar over the top, and again bake the whole thing.

Alekka:

You know, doing the traditional sugar cookies, that's another dough that you can think about making in advance. Okay. You can either you could al always roll out the sheets of your dough and freeze those sheets.

Doug:

Okay. So freeze them into sheets, not into like the log shape for cutting, slice and bake cookies.

Alekka:

You could do that too. Okay. So what I would do is make the dough, let it solidify in the refrigerator, roll it out in sheets and freeze those sheets. Yes, probably. Or cut your shapes and freeze those. Okay. And pull them out and bake them as you need. That sounds lovely. My biggest thing is preparation for baking in the holidays. You know, have everything you need. Have a plan. Think about what you can do a couple days before to prep for it. Like with my booster Noel, I can make those meringue mushrooms a week in advance and keep them in an airtight container. I could make my buttercream, because I make an Italian meringue buttercream. I could make that a couple days in advance. Okay. The sponge cake, you kind of have to make it and use it.

Doug:

That day because you gotta roll it. Because you have to roll it.

Alekka:

If you unroll it, it could break. Yeah. I went to the dollar store and bought probably about 20 towels for my to roll it up.

Doug:

To roll it up in. Yeah. It's a whole it's a whole thing.

Alekka:

It is.

Doug:

Oh my. Well, Alekka, I think you've given folks so many great pointers and tips, but I do feel like at the end of the day, people might just want to come to you. Oh yeah, I'll bake for you. Well, let's do this. Why don't we remind folks of anything that you do have coming up, like a class or an event where you might be baking? And then we'll we'll definitely give your social handles again.

Alekka:

So for November, I am doing a knife skills class. I know that's kind of deviating from baking, but I think re-up your knife skills for the holidays. And I'm doing my annual I Forgot to make a pie class.

Doug:

I remember this one from last year.

Alekka:

So that one, you bring in a pie pan, or I will provide you with a pie pan. I will have dough already pre-made, but you're gonna make dough in class.

Speaker 2:

Uh-huh.

Alekka:

So after you make your dough, I refrigerate it and you take that home with you. Then you get the dough that I made. I show you how to roll it out. Then you get three traditional fillings for your pie. You can do pumpkin, but I think I might switch it up this year. I don't know. See what I feel like.

Doug:

Yeah. Pumpkin's gonna be in there.

Alekka:

Yeah, pumpkin's definitely gonna be in there.

Doug:

And some other ideas.

Alekka:

And I'll show you how if you want to do a double crust, if you want to do a lattice crust.

Doug:

Now we're getting really fancy. We are? Yeah. Oh my gosh. And when is this class?

Alekka:

That is gonna be, I think it's November. It's like a couple days before Thanksgiving. So like the Sunday before Thanksgiving is where it's gonna be. So people could come in and start prepping this pie for they could have a practice round with me and then go home with the pie dough they made in class and make Wednesday.

Doug:

Yeah.

Alekka:

Excellent. That's a that's a fun one. I only take eight people per session. It's intensive.

Speaker 2:

It's intensive.

Alekka:

So I'm I'm probably gonna if the first one sells out and it always does, then I usually add on a second one for the pie class. The knife skills one, we make something at the end of class. Fun. So it's either ratatouille or stir fry.

Doug:

You have something a little further out, too. Can we talk about it's December, right? We could talk about it now. All right, go for it.

Alekka:

So the all-clad sale on December 5th, okay, Friday. Um, I'm gonna be the guest chef demonstrator. And guess what I'm making?

Doug:

I have no idea. Bouche de Noel. Oh, that's great. I had no idea.

Alekka:

Because I find like getting back into the baking vibe, a lot of people that I know that own all clad.

Doug:

I own a lot of all clad because they're local.

Alekka:

They are, but the baking equipment that they have, I don't think is that is as well known.

Doug:

Well known as the cookware. As the cook. So you're gonna highlight the that's why I pitched that to the people.

Alekka:

I said, you know, they have these nesting measuring bowls that like has a handle on it that I love. They have sifters, they have sheet pans.

Doug:

I've I've seen their sheet pans. They're very lovely.

Alekka:

The measuring cups, the measurings, but they're really heavy, which I like about them. Let's oh, he's bringing them out. Here they are. You can hear them.

Doug:

They look like the little sauce pots.

Alekka:

They do, and they're sturdy. And so when is this again? December 5th.

Doug:

All right.

Alekka:

I think that's the first day, and I have to be there so early in the morning.

Doug:

No, that's not your jam.

Alekka:

It's not my jam. I have to be there at 6 a.m.

Doug:

Oh, my. Well, it is a very busy uh time at the all-clad outlet sale. What do they call it?

Alekka:

It's the all-clad or the second sale, I guess. The all-clad sale. Yeah, so that works as you go into a room. Like you walk in, you get a number. That's the group number that you're in.

Doug:

Yeah.

Alekka:

So you're sitting in this room, and so I would call myself the entertainment white.

Doug:

So you're doing the demo.

Alekka:

I'm doing that demo in that room before they call your group in to go shopping. That's fun.

Doug:

Aleca, thank you so much for sharing so many good tips, recommendations, your experience. You have me hungry. Would you remind everyone of your own social handles and your website if people want to contact you, look for these classes, or just follow you along?

Alekka:

So my website at ChefAlekka.com. I am Chef Alekka PGH on Instagram. All right. And I am on Talk Pittsburgh every other Thursday.

Doug:

On CBS Pittsburgh. On CBS Pittsburgh. Local KDKA.

Alekka:

Local KDKA for those listening overseas. Famous Chef.

Doug:

We too. You know, we do have about 49 different countries that tune into the Pittsburgh. Oh, cool. Yeah. I was just looking at stats. So they are listening around the world.

Alekka:

Wow. I'm so proud of you, Doug.

Doug:

Oh, well, thank you, Alekka. I'm so proud of you.

Alekka:

This is always my Monday morning drive to work, listening to your podcast.

Doug:

So as we speak in a couple weeks, you'll be listening to yourself. I'll be like, no, I don't want to listen to myself. No, you have to. It's good. Thanks so much, Alekka being on the Pittsburgh Dish.

Alekka:

Thanks for having me for the third time, Doug.

Speaker:

Third time?

Doug:

Yes. All right. Well, we'll work work up to one for the thumb.

unknown:

One for the thumb.

Doug:

One for the thumb. Before we go, I want to thank Chef Alekka one more time, not only for being on the show today, but also for being a monthly monetary supporter of The Pittsburgh Dish for well over a year. If you're interested in supporting the show in the same way, take a look at the links at the bottom of our show descriptions. You can sign up for as little as $3 a month and cancel any time. And as always, thanks for listening. That's our show for this week. As we enter into the busy holiday season over the next few weeks, we'll be featuring some more condensed episodes, and ultimately we'll be taking a couple weeks off in December. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.

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Douglas Heilman

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