Junior, Megan Deans has a passion for baking but describes it as a hobby and not a potential future. Ever since she was a little girl, she would be in the kitchen helping her mom, grandma, or great grandma whip up some yummy treats for the family.
“Whenever it’s raining, I’ll be in the kitchen preparing a delicious baked dessert,” she said.
Her mother is her biggest inspiration.
“My mom taught me everything there is to know about baking,” said Deans, “ and she would let me stir the batch of cookies; which happened to open up a door into the world of baking.”
From baking with her mom, Deans has learned a couple tricks on her own, and even makes her own delicacies now.
“The yummiest thing I have ever made would have to Turtle Cheesecake,” said Deans, “I topped it off with a chocolate/caramel drizzle and sprinkled nuts to add a crunch.”
The baking gene runs in her family. Deans recalls a thick cookbook with recipes that all the women from her family have contributed. During her family gatherings, that cookbook would be passed around to be filled with inspiring ideas.
Baking involves a lot of mixed ingredients, and sometimes the baker makes mistakes.
“I was baking with a friend once, and the recipe called for two cups of flour, but we only added one on accident, and so our batch of cookies melted together in the oven and created a giant cookie that we just ended up sharing.”
There is a belief that if you can bake, you can cook, but Dean’s has a different opinion.
“Cooking is a matter of throwing things together and using your senses to determine the best quality,” she said “whereas baking is a definite recipe that is easy to follow.”
As an educated baker, she has high hopes of continuing her hobby as she gets older. “I really hope to pass on my family traditions of baking to my very own daughters,” she said.