Utah pastry chefs share Christmas memories, recipes

Long before they became pastry chefs, impressing us with chocolate tortes, crème brûlées and bread puddings, Adalberto Diaz Labrada, Courtney McDowell and Emily Park were just regular kids who looked forward to making — and eating — sweet holiday treats.

We asked the three Salt Lake City baking experts to share stories and recipes about the cookie they remember most as a child and the one that may have put them on their culinary baking path.

Adalberto Diaz was born and raised in Cuba at a time when Communist leader Fidel Castro was in power and Christmas celebrations were not allowed.

"Christmas was forbidden," said the co-owner of Fillings & Emulsions Bakery. "There were churches, but if you had a government job — which was basically every job on the island — it wasn't a good idea to go."

New Year's Eve, however, was a national holiday, so that's when Cubans celebrated.

"My mom used to make these delicious little coconut empanadas," he said. "We didn't own an oven, so she would deep fry them and they were amazing."

While Christmas returned to Cuba in 1997, government control remained. Diaz made a living operating an underground bakery in Havana, buying flour and other ingredients on the black market and "baking" cakes and éclairs in a pressure cooker.

By 2000, when he was 28, Diaz no longer felt safe operating the business, so he fled the country and sought political asylum in the United States, eventually making his way to Utah.

Since then, the self-taught baker has worked in numerous pastry and chef jobs in addition to being a chef instructor at Utah Valley University in Orem.

In 2012, Diaz competed against numerous chefs on the regional and national level to win the National Pastry Chef of the Year competition, sponsored by the American Culinary Federation.

Last March, he opened his Latin-inspired patisserie — Fillings & Emulsions is a play on "feelings and emotions." His specialty is colorful French macarons, but the bakery also sells biscotti, custards, scones, cakes, tarts, Cuban meat pies and fresh-baked breads on Friday and Saturday.

As a nod to his childhood, Diaz also makes empanadas filled with coconut or guava for those who special-order them.

While his is not the traditional American Christmas cookie story, he says, "it sure makes me feel thankful for all I have now."

Fillings & Emulsions • 25 E. Kensington Ave., Salt Lake City; 385-229-4228.

Courtney McDowell said she's always "had a funky creative mind." It was evident years ago while baking sugar cookies on Christmas Eve.

"I just remember my mom taking out this big hunk of dough from the fridge and grabbing at it," said McDowell, a Logan native who is now the pastry chef for Finca and Pago restaurants.

While her older siblings rolled the dough flat and used cookie cutters, McDowell made hers into a free-form bird's nest filled with eggs. After baking, she gave it a coat of brown frosting.

Thinking back, McDowell is sure the dough was so thick it never fully cooked and was inedible for Santa to consume.

"And I don't know where the bird's nest idea came from," she said. "But I was an outdoorsy kid and I loved to camp outside when I was little."

One thing is for sure: McDowell has always wanted to be in the kitchen.

"My grandpa owned a grocery [in Minnesota] where he was a butcher and he was naturally good at cooking and baking," she said. "I was always in the kitchen with him, watching him and intrigued with what he was doing. "

McDowell attended Utah State University and worked with special-needs children, for a time, but "I felt like something was missing," she said. She attended the Art Institute of Salt Lake City, in Draper, graduating in 2009 with a degree in baking and pastries.

At Finca, customers seek out her house-made churros with chocolate dipping sauce as well other Spanish-inspired desserts, many of which are infused with herbs.

"I do a lot of research on traditional Spanish desserts," she said, "but then I like to put my own spin on it."

Something she's been doing for years.

Finca • Now in its new downtown location, 327 W. 200 South, Salt Lake City, 801-487-0699; and Pago, 878 S. 900 East, Salt Lake City; 801-532-0777.

While in culinary school, Emily Park stumped her classmates and instructors with her German family's magical anisplätzchen Christmas cookies.

"They look like they come out of the oven frosted," said the 30-year-old pastry chef at Caffe Niche.

Park grew up in southern Minnesota, where there is a large German community. "Every year, my mom and her neighbor (a distant relative by marriage ) would make these anise-flavored cookies."

The egg-heavy dough is whipped for 15 minutes, much like a meringue. It is then dropped by teaspoonfuls onto baking sheets and left to dry overnight. The next day when baked, the meringue creates the illusion that the light-yellow cookie is lightly frosted.

Because of the required drying time, the cookies can't be made when it's humid, "which is probably why, in Minnesota, they became a Christmas cookie," said Park, who graduated from New York City's French Culinary Institute — now called the International Culinary Center.

She still eagerly awaits the cookie package that her mother sends so she can enjoy the cookie. "Even though I'm a pastry chef," she said, "I still think hers taste better."

At Caffe Niche, Park has been impressing guests with seasonal cobblers, spiced chocolate tortes, tres leches cakes and a grapefruit brûlée bar — a twist on a traditional lemon bar. Does she get inspiration from those early days?

"My dad likes to joke that before I went to culinary school I could barely boil water," said Park. "But growing up, food was always a big deal for my family and we would spend so much time in the kitchen. There was definitely a love of cooking and food instilled early on."

Caffe Niche • 779 E. 300 South, Salt Lake City; 801-433-3380.

kathys@sltrib.com

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Coconut Empanadas

Dough

1 3/4 cups (8 ounces) all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch squares

5 tablespoons cold water

1 teaspoon vinegar, optional

Coconut filling

6 ounces desiccated coconut*

3/4 cup sugar

4 egg whites

Zest of one lime

Egg wash

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons water

sugar, for sprinkling

For the dough, mix flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut cold butter into flour to form a coarse meal. Carefully and without kneading, mix in water and vinegar, if using. (See the accompanying video from chef Diaz on making the dough.)

If mixture still has dry flour, add more cold water one tablespoons at a time. Once there is no more dry flour, push dough together into a ball; do not knead (this will make the dough tough). Allow to rest for 2 to 3 hours.

To make the filling, place coconut, sugar, egg whites and lime zest in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat stirring until the mixture starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and cool.

Make the egg wash by combining the beaten egg and water.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

To assemble empanadas, roll dough onto a floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. With a round 2 ½-inch cookie cutter, cut dough into circles. Brush the edges of each circle with some of the egg wash. Place one teaspoon of coconut filling in the middle. Fold dough in half and press the edges with a fork or the tip of a knife to seal. Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment. Repeat process until all the dough and filling used.

Brush the top of each empanada with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

Place in oven for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm or cold.

* Desiccated coconut is fresh, unsweetened coconut that has been grated and dried a bit. While it is available at many gourmet food shops, Diaz buys it at Winco.

Servings • 3 to 4 dozen

Source: Adalberto Diaz Labrada, Fillings & Emulsions Bakery