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Feature Article #1

High Altitude Bakers Unite!

Hello all, I have recently created a high altitude baking website, www.highaltitudebakes.com. It was formed with the intention of sharing recipes, photos, and the high altitude lifestyle. I wanted to make a web haven for high altitude bakers to help each other and share our love of baking. Bakers at sea level are also welcome [...]

| March 11th, 2012 | Continued

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Feature Article #2

Strawberry Doughnuts for the National Culinary Review

The National Culinary Review will be featuring my strawberry doughnuts from last spring in the their upcoming April issue.

| February 18th, 2012 | Continued

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Feature Article #3

My Workday

A run-down of my day-to-day duties and responsibilities as a pastry chef.

| February 4th, 2012 | Continued

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Feature Article #4

Please Meet…Baby

“Baby” is the newest pastry addition at the restaurant. She is a CB-350 batch freezer by Emery Thompson.

| January 28th, 2012 | Continued

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Feature Article #5

Miniature Blackberry Gateau Bretons

Crumbly, tender, and flaky all at once, these gateau Bretons are the perfect companion to coffee or tea.

| January 28th, 2012 | Continued

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About this Site

After graduating from college with a bachelor’s degree, Megan decided to pursue her true passion- baking and pastry arts- at Chicago’s renowned French Pastry School. Megan created this blog with the intention of sharing her experiments, disappointments, successes, stories, and tips as a pastry chef. She likes to use natural ingredients and bake everything from [...]

Other Recent Articles

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Pastry Chef Francois Payard’s Peanut Caramel Tart

Taking a trip down memory lane with a tribute to fellow pastry chef Francois Payard and his peanut caramel tart.

27Jan2012 | | 1 comment | Continued
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High Altitude Cornbread

A high altitude-approved recipe that you’ll probably receive marriage proposals over. It is so good!

27Jan2012 | | 0 comments | Continued
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My Aha Moment for Mutual of Omaha

Watch my “Aha Moment” that I taped last summer, and all the details on my decision to cross over to the culinary field.

26Jan2012 | | 0 comments | Continued
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Good Morning Vail TV 8 Appearance

Executive Pastry Chef at Restaurant Kelly Liken, Megan Joy Kaminski, Good Morning Vail TV 8 Appearance

26Jan2012 | | 0 comments | Continued
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Mignardises For Saveur Magazine

My mignardises were featured in Saveur magazine’s January 2012 issue!

24Jan2012 | | 0 comments | Continued
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A New Beginning

Lots of changes to come in 2012!

21Jan2012 | | 0 comments | Continued
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Autumn Palette: The Fall Dessert Menu

I managed to remember my camera tonight at work, and we also had the rare occasion of a slower night, which created a few opportunities to snap photos before the plates left the window. When I was brainstorming the dessert menu for this time of year, I was inspired mostly by the colors of Autumn. [...]

12Oct2010 | | 1 comment | Continued
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High Altitude Rocky Mountain Apple Spice Layer Cake with Caramel Whiskey Frosting

Last week I did a dessert special at the restaurant featuring this moist lightly spiced apple cake. Cubes of warmed cake were served on top of a spiced caramel (star anise, cloves, cinnamon sticks, cardamom, and peppercorns, to be exact) and then covered in a luscious scoop of pumpkin ice cream.  I made a pumpkin [...]

12Oct2010 | | 2 comments | Continued
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Chocolate Pistachio Mousse Cakes for a Special Visit

My parents came out to visit for a few days and it was such a joy to see them and spend time together. Since we live so far apart, getting together was a special occasion. For one of the nights, I wanted to treat them to a great meal and I knew just who to [...]

23Sep2010 | | 2 comments | Continued
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New Dessert Menu Debuts Today!

The aspens are turning a brilliant yellow right now, which only means one thing: fall is here. This can be reflected in the our new fall menu, which showcases the end of summer produce and early fall flavors. Here is the new dessert menu: -Carrot Cake Doughnuts Raisin Jam, Cream Cheese Frosting, Carrot-Walnut Butter. -Chocolate [...]

16Sep2010 | | 1 comment | Continued
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High Altitude Baking

I am often asked by many of our diners how I adapt my baking for the altitude that comes with living up in the high rockies. When I first moved out here, I was terrified of what the elevation can do to baked desserts and pastries that would normally come out perfect at sea-level. In [...]

1Sep2010 | | 2 comments | Continued
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The Sunday Harvest Menu

There are only a handful of Sundays left this season for our Sunday Harvest Menu at the restaurant! Since early June, the Restaurant Kelly Liken kitchen crew shops at the Vail Farmer’s Market every Sunday and then creates an entirely new menu just for that evening, showcasing all of the beautiful produce we were able [...]

1Sep2010 | | 0 comments | Continued
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Exciting News!

Hello friends! I am finally back to the blog world. After spending the winter season working out in beautiful Colorado, I decided to stick around. I am about to embark on a new adventure as pastry chef for Restaurant Kelly Liken. I am very excited about this opportunity, as Restaurant Kelly Liken places a strong [...]

13Jun2010 | | 1 comment | Continued
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Pumpkin Butter, Poached Pears, and Preserving Herbs

Shortly before Halloween, I purchased a pumpkin pie pumpkin. Yes, you read that correctly. Pumpkin varieties that work best for baking are the pumpkin pie pumpkin and the sugar pumpkin. Pumpkin pie and sugar pumpkins  have a “smooth, sweet flesh that is much less pulpy and stringy” according to Regan Daley’s In the Sweet Kitchen.  [...]

15Nov2009 | | 0 comments | Continued
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The Newest Pastry Adventures

Hello friends! It’s time for a little update. I’m moving to Colorado, which is an adventure in itself. My life will become significantly busier, but I’m determined to keep posting. Every time I’ve lived in a new place, I discover wonderful inspiration for desserts and pastry. At the moment, this move isn’t permanent, but I’m [...]

28Oct2009 | | 0 comments | Continued
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Separating The Best From The Rest: The Ultimate Brownie Recipes

For the past month now, we have been dealing with a bit of an oven fiasco. None of the repairmen seem to know what’s wrong with it and how to fix it. As someone who bakes about every day, this has been extremely painful. Last night we had a glimmer of hope. The lower oven [...]

27Oct2009 | | 1 comment | Continued
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Apple Season and Apple Spice Cupcakes

One of my favorite things about Autumn is going to apple orchards and picking our own apples. We always come home with more apples than we had expected… Fortunately, apples can last a long time when they are stored in a cool place. I recommend using apples fairly soon after they have been picked for [...]

22Oct2009 | | 2 comments | Continued
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Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Blackberry Sauce

Alright, alright, don’t freak out too much. Yes, this is ice cream infused with a vegetable. I know this sounds weird. But think about it okay? Why do we like corn in the first place? Because it’s sweet! This ice cream perfectly captures the irresistible flavor of fresh sweet corn. This nod to late summer [...]

28Aug2009 | | 1 comment | Continued
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Key Lime-Cocoa Tartlets

A few weeks ago I bought a bag of key limes. While tiny, key limes are prized for their tartness. Being late summer and all, I thought a lime tart would be quite refreshing in this heat! I was going to make a sable tart dough and fill it with lime curd when I came [...]

27Aug2009 | | 1 comment | Continued
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Lemon Ginger Sand Dollar Cookies

When I first came across this recipe, I knew that I would make these. Perhaps it was the combination of lemon and ginger that got me, or maybe my mind was already on our upcoming family vacation to South Carolina, where we always find sand dollars. These are one of those thin, chewy, types of cookies. You [...]

27Aug2009 | | 2 comments | Continued
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Wild Mountain Blueberries and Peak-of-Summer Berry Crisp

Recently, my brothers and I took a trip down to the Asheville, North Carolina area for a repeat of our sibling adventures last summer. We wanted to fit in lots of hiking and take advantage of the cool refuge provided by the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains. Asheville is a food lover’s paradise, with its numerous [...]

26Aug2009 | | 1 comment | Continued
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Petit fours for a crowd

Last week I made several types of petit fours for my mom’s book club meeting. They were a hit! I love being able to share the taste of French pastry with people. It’s just something we don’t get to taste a lot of here. I chose to make russians (or pistachio stacks, as I like [...]

30Jul2009 | | 3 comments | Continued
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What is Pastry School?

Sometimes I mention my time spent in pastry school in my articles and blog postings. For those of you wondering what exactly pastry school is and all that it entails, I’ve done my best to create a fair summary below. Subjects Covered: -Baking theory, history, and science -Food service sanitation -Breads and breakfast pastries -Petit [...]

25Jul2009 | | 0 comments | Continued
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Why Pastry School?

I’ve always loved baking. You can probably tell this by taking one look at my blog. But I wanted to learn more. I wanted to understand why failures in the kitchen happen and how to prevent them. I also wanted to know how to make those fancy, gorgeous plated desserts seen at fine dining restaurants, [...]

25Jul2009 | | 2 comments | Continued
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Cupcakes, farmer’s market finds, and pastries

Most of this past week has been spent making cupcakes! I had an order for one of my personal favorites, red velvet cupcakes. For those of you unfamiliar with red velvet, it is a buttermilk cake, tinted red, with a hint of cocoa. The buttermilk helps make the cake really moist and soft. It satisfies [...]

20Jul2009 | | 1 comment | Continued
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