Food & Drink mini-series: Natasha Pickowicz on creative desserts

The conversation explores how to make baking feel less intimidating and more creative. Natasha Pickowicz, a three-time James Beard Award finalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef, shares her journey from a DIY background to fine dining and back, emphasizing that baking, like cooking, should be approached with intuition and a willingness to experiment. Pickowicz suggests that understanding basic fundamentals allows for improvisation, using her olive oil cake recipe as an example of how to make substitutions. She also highlights the importance of repetition, sensory awareness, and community connection in baking, viewing pastry as a means of celebration and bringing people together.