Today we’d like to introduce you to Stacey Harris.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?

I’m a retired mortgage banker who began a second career as a pastry chef. Shortly after attending culinary school to become a pastry chef, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Mercy! I was devastated, as I absolutely loved to bake and loved to eat sweets.

I experimented with a lot of artificial sugar-free sweeteners and was mainly disappointed with the results.

I thought, there has to be a better way to bake great tasting products from my kitchen that will be enjoyable for diabetics to eat. After all, our love of eating is what got most of us into this mess to begin with!

After many experiments, I developed a formula that consistently turned out delicious confections that even non-diabetics love. This led to me writing and publishing my cookbook, The Diabetic Pastry Chef.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

Our family’s business journey has certainly had its challenges.

For instance, my daughter and I joined a promising bakery incubator here in Pittsburgh several years ago. However, within months of our joining, the incubator closed and shuttered its doors for good. Securing a commercial kitchen was another hurdle, as there are not many in our city, let alone nearby. We finally found one and, within a couple of years, the owner sold the property; we were again on the hunt for a suitable facility. Fortunately, we’ve since secured a new commercial kitchen, but these stops and starts have created some instability.

At the beginning of this year, my daughter had reconstructive surgery on her dominant elbow and subsequent physical therapy; we had to cease operations for a year as a result. We are just now about to reopen and resume local deliveries and participation in farmers’ markets.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

I am a Top 50 Global Diabetes Industry Leader. I create sugar-free and reduced-sugar pastries and desserts that not only look good, but also taste good, and don’t adversely affect blood sugar levels. In 2010, I wrote a book on the subject (The Diabetic Pastry Chef), for which I am known. I also own a delivery-only bakery and restaurant with my daughter, and I am a popular blogger.

Specializing in these pastries and desserts is what sets me apart from most other pastry chefs. Sugar-free and reduced-sugar baking is not an easy task. One has to be familiar with all of the different sugar substitutes and how they compare to sugar when creating desserts in regards to sweetness and taste, texture, browning, carbs, health, etc. Then, once you assume you’ve mastered a certain recipe, things can change and then you’re back to square one. One of my favorite sugar substitute suppliers shut down for a while while building a new facility. I couldn’t wait for this transition to take place, so I had to switch to other sugar substitutes. This particular manufacturer was the only one producing the sugar substitute I preferred, which put me in a position of having to experiment all over again with different suitable sweeteners.

When working with diabetes, one has to keep abreast of medical information pertaining to sugar substitutes and other ingredients, as well as the effects of these ingredients on diabetic health. For example, one of the more popular sugar substitutes, erythritol, was said to contribute to heart disease in individuals with diabetes. The findings are currently inconclusive, but do people still want to use that sweetener? As a diabetic pastry chef, you want to keep informed of these medical findings in an effort to protect the health of your customers.

Being a pastry chef, my desserts must look appetizing, colorful and unique as well as taste amazing to keep my customers coming back and spreading the word to others. Thus, I’m always experimenting with new recipes, flavors, ingredients, sugar substitutes and flours.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

I’d like to share one of my favorite sugar-free dessert recipes!

Sugar-Free Apricot Brandy Pound Cake

Ingredients:

1 ½ c. butter, softened
3 c. sugar-substitute of your choice
6 eggs
1 tsp. orange extract
1 tsp. lemon extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1/4 c. apricot brandy
3 c. cake flour, sifted

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube cake or bundt pan. Cream butter and gradually add sugar substitute; continue creaming until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Blend in extracts and brandy. Gradually add in the flour and beat until smooth.

Pour cake batter into tube or bundt pan. Bake 1 ½ hours or until wooden toothpick comes out clean and edges of cake have come away from the sides of the pan. Cool 20 minutes in pan before unmolding. Cool completely.

Add glaze and garnish with apricots and fresh mint leaves.

Glaze:

½ cup sugar-free apricot preserves
1 Tbsp. apricot brandy or leftover apricot nectar from the can
1 8-oz. can apricot halves, drained
fresh mint, to garnish

Heat apricot preserves until melted. Remove from heat and stir in brandy or nectar. Spread the warm glaze over the cake and sides. Garnish with the apricot halves, which can also be glazed, and garnish with the fresh mint leaves. Enjoy!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.DiabeticPastryChef.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DiabeticPastryChef
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiabeticPastryChef
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/TheDiabeticPastryChef
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/DiabeticPasChef
• Other: https://www.TaraPeriChicken.com