The event we have been waiting on the whole training period finally arrived! Class 73 was invited to take part in some of the many festivities for the Inauguration celebrations. The students actually got the opportunity to make ( or more accurately bake) history. A turn down amenity at Washington’s Ritz Carlton hotel during the Inauguration festivities was a jar filled with cookies made from Michelle Obama’s favorite shortbread cookie recipe. The hotel generously gifted DC Central Kitchen with part of the proceeds from the evening service charges. On a cold day in January, the students of class 73 gathered, in two shifts, in the bright shiny pastry kitchen of the Ritz Carlton. We donned our aprons , rolled up our sleeves and got ready to help bake the 8,000 cookies that would be needed to fill the jars of cookies for the important guests who would stay at the hotel during the Inauguration The recipe is a basic shortbread cookie but with some delicious twists including almond flavoring and a pistachio nut and fruit topping.
The excitement of working with the commerical baking equipment was enhanced by the overwhelming generosity of respect and mentorship of the chefs at the Ritz Carlton. The students were empowered by the gift of begin given real responsibility for the production and outcome of the cookies. Large batches of dough were run through a mechanical rolling machines and came out on the other end to fit just perfectly into sheet pans to be baked. Next the students topped the cookie dough with the nut and fruit mixture, brushed with egg-wash, baked then chilled to be cut into small squares and put in the jars. Each jar had a picture of staff of DC Central Kitchen, a notice about the proceeds going to the Kitchen and was finished with a red ribbon holding Michelle’s recipe.
The students enjoyed the event so much that several came back over the weekend to make sure all the cookies were baked and placed in the jars. None of us, including myself, will ever forget the excitement and honor of being a part of such an historic time. Members of the press from all over the country and foreign countries as well were there to tell our story. NPR did a special report on student, Curtis Cunningham, and his struggle from incarceration to making a better life for himself.
Chef Linda Vogler
