We’re so excited to invite Paula Shoyer, author of The Kosher Baker, into the kitchen for an exclusive interview.

1 I am so excited to have The Kosher Baker around for inspiration this holiday season! What made you decide to write this cookbook?

I was working on the recipe test for Susie Fishbein’s great entertaining book in 2004 and halfway through I thought maybe I could write my own book. I had been developing recipes for my classes since 1996 and began to feel that the kosher world needed and deserved better parve dessert recipes.

2 If I see a molten chocolate cake appear on the menu of another kosher restaurant, I think I’m going to scream! You can find bison, truffles and wagyu on the menu at kosher restaurants, how come we don’t see more creativity and innovation on the dessert menu?

I ask myself that question all the time. I think a lot of kosher chefs believe that delicious parve desserts are impossible to achieve and they don’t put the same energy into desserts as they do into food. They should travel to Paris and try the amazing parve desserts there. It takes a lot of time, patience, and science to find the right ingredient substitutions and combinations to make parve desserts work. And then you still have to bake some things over and over to get them right. With food, it’s easier to make adjustments: even when a dish is ready, you can add ingredients. Once a cake is baked, it cannot be fundamentally changed. I am dealing with The Kosher Baker to move parve desserts forward. Enough of that disgusting tri-color rainbow pound cake. We can do better.

3 Describe your best cooking moment as a chef.

When I have an idea in my head, I create the recipe and then try it for the first time and achieve exactly the taste and texture I’m looking for. That happened with my Carrot Cake with Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting. This has happened maybe three or four times in my baking life. My best moment as a chef: with my book in my hands after five years of work; It was my longest pregnancy.

4 Tell us about your worst kitchen disaster.

Five attempts at parve flan that ended curdled and in the trash.

5 How have you tried to lighten things up and adapt traditional French pastry recipes to contemporary tastes?

I try to use canola oil instead of margarine whenever I can. I also try to cut down on sugar when possible. Contemporary French desserts are actually lighter than traditional ones, with many containing more fruit and fewer carbohydrates.

Wherever I go, I preach the concept of moderation. People often tell me that I don’t look like I eat dessert. Okay I will. And only when it is WORTH the calories. Desserts should be so tasty that people are satisfied with just one piece. My four children will continue to eat processed cookies until the package is empty. When I make a rich chocolate dessert, they eat one piece and then walk away from the table and never order another.

6 You live just outside of Washington, DC If Barack and Michelle gave you the keys to the White House kitchen, what would you serve and why?

I would serve my favorite healthy weeknight meal because I figure they get enough fancy food: a basil and zucchini puree soup, roasted salmon, quinoa salad with roasted sweet potatoes and cumin-cinnamon vinaigrette, arugula and garlic green bean salad . For dessert, a fruit galette with whatever seasonal fruit is available. I would like Michelle to see her message being spread in the world. I would like her children to try a healthy meal that my children love, and Barack eats too many hamburgers.

7 I heard you compiled the 10 commandments of kosher cooking. We will do and we will listen… but can you share?

For the full 10 commandments you will have to buy the book! A commandment is to keep a few sticks of margarine in the freezer, it behaves more like butter for cookies, cakes and pie dough.

8 What are your favorite ingredients?

Chocolate, coffee and raspberries.

9 What is your first memory of cooking?

Easy Bake oven, five years. I also used to place foil-packaged chocolate chip cookies on my radiator in the winter so they would taste gooey and homemade.

10 When you’re not wearing an apron and standing behind the stove, what do you like to eat? I like to eat interesting food that I don’t have to cook myself. Unfortunately, I don’t get that many invitations. Nobody wants to cook for a chef. I love Mediterranean and French food.

11 You spend a lot of time teaching children how to cook. What are some creative ways for parents to get their kids involved in the kitchen? Any ideas on how we can get her room cleaned?

I start by having the kids cook and bake what they like. Let them start with chocolate cake and cookies and then when they feel comfortable in the kitchen, move them to their favorite savory foods. You have to give them some space to cook themselves; if they feel like the kitchen is just another place where they have to do things exactly their way or a master’s way, they won’t want to be there. I like to give kids cooking projects where they can create something for themselves: homemade pizza where you put the ingredients and they decide what to combine. You can also do that with buns and let them decide on the toppings.

As for cleaning their rooms, spruce them up with homemade cookies!