The Eastern Iowa Baking Co.

Today we are enjoying some fall fruit in the very best way through some dessert. And so joining me here in studio today to showcase some of that wonderful dessert, We have Chef Rhonda Gro in the segment brought to you by the Eastern Iowa Baking Company. And bringing us so many beautiful things. It smells delicious. Can you tell us a little bit about your company and where you're located? We are out in Eldridge, which most people think is extremely far away, but honestly it's about 15 minutes away from the Quad Cities. And we are a small family-owned business, three generations now. The 14-year-old does get dishpan hands at the dish tank. So it's definitely lots of jokes flying. You will hear occasionally a family arg But that's the way it goes. That is the way that it goes. So as a chef too, what would you say your approach is when it comes to making desserts? Some of these I can tell have a very unique spin on them. So how do you find your inspiration? A lot of it is just by what's available locally. I did walk into my backyard just the other day and the pears are from there. And it's what I kind of call the forgotten fruit of fall. But as a chef, in a dessert there are basically four components. So it's main component, a sauce, something crunchy. And then I just forgot the fourth one. And there's one more. Yes, there's one more. There's one more out there. Yes. So you're kind of looking for melding flavors. When I would move to Iowa 16 years ago, I had to learn to sweeten things more because Iowa has a definite sweet tooth. So there are days where I just kind of close my eyes and pour sugar. Just hope for the best. So as a pastry chef, you can kind of tweak those flavors because as you're layering flavors, you don't necessarily need as much sugar. So it's, I've kind of, we've been bakery now for 13 years and I'm kind of, I was getting bored and it was And so we're bringing in, we're not going to panic anybody, the cinnamon rolls and things are still going to be there. But we're going to start introducing some more desserts that in a four star restaurant would be Oh wow. Okay. So those are going to be up on the counter now for people and we do dessert buffets and things for weddings. So we're going to start amping it up just a little bit here. It's important to have that variety though. It is. It's, cupcakes are a wonderful thing. But after you've been to five weddings and they've all had cupcakes, let's do something different. Let's try something new. And especially as we're in fall now, let's just talk about some of the things that you have brought. My eye keeps going over here to these p I've never seen them actually being used as food before. Most people, yeah, I don'think realize that these little guys are actually edible. I simply, this is something we actually used to do at a restaurant I worked at back in the Detroit area. We hollowed them out and I filled it with cheesecake. So if you're struggling with a kid who maybe wants to eat dessert but want to get a vegetable into him, he can have his p And it's a fun way to present it. It really is. So you don't even have to worry about doing dishes. Just scrape it in the garbage later on. Apples, everybody loves apples, I think. And we, talking of cinnamon rolls earlier, we incorporate apples into our cinnamon rolls and then this is a brown sugar cream cheese frosting on top of it. That sounds wonderful. So, yeah, a little more layering of flavors there. Apple strudel is just a classic European dessert this time of year. Ours is made with phyllo dough. I have stretched strudel dough. I don't have room to do it. Traditionally, you get it as big as your dining room table. So it's a little difficult in a smaller kitchen to do something I can ass So we cheat just a little bit. And it is made with raisins and walnuts. And then sometimes with the dusting of powdered sugar, we tend to do a little bit of caramel sauce on top of it. Bread pudding classic. But again, we incorporate apples into it this time of year. And again, though this one is a little different sauce, it's basically a boiled-down cider. And then we've added a little bit of butter to it and then rated the liquor cabinet for some cinnamon schnapps. Can't go wrong there. So again, that layering of flavors that you get. Incorporating different things. And this is something you will find right now on our counter. And it is a cream cheese stuffed apple muffin. So again, that layering of flavors, the creamy versus the crunchy. And so you're getting some easy things. And I couldn't resist. I wanted the easiest desserts, an apple and some caramel sauce. And it's a staple of this time of year too. Exactly. Just And a great way to get a kid to munch down on something healthy. Yeah, you cannot go wrong there. Well, thank you so much for bringing this beautiful display. We've really just scratched the surface on everything that you have to offer. But there's a whole lot to offer here. So thank you so much for being here. Certainly, thank you. Now again, this segment was sponsored by the Eastern Iowa Baking Company. For some more information, you can check out easterniowabaking. com. We've also got those details posted over on our website too at our quedsities. com.