A Pastry Chef’s Passion For Creating Showstopper Desserts

Macarons

In this episode of Chef AF, I chat with Pastry Chef Maria Arenas from ZuZu at Hotel Valley Ho about growing up in Argentina, her grandmother’s influence and her passion for desserts.

Arenas was originally from Buenos Aires, she grew up with the art of baking at an early age. Her grandmother owned her own cake business and was an established pastry director at the local culinary school. Arenas worked on her baking skills, she studied at Escuela de Arte Gastronómico and Instituto Argentino De Gastronomía in Buenos Aires.

I asked Arenas about her grandmother’s influence and she said, “she was a pastry cook, she started as a pastry cook and then a couple of years later she had a pastry school. You know she was a very important pastry chef in Argentina so growing up with her I was super amazed about what she was doing and seeing all her work.”

In Argentina, Arenas strengthened her skills and was able to work in operations in front of the house experiences as well. She discovered her passion was truly to focus on being a pastry chef. She left Argentina in 2018 and moved to Arizona. In 2019 Arenas started with the Hotel Valley Ho’s ZuZu Restaurant in Scottsdale. Arenas was promoted and was able to work as pastry lead under the pastry chef at the restaurant.

Arenas talks about the difference in making pastries in Argentina and coming to the United States and learning a new way of baking. Arenas says, “I learned so much since I've been working in ZuZu.” She said it's amazing now that she is the pastry chef, she never stops learning, she reads books, watches videos and is always trying new recipes.

To hear Arenas talk about supply chain challenges and her drive to create desserts that are the star of the hotel, plus get her Macarons recipe check out this episode of Chef AF “It’s All Food.” You can listen to this episode and more on Spotify!

RECIPE

Macarons

• Powdered sugar 250 g.

• Almond flour 250 g

• Granulated sugar 250 g.

• Egg whites 95g.

• Egg whites 95g.

Prepare pans with clean silpats or bakery pan liner and a piping bag with a plain round tip.

• Preheat the oven to 300 F.

• Sift almond flour and powdered sugar and set aside.

• Make an Italian meringue at 257 F, with the 95 g of egg whites and granulated sugar.

• Using the kitchen aid, beat the meringue at high speed until you get a firm meringue.

• When the meringue is ready, mix the powdered sugar with the other 95g of egg whites and almond flour. Add color

• Fold both mixtures with the help of a spatula.

• Pipe the macarons onto the silpat or bakery pan liner in uniform circles, wrap the tray 2-3 times on a hard surface.

• Bake at 300 F for about 8 minutes.

• Wait until they cool down and add ganache.

Ganache

• Fruit puree 125 g.

• Honey 25 g.

• Butter 25 g.

• White chocolate 400 g.

Bring in a small pot, fruit puree and honey until simmer. Pour over previously melted chocolate, whisk until smooth. Add butter. Place it in a piping bag in the fridge for at least 3 hours. Using the piping bag fill the macarons with the ganache.