005 Sweet Inspirations with Hannah Olsen, Macaron Maven

Embark on a culinary adventure with a master of macarons, Hannah Olsen of Aycho Melange, as we unravel these delicate French cookies that are taking Pittsburgh by storm. Hannah clarifies the 'macaron vs. macaroon' conundrum and shares the story behind her bakery's unique name. Her passion for these sophisticated yet approachable treats is contagious, and you'll find yourself craving more than just a bite of her signature sandwich cookies that are a far cry from the typical store-bought varieties.

With a mix of humor and wisdom, Hannah walks us through her entrepreneurial journey, from a monthly skill-building challenge to the creation of a flourishing pastry business. It's a tale of innovation, personal growth, and the joy of embracing new crafts that will inspire you to consider where your own curiosities might lead. 

And for those dreaming of their own food venture, don't miss the insights on transitioning from a home kitchen to a professional one, and the exciting development of Batches Bakehouse – a potential game-changer for small-scale food creators. Celebrate the power of community support that bolsters local businesses like Aycho Melange. 

As we wrap up, join us on a delicious detour through other foodie finds in Mt Oliver with Brown Bear Bread Company and a cherished family recipe of Stuffed Cabbage Rolls that add a sprinkle of local flavor and a dollop of culinary heritage to our city's diverse culinary delights.

Transcript

Doug: 0:01

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. Is it pronounced macaroon or macaron? Our guest this week sets the record straight and gives us some grace. Are you always looking for that delectable breakfast or lunch spot? We'll check in with Ana Anthony and see where she's going lately. And do you have that old world recipe? That's an ultimate favorite. Well, for one listener it's stuffed cabbage rolls. We'll talk with him just ahead. Stay tuned. We want to thank Isaly's for being a sponsor of the Pittsburgh Dish. I love taking Isaly's chip chopped ham and using some puff pastry to make some turnovers. I stuff it with a little provolone cheese and maybe a dill or sweet pickle as well, seal the edges and bake them off till they're nice and golden and serve them with maybe a little Isaly's barbecue sauce on the side. So delicious. You can find more recipes at Isalys. com. Now on to the show. Well, welcome to the show. Thanks for coming on. Why don't I have you introduce yourself to our listeners, who you are and what your business or businesses are?

Hannah: 1:16

Yeah, great Thanks for having me. My name is Hannah Olsen and I'm the owner of Aycho Melange. It is a bakery a non-storefront bakery at the moment that where I specialize in French macarons. So really that's all I do, but we'll see. There are a few other things in the works but, for right now we're highly specialized.

Doug: 1:36

All right, and I love that name, Aycho Melange. When I saw it in print it just seemed very fancy. Can you tell me a little bit around the meaning behind all of that?

Hannah: 1:47

Totally it's a little convoluted, but it is very fancy. So, melange, I'll start with that one. It's a French word. It means variety or medley. So when I was trying to come up with a business name, I was like, oh, this is really, it's a really pretty name. It means a pretty word and I wanted to offer a wide variety of things, specifically highly elusive pastries and goods. And the first word, Aycho, is literally. It sounds, you know, it sounds complex or, you know, like a foreign word, but it's honestly just the phonetic spelling of my initials, which are HO, oh, Hannah.

Hannah: 2:22

Olson, yeah, a lot of people get caught up on the pronunciation. I have good friends that we're calling it like achu.

Doug: 2:29

I think I may have done that the first time. I saw it, oh yeah.

Hannah: 2:32

I mean most people. It looks like alphabet soup to most people when you see it, because it's two non words. So you know, they tell you in marketing. I remember my college classes. They say if you have a non word, that's simple, it's easier to remember. So that's, that's the lines I was thinking along. But then I picked two non English words and so it. I think it just confuses people, but I think it works. I mean they they see all the letters and they're like, oh yeah, that's the one, the one I can't pronounce.

Doug: 2:58

Exactly it still works.

Hannah: 3:00

It's so memorable in its own way.

Doug: 3:02

And the way you write it it starts with an A, so hopefully it comes first in the listings.

Hannah: 3:05

Oh yeah, I wish I could say that I thought of that.

Doug: 3:08

Well, in happy accident, there's another clarifier I'd like to dig into, because I'm a Pittsburgh and I don't know about all of our other listeners, but the correct pronunciation of your confections is a macron. Yes, we're very fancy a macron.

Hannah: 3:26

Yes, we can. Yes, we Pittsburghers should say macron. If you want to be very authentic about it, you could say macron with like the little.

Doug: 3:37

I don't know what you even call that sounder. If I did it right. I'm gonna sound terribly German if I do that.

Hannah: 3:43

But I also I never correct anybody A lot of people say macaroon and I think especially a lot of yinzers would say macaroon, just because all of us yes, I mean, I'm a yinzer, that's what my first, I think, month of making macarons. I was looking up macaroons because that's just how I thought they were pronounced, even though, I mean, I saw the spelling, which, by the way, is the key difference between the two, but yeah, I called it macarons, and there are French pastry chefs in Europe that also call them macaroons so yeah, so honestly it's.

Hannah: 4:15

it's a huge debate in the macaron world and if you go on Instagram and take a look, you will see a lot of very angry people on both sides a spicy conversation.

Doug: 4:23

That's a spicy macaroon.

Hannah: 4:25

Yeah, you wouldn't expect it, but but yes, technically it is macaroon. It is spelled with one O M-A-C-A-R-O-N. And then you have the macaroon, which is technically the meringue and coconut confection. That's usually like dipped in chocolate that has two O's so as long.

Hannah: 4:45

So when people come up to me, I never correct them, as I said. But when people come up to me and they are looking for a macaron, I say, as long as you know, you're getting a French macaroon. That is technically the little bougie sandwich cookie that I make. Now, if you say a coconut macaron or a coconut macaron, that is when you're going to get the the obviously the shredded coconut kind of glob, a shredded coconut that I could probably do yeah and so let's, let's also go there with the macaron that you actually make.

Doug: 5:12

If someone has never had a macaron, what is that? It is a sandwich cookie, you mentioned that, but it's it's not like an Oreo no, not at all.

Hannah: 5:21

Not your traditional sandwich cookie, so not like a gob or Oreo anything like that. Right. So a macaron is a, I would say it's more. It's more like a biscuit than it is like a cookie when you're talking about the individual shells. So it's very simple. Ingredients it's just made with sugar, egg white and almond flour and that's it, and so you make a paste of the almond flour and the powdered sugar and you mix it in with a meringue and that's what gives you the fluffy texture?

Hannah: 5:57

it's very light like melt in your mouth yes, yes, crunchy on the outside, but then soft on the inside, which comes from the filling yes obviously the you know adhesive for your sandwich, which it can be butter, creams or ganache or fruit preserves. Honestly, anything you can think of can go in the middle and that's what gives them their texture, if done right, and all of the different flavors that you can achieve with them.

Doug: 6:21

Sounds amazing and I have to say, for anyone that hasn't seen your pictures, your creations look amazing.

Hannah: 6:27

Thank you.

Doug: 6:29

I have to wonder how many colors and varieties that you've made over the last couple years. Do you have any idea?

Hannah: 6:37

I would love to know the the great thing and that's one of the reasons I love macarons so much is because there are so many different options. I use powdered gel food coloring because there's macarons are super finicky and you can't offset the wet to dry ratio, so I use colored gel powders, but that also allows me to mix them. I do a lot of color matching for weddings, so I'm sure I could take a deep dive into the archives to see. But yeah, I mean upward hundreds, hundreds of different colors and color combinations.

Doug: 7:12

It's so beautiful and vibrant, and not only the individual. Am I saying it right? Cookie or biscuit, do you want? Do you like, to refer to them as cookies?

Hannah: 7:20

See, that's a weird question, because I always change it up. I don't ever call them biscuits, but just in trying to describe it. I thought, like biscuit was the right word. They're definitely more of a cookie, but I also just call them pastry, Right they're A lot of the time, so they're they are in their own category. Yeah, they're an anomaly. Really, that's cool.

Doug: 7:36

The way you display them is also, I think, super important. I would encourage our listeners to go out there and check out your page, your website, because not only are you just buying this really beautiful confection, but you have these towers and, like you just said, for weddings there's the color matches. I think I've seen where you've printed something on the top cookie. You can do that.

Hannah: 8:00

Yeah, yeah. So the visual display, I think, is not the most important because obviously the taste and the texture is most important, but your eyes eat first.

Doug: 8:10

Absolutely.

Hannah: 8:11

As you well know. So I do try to make very visually stunning and eye-catching pieces, especially for an event like a wedding. A lot of the time I'm tying in the bridesmaid dress color or the floral color to help either tie in the cookie table to the rest of the room to make it cohesive or just to show off the personality of the couple. So I recently have purchased this edible printer and that has allowed me to put the pictures and wedding monograms and logos on them. It's so cool.

Doug: 8:46

It looks super cool.

Hannah: 8:46

I put it off for a long time because it's also so expensive. Oh yeah, but it's such a neat tool because I can take, for example, a picture of someone's mom for her 60th birthday and isolate her in the photo, add another layer and put numbers in the background and print that image on cookies or, like I said, on monogram. Or I'm doing a wedding this year where their dog will be the main feature on the cookie. So, it just increases the already endless possibilities of the design options with these macrons.

Doug: 9:19

So let's talk a little bit about the business and even about how you've got here. It's something you've been doing in the last couple of years, right? When did you officially start? So I officially.

Hannah: 9:30

Well, I created my business in 2019, in summer of 2019. I started on this we'll call it macaron journey and probably the spring of 2018. Okay, yeah, so it's been a little while. I don't even know what year it is at this point 2018. So it's been like six years.

Doug: 9:49

I guess, yeah, amazing, right, yeah, and before that were you baking? I mean, where did your journey and introduction to macrons happen?

Hannah: 9:59

See, I always questioned myself, or I always get a little jealous when I tell my origin story, because so many food entrepreneurs or artisan food makers that I know when they talk about their history, it's oh. I grew up baking with my grandma and we have all of these cultural and traditional recipes I wanted to share with the world. Or I knew from fifth grade that I wanted to do this. My younger sister, for example, she's a pastry chef and much better than me, but she and she knew what she wanted to do since high school. And then there's me. I mean I liked baking, but I mean we're talking like Betty Crocker brownies out of a box, like that's. That's a start. Yeah, that was the extent of my experience and my passion into baking. I always liked to be creative and I had an Etsy shop where I did a bunch of hand-painted things, which plays into designs on the max that I do.

Hannah: 10:58

But in terms of baking, it just kind of happened very unexpectedly. I was working on my aforementioned handmade business and I found myself doing the same few orders over and over again, and so I said you know what? I'm going to teach myself a few new skills.

Hannah: 11:19

And I made a little resolution and I said every month for the next year, six months, however long it lasts, I'm going to teach myself a new skill to do with my hands. So the first month I think I did crochet, which did not go very well. I think I made like three little rings like around my center point and it's very sad. It's like half a coaster.

Doug: 11:40

Well, you tried it.

Hannah: 11:41

I did. I tried it and, you know, I kind of figured it out and it was fun. But at the end of that month I was like, okay, ready to move on to whatever is next. And the next month was watercolor, and I already had my foot in the door with painting, so it was just something new. And the third month I said, okay, why don't I try to bake something? I want to make something. Food. That is challenging, that's really pretty. And I was just on Pinterest and searching macaroons, because I didn't know the difference, and I kept seeing those and I thought, wow, this is so. These are so pretty. They're you know, they are super bougie, they're really fancy. And my thought process was, oh, if I could teach myself how to make these, I could give them out as gifts to all of my friends who are getting married essentially.

Hannah: 12:26

Cause in 2000, what I say 2018, a lot of my friends were engaged, getting ready to have kids, and I thought, wow, what a nice handmade gift this would be if I could make this. So, you know, I set my mind to it and I started, and they were a very, very mediocre if I'm being nice and. But I had a lot of encouragement and you know my friends were like well, these might not look great, but they taste great.

Hannah: 12:52

So, I kept practicing and one month turned into three months, turned into five months and I just I never picked up month four. And so it's. It literally was just this silly little thing that I was trying to teach myself how to do, and it turned into a business right under my nose.

Doug: 13:09

I love it. I think that's the best story. And you didn't grow up munching on macarons at home.

Hannah: 13:15

I didn't even know what a macaron was until I was probably 28.

Doug: 13:18

I did, though I think the same. Where did you? How did you learn? What were they? Online resources? Did you take a class?

Hannah: 13:26

So I did a lot of recipe reading on Pinterest and kind of just trial and error by myself at first, and then, actually, I was searching macarons on Instagram, looking for some inspiration, looking for people who were better than me that I could learn from, and I came across the page of. She's a Brazilian pastry chef and she's classically trained. Her name is Natalia Mendoza and she had a class and she is so nice. She chatted with me even though I hadn't been a student. She answered a lot of my questions and I said you know what, like, I'm gonna learn how to make them the way she makes them, because at the time I was using a French meringue method for macarons. You have French, you have Italian and you have Swiss meringue that you can use.

Hannah: 14:12

So she uses the Italian method and I thought okay, I was like I'm gonna try it this way. The boiling sugar syrup is terrifying, but let me try it. And so she has a course and she helped me troubleshoot everything and has been like my biggest cheerleader throughout the whole learning process and I wanna say that was in 2019 that.

Hannah: 14:33

I found her and she's been in my corner ever since and she's a wonderful mentor, not only in wiping the tears away when they all fail, but also just in terms of running a business and growing a pastry oriented business. So she really taught me.

Doug: 14:49

Amazing.

Hannah: 14:50

Yeah, like everything that I know.

Doug: 14:52

Is she local or was this an online class?

Hannah: 14:55

So she's definitely not local. She lives in Brazil. So, yeah, she lives near Sao Paulo, brazil, and but yeah, so we were able to meet in person one time. Yeah, she came with another big name in the macaron world to New York City and a bunch of us Instagram friends that make macarons we all kind of like converged in New York City.

Hannah: 15:19

And, yeah, we got to hang out. We spent a few days together. We went to New York cake and we'd had like a little competition where three of us like baked off against each other. Oh my yes, it was really cool. I was very fortunate to be one of the people that got to compete. I had to make a hot dog macaron. Wow, it was very fun and, you know, it was just like our own little food network experience. It was not on food network, but maybe someday we'll be Put it out there in the universe, if you're listening.

Hannah: 15:50

Yeah, a little plug.

Doug: 15:51

We're ready. I love that. I just think that's an incredible. You know, you started your first year on your own and then, really, like, took your actual 10,000 hours to the next level with great help.

Hannah: 16:04

Yeah, yeah, it's pretty cool. I don't think that I think that I could still be doing it if I had been alone but, the way that she taught me how to make them and just the support that I got from her and friends as well, but it really that changed the game for me and just it opened so many doors and to new relationships and you know just different ways of looking at my hobby turned business actually as a business.

Doug: 16:32

Yeah, I think it really feeds the social side of that, the support side of that. We all kind of need that.

Hannah: 16:38

Right, right, especially when you have, you know, something that I had no experience in before, and it's very easy for imposter syndrome to set in like, oh, I'm not, I'm not French, I'm. I don't have any training like. Youtube training maybe, but yeah, and it's easy to get down on yourself and doubt yourself, but when you have someone that is relentlessly supporting you, it's it change. It does change everything. This is Hannah Olsen from Aycho Melange, and you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug: 17:06

So you moved from the Etsy shop and you're not necessarily doing the painting anymore.

Hannah: 17:11

No, I don't have time for it anymore. It's all macarons.

Doug: 17:14

And so tell me a little bit about that transition like forming your own business and now you're you're having to bake in like a certified kitchen right. And then do your deliveries or the events like what are some you know, what are some highlights from that or some lessons you've learned.

Hannah: 17:30

So, um, that's a really good question, because that is it's come straight out of you know, my little origin story there is, I was just, you know, bebopping along with my mediocre macarons and my friend Sonia. She reached out to me and she said, hey, I have this work event coming up and I would really love to support your macaron making business. Can I get 150 macarons? And I was like, hey, thanks so much for thinking of me. What macaron making business? And the more I thought about it, I was just kind of like you know what? Like? Why not Like? Why not me? Why not this?

Hannah: 18:04

I love doing it and that was kind of the push that required a decision Like am I going to move forward with this and move away from what I had been doing, and I, just like I said, I said why not, we'll try it out, we'll see how it goes. And so I had just been doing it for close friends and once it got to the point where I was getting requests from people that I didn't know, I was like oh, maybe I should get insurance. Oh, this is serious. Yeah, like, oh, maybe I should protect myself and my assets.

Doug: 18:36

Yeah.

Hannah: 18:37

But yeah. So I kind of had to look at it and say, like, do I want this to be a hobby or do I want this to be a business? So after that that big request I was kind of was shocking.

Hannah: 18:48

And I was like okay, well, like, let's, let's make this legitimate and make it so that I don't have to be looking over my shoulder for the health department, so so, so yeah, I went through all of that Creating the LLC is not very complicated, but emotionally it can be and so worked through that, did the whole insurance thing and in terms of a kitchen, I can't have a cottage license because we have dogs, love them so much, captain and Dolores, but they've ruined that for me.

Doug: 19:21

Sort of perpetuated that you needed to have a kitchen elsewhere, and I did see somewhere on your website this Batches Bakehouse, yes. So tell me a little bit, is it? Am I, am I picking that up that that is a kitchen you're using and looking to share?

Hannah: 19:36

It is, so it is like a nascent kitchen. Okay, so the way it happened for HO Milange was I have a good friend who is also a big fan of my macarons and had been from the beginning. He owns a restaurant. He and my friends at the yard were huge supporters of mine and they said Hannah, listen, you need a kitchen. We have extra space in one of our kitchens. Get a license to be a co-op out of here, so that's, I bake out of the yard in Robinson.

Hannah: 20:12

Oh wow, but obviously it is not. It's also not a storefront for me, so it's just kind of a ghost situation.

Doug: 20:18

Yes.

Hannah: 20:19

But that's what allowed me to be legitimate and grow and do markets and do weddings and everything like that. Without that, it would look very different for me, because it's a huge investment to rent kitchen space and I mean I and this. This ties directly into batches, but I feel very strongly that people like me, who are solopreneurs, who are artists and food creators, they're they're underserved in this category because you're either at home with a cottage license or you are footing the bill for rent at your own bakery or food shop most of the time.

Doug: 20:57

Yes.

Hannah: 20:58

And there are options for shared kitchens. There are maybe three or four main options in Pittsburgh of varying sizes and cost structures, but a lot of them don't make accommodations for people like us. They don't have us in mind, which is totally fine, because that's not their business model. They can cater to full service food businesses and food trucks, whereas people like me I don't need a fryer, I don't need you know an open flame.

Hannah: 21:25

I don't need a griddle or anything like that. Just give me some chilled storage and an oven and dry storage and I'm good to go.

Doug: 21:31

Yes.

Hannah: 21:32

And the other aspect is, especially when we're small and we're new, we don't need uninhibited access 24 hours a day, so a lot of the times those kitchens are exclusively to small people like me and it just, it just can't work. So my goal was to create a space that would allow small businesses to grow and work in a certified space so that they can get into those markets and can do those larger events that require a certification. I have been looking for Batches home for probably the last year in three months.

Doug: 22:08

Okay.

Hannah: 22:08

And we've gotten close a few times and I'm currently waiting to hear back on a space that I think would be a really great fit, but I'm very picky and I want to make sure that it's the right space, that it's set up to thrive and it's central to Pittsburgh so that, regardless of where you're coming from, you're still close to a large market in the city, or if you're doing events in the city, and so that your clients it can be easily accessible for all of them, regardless of where they're coming from.

Hannah: 22:36

So that is the dream and I wanted to be a space where you know you obviously have this kitchen that you can bake out of and grow your business, but I also want you to be able to host classes there, if you want or offer your confections or your food at the counter for walk in traffic just to give everyone that stop gap between kind of doing it just on your own as a hobby or under the health department radar to actually having your own bakery, if you're only there for a year and then you open your own space like that's the goal.

Doug: 23:06

That's what I want to say.

Hannah: 23:07

Yeah, exactly. Or if that's all you need and you don't want a storefront, you shouldn't have to have one. So that's, I'm just trying. That's the goal, that's the dream for it, because I have been very fortunate in my experience to have so many people lend me a hand that I just think of how many other amazing small businesses could grow and be more seen if they had an opportunity like this. We will see. Keep your fingers crossed that I get you know some good news, hopefully by the time we air this.

Hannah: 23:37

I'll hear back because I'm. Every time my phone rings, I'm like oh, is that it?

Doug: 23:41

Well, yeah, my fingers are crossed. Right now, as you talked, I have a couple other folks that I want to interview, that I want to connect with you. Oh, perfect, I love that. And if you're listening out there, like those places like Fulton Commons, La Dorita, you know there's some feedback. Yeah, no hate. No hate at all.

Hannah: 23:59

Yeah, those are great. They're great places, they're just like I said, it doesn't work for everyone and I have talked to several people who are interested in what I'm trying to do because they can't. That's not feasible for them. And if you're listening, I love what you do.

Doug: 24:13

Yeah, I agree. I know a lot of makers that are there.

Hannah: 24:17

Yeah, yeah, me too.

Doug: 24:19

You have. You have me a step ahead. I usually think about the goals at the end and ask you what you got going on, but you just gave me a big one. I want to ask you about what are some some big things you've done and who are you working with? I feel like there was a connection to the cookie table.

Hannah: 24:36

Oh, Here for the Cookie Table.

Doug: 24:37

Yeah or am I wrong?

Hannah: 24:39

No, no, no, you're not wrong.

Hannah: 24:40

The first thing I'll say is that everything I've done is because of a friend that I've made or a relationship that I've had and I mean it speaks bounds for the Pittsburgh food community because one Yinzers are the most passionate people and some of the friendliest people and the quickest to lend a hand or make a connection that I've ever met. I've been so lucky that when I think this was 2021. Yeah, so there's two years after I officially started, in 2021, I was included in the best of Pittsburgh competition that the city paper puts on. Thank you. I, little old me, did not have a storefront, like barely had 2,000 followers on Instagram probably at that point, and it's one, but it's one of the proudest things I've done because it was my customer base that put me up there and my other business owner friends that put me up there.

Hannah: 25:32

The category, I think, was best baked good in Pittsburgh, so it wasn't even best macaron, because if you said best macaron, there's like five people that make them. So I'm like, okay, I made top 10. But yeah, it was best baked good and I was up there with the likes of Oakmont Bakery and Le Gormandine and Gabby et Jule's and I was like you have got to be kidding me, this is not real. But I did not win, clearly, but I made it into that voting round that top 10. So out of like 60 plus nominations, I had enough that it put me in the top 10. It might seem silly to some people listening because I didn't. I probably lost by a lot in that final, but I was there.

Hannah: 26:10

Like my name was on the same list and so that was kind of like, wow, this really solidified that it's real and I'm doing something right.

Doug: 26:19

So and you got there because of your not gonna say fan base, but also all of those network connections, everyone that's kind of brought you to where you are and, as you just said, so much better. It's the essence of Pittsburgh getting you there.

Hannah: 26:33

Definitely. I lean on Pittsburgh a lot, so thank you.

Doug: 26:36

You grew up here. Yes, yeah, so All lifelong.

Hannah: 26:39

I'm from the South Hills. I grew up in Elizabeth, which is probably 20 miles south of the city. Yeah, for everybody that's from the North Hills. It just like groaned because they thought about Route 51, I get it. My husband and I live in Beaver, now Like literally a mile into Beaver, so we're really close to Cranberry. It's still only half an hour from the city, which is amazing.

Doug: 27:00

I also had asked you about the connection to the cookie table.

Hannah: 27:03

Oh, yeah, so yeah, Pittsburgh is a wonderful place for connections and I was lucky enough that during one of my wedding deliveries I was at the PPG Winter Garden and I am taking in this cookie, this tower of macarons and I'm gonna set it up.

Hannah: 27:19

And I was told, okay, we have Here for the Cookie Table is managing our cookie table and I was like, okay, sounds great, like there's gonna be someone setting it all up. They can tell me where they want the tower, cause usually that's the biggest question where do I put this thing? So I get in there and Marsha Houston, who was the owner of here for the cookie table, she was on site getting everything set up and she was just so nice and so helpful and she was so excited that these macarons had a presentation, had a display for the cookie table, cause she's like, you know, like they're so nice and a lot of the times when we get them they just get thrown on plates or they get lost somewhere.

Doug: 27:54

They don't get the attention they deserve.

Hannah: 27:55

Right, they're basically royalty. So, yeah, I had worked with her and we just had a really positive experience. She enjoyed the fact that I had this like already ready to go for her and we became fast friends and we've worked together on a bunch of weddings. She's amazing, she always. I don't even have to go and put the tower together anymore when Marsha's doing it. She just takes everything and puts it in the perfect place, makes it beautiful and, like I was talking before about the cohesiveness between your cookie table and the rest of the wedding, she makes the whole table this beautiful focal point, and so so I've leaned on her a lot for, you know, just working together on different projects and just trusting her with these very delicate cookies.

Hannah: 28:41

If you look at them the wrong way, they could fall off the tower and crack so you have to be very nice to them, and she always is and she does a beautiful job.

Doug: 28:49

Oh my gosh, what a wonderful partnership.

Hannah: 28:52

Yeah, she's the best.

Doug: 28:54

Any other big things ahead for the macaron side of your business.

Hannah: 28:59

We'll see. I try to always stay very flexible because you know if you can't adapt, that's when you have problems. But I have been doing a lot more partnerships with local businesses, whether that's retailing out of them or doing collaborations. So my very first business partner in Pittsburgh was Hilltop Coffee in Arlington. And I still sell out of there. Dan and Jamie are wonderful. It's the cutest little coffee shop and I joined up with them right after they opened, even after we had moved to Charlotte for a year in 2022.

Hannah: 29:36

And even when I came back it was kind of like, okay, when can we get macs back?

Doug: 29:39

in.

Hannah: 29:39

Hilltop Cause, everybody misses them.

Doug: 29:41

Oh my gosh absolutely.

Hannah: 29:42

So that's a wonderful partnership, and I also partner with Armful of Flowers on Mount.

Hannah: 29:47

Washington and they also they retail six packs. We have seasonal, like rotating flavors that are just always a lot of fun. We'll have some really cool stuff for all of the holidays and pre-orders, and one of the things I'm really looking forward to started last summer and I'm hoping to expand it to more locations this summer. But I went back to my hometown and I went to the local ice cream shop and I said can we work together? Can we do something here? And so out of that, myself and Jenny, the owner of Frosty Cone, and Elizabeth, we're doing macaron ice cream sandwiches.

Hannah: 30:27

And everybody was so excited. Yes, it's wonderful. It's a great summer treat. It's a little play on the traditional ice cream sandwich and we got to do a lot of fun flavors and, like we've said before, they're just so colorful and it's just like a nice little surprise in there, yes. So they're great and we've had a really positive feedback from everybody that's gone and has tried them. So I'm gonna try to get more ice cream sandwiches that are macaron based in Pittsburgh this summer. I've never heard of it, so you've never heard of it.

Hannah: 30:59

Amazing. I'm definitely not the first person to have done it. So I won't take credit for that.

Doug: 31:03

but Be the trailblazer here.

Hannah: 31:05

Yes, I know Everyone, if you haven't tried them, you really have to, because they're just.

Doug: 31:11

Everything's melty good.

Hannah: 31:12

Yes, and it's perfect for people who don't. Can't have traditional ice cream sandwiches because of a gluten intolerance, Because they're just almond flour and sugar.

Doug: 31:21

Gluten free. We haven't mentioned that. Before we end today, I did wanna ask, like, what are some of the most popular flavor combinations that you get asked for the most? You have a couple in there.

Hannah: 31:33

That's tough yeah, cause I'll start naming them and then I just won't stop Because for one. So one weakness of mine is that I have too many flavors available, but it's because there are virtually endless options, I would say the most popular flavors. Salted Caramel has always been a heavy hitter. People love it. One of my favorite flavors, and it's also very popular, is Almond Raspberry.

Hannah: 31:58

So it's Almond Raspberry so it's an almond buttercream and it has raspberry in the middle of it and you get that nice sweet almond flavor and then you get the tart fresh raspberry. And it's just oh, it's my favorite. Birthday cake is huge oh.

Doug: 32:13

I bet.

Hannah: 32:14

I have a new flavor that has quickly been very popular, and that's chocolate chip cookie dough. So I know, surprise, surprise.

Doug: 32:21

Yeah, why not?

Hannah: 32:22

It's not and it's not actually cookie dough, so it's not. You know, you don't have to worry about the flour aspect of it there's no raw egg.

Hannah: 32:30

No, no raw egg, but I make it with a. It's like a very creamy buttercream. It's great. I love all of the different flavors and I love making new ones. I don't know. So, like last summer, I did a special theme pack called Hot Girl Summer and it was just a bunch of spicy flavors. So, yeah, I did jalapeno, pineapple, margarita, blackberry, black pepper Trying to think it's a hot honey almond one. That was super, super good. And, of course, flaming hot Cheeto macaron, which sounds absurd but was actually so good because I put flaming hot Cheeto, pulverized flaming hot Cheetos in the shell but then I used like a cream cheese-based filling to kind of balance out the heat and give it a nice creamy texture. It was like I said, it sounds absurd, but people were like I'm very surprised at how much I like this.

Doug: 33:22

My people can't see it. My jaw has been dropped the last minute. Every time you keep explaining a new flavor. I think this is probably the secret to your success. You can see the passion and just hear it, with all of your ideas and all this flavor combinations. That's why folks love you so much and I hope people find out more about you and nothing but bigger and better things.

Hannah: 33:43

The more people that find out, probably the more flavors, because someone's gonna ask for something obscure and I'm gonna be like you know what I'm gonna do that.

Doug: 33:49

That's amazing. All right, Hannah, before we wrap up, I always love to give our guests a chance to plug all of their things website, social media or anything else you have going on so go for it.

Hannah: 34:04

Great. I mean, I feel like this whole thing was a plug. You've been so nice to me. But, yeah, if you want to check out my website, whether you're looking to have macarons at an event or a wedding, it's just www. aychomelange. com and the spelling for that, if you need it, is A-Y-C-H-O-M-E-L-A-N-G-E and that's my name.

Hannah: 34:27

On Instagram, on Facebook, pretty much everywhere. I have a TikTok, but I don't think I've posted on it any, or I'm not very. I'm not that cool, so it just we'll stick with Facebook and Instagram. Batch's Bakehouse, the soon to be shared kitchen, is that's the handle for Facebook and Instagram there as well. So, yeah, if you're looking for a place to call home, if you're looking for a space where you can grow and meet a community of like-minded artisan food preparers, I like to call it. Come find me, even if you just want to have a conversation about what that process looks like. I've talked to a few people in the last few weeks just about how I got my business started, and with no real intentions of them joining the kitchen. I don't. I'm just here to help. So, even if that's not what you're looking for and you just want to have a conversation, happy to be a sounding board. Yeah, I think that's you know. I think that's all my stuff, I don't.

Doug: 35:18

Well, I love sort of the ending point. You're given back to sort of in the universe, the way everybody's given to you a little bit of helping hand for their journey. And I do have one final question that I ask everyone that's on the show what has been the best dish you have eaten this week?

Hannah: 35:36

Ooh. So actually I was just at the Kaufman Tavern in Zelienople with some friends yesterday and I had a lobster grilled cheese sandwich.

Doug: 35:50

Oh my.

Hannah: 35:52

It was very good and it's kind of. It's one of those things where I was like, okay, it's going to be a sandwich I'm ready for like a handheld, nothing too crazy. But I was like, wow, this is actually tremendous. It was, it was great. So the Kaufman.

Doug: 36:04

Tavern in Zelie yeah, Kaufman Tavern in Zelie yeah, it's a gorgeous space.

Hannah: 36:09

I'm pretty sure it's a historic building that's been renovated. It's so nice, it's got great atmosphere and everything I've had there's been great. But yeah, I had the lobster grilled cheese sandwich and I was like yeah, I was like this is on point.

Doug: 36:20

Oh my goodness, Hannah, thank you so much for being on the show.

Hannah: 36:24

Yeah, thanks for having me Doug.

Doug: 36:25

This was great All right, we'll have to do it again sometime, once the Batches open.

Hannah: 36:29

Oh yeah, bring me on as Batches next time, okay, I love that.

Doug: 36:33

Up next, the weekly recommend. We want to thank Beano's for being a sponsor on this week's show. With so many sauces and dressings to choose from, Beano's has the answer to your perfect sub, salad or even pizza. You can find a list of all of their products, along with more recipe ideas, at ConroyFoods. com. Hey, Ana, welcome back. Thanks for joining us again.

Ana: 36:58

Thanks for having me, Doug.

Doug: 37:01

So, Ana, in this segment we always like to give a recommendation going out to eat somewhere, so I know you're the pro.

Ana: 37:08

Yeah, I guess so.

Doug: 37:11

So if there was a lunchtime spot that people should know about that you love. What do you have up your sleeve?

Ana: 37:18

Okay, you know what I've been really loving lately Brown Bear Bread Company.

Doug: 37:23

Over in Mount Oliver. It's in Mount Oliver.

Ana: 37:25

Yeah, they have a great. It's not only lunch, it's brunch so they have some great breakfast items, but they are a great spot that I feel like more people need to know about.

Doug: 37:36

Yes.

Ana: 37:37

They're relatively new. I actually don't know if they're a year old. I think they just have their year old.

Doug: 37:42

Were they in Carnegie for a little bit.

Ana: 37:45

So yeah, they were operating out of a church kitchen and making all of their bread in Carnegie and then they got their own Brick and Mortar up in Mount Oliver and it is the most beautiful place. It's very cozy. It's great for like a little lunch date if you are looking for that. They do brunch, but they also sell all of their great breads, like their sourdough is my favorite. I have it in my freezer at all times.

Doug: 38:10

Oh, my goodness for a bad day. They're English muffins.

Ana: 38:14

Oh my God, how could I forget? To talk about those.

Doug: 38:17

They're sourdough.

Ana: 38:18

English muffins. I have some right now and I do everything with them and I make a very great breakfast sandwich.

Doug: 38:25

And they do like takeaway orders and stuff.

Ana: 38:27

They sure do. So you can order at a time, right, yeah, 100%, yeah, so it's over in Mount Oliver. It's on Brownsville Road.

Doug: 38:32

That's right. There's a couple other cool spots over there. The Cheese Queen is over there, Echt Coffee is over there, so you could make a little food trip, for sure you could walk around up there and yeah, I love food trips like finding areas that have multiple things and walking around.

Ana: 38:46

That's the best, and we have a ton of great areas in Pittsburgh like that there are so many places that you can just hit up multiple places and have a great day.

Doug: 38:54

So a lot of people may not know about Mount Oliver, but you should check it out. Brown Bear Bread Company Company. Okay, we got it. Go support them.

Ana: 39:04

Yes, thanks, Ana.

Doug: 39:07

Of course, you can follow Aana Anthony on Instagram @ana. eats. pgh. This week's listener recipe comes from Jeff B, and it's stuffed cabbage, which is one of my ultimate favorites. Let's give him a call and learn a little bit more about this recipe. Hello, hey, Jeff, hey Doug, how are you bud? Hey, I'm doing well. Hey, thank you so much for the recipe this week. I have to tell you, stuffed cabbage rolls are probably one of my favorites. So tell me about this recipe, like, where does it come from? Oh well, it is from my mother's mother.

Jeff: 39:42

I learned a lot of cooking from More my mother's mother, but my dad's mother also taught me a lot of the Polish recipes. But, believe it or not, this is from my mother's mother Side, which she was Austrian, okay, and so it was a depression era food, and my grandmother grew up in the depression era and she has a very interesting backstory. But I learned to cook primarily from her and this was one of my favorite recipes of her. So when I was a young age, she taught me how to do this. Now her version. She doesn't like a lot of spice, so I, when I'm making the recipe I submitted. There's a lot more spice to it, a lot more flavor, a lot more depth of flavor, with it being depression era stuff. It was very stripped down. They're very basic salt, pepper, eggs, rice, meat. It has been modified by me, but it has the soul of the original recipes there. Oh, I love it.

Doug: 40:36

And if one of our listeners hasn't looked at the recipe yet that we put online. So you start out with a little bit of ground beef and you season that up, you cook some rice and add that in. You boil the cabbage like almost like a whole head and then to get the leaves off. If someone hasn't made this before and hasn't like rolled up cabbage leaves, is there any tips that you would give them?

Jeff: 40:58

Yes, now you'll notice on the outer edges of the cabbage there's this thing called a spine. It's really. It really holds the leaf to the head. If you cut that spine out so in other words you make a rectangle around it and remove it that cabbage leaf then becomes a lot more pliable and easier to roll. Plus, that spine really does not have a lot of good flavor in it and, as one of my favorite celebrity chefs, Alton Brown, says, that is not good eats, so I tend to discard it. Oh, that's a good tip. And so you mix up your rice and beef mixture with a bunch of spices.

Doug: 41:34

You take the cabbage leaves after you've kind of boiled them and you've cut out that rib so they're easily foldable. You're kind of making a cylinder, right. Yes.

Jeff: 41:46

It looks like a, like a, almost like a cylindrical football shape, as I would put it. It's up to the person. If you like a thicker cabbage roll, make it bigger and thicker and use the outer leaves. If you like a smaller cabbage roll, obviously, but it has to fit and roll in the leaf. Make sure it's sealed. We're using the leaf because you don't want to flood the meat when it's cooking. You want it protected by that cabbage roll.

Doug: 42:09

I also remember. The other tip in your recipe is if the meat mixture isn't holding together, you might want to add a little bit more breadcrumbs, because you don't want them falling apart.

Jeff: 42:17

Correct, now, that's a texture thing, because so some people might like it to crumble a little bit so they can combine it with the cabbage. Use less breadcrumbs. Use less eggs.

Doug: 42:28

You like the binding, so it stays kind of hold it like a meatball. Yes, yes.

Jeff: 42:31

I want it to maintain its shape and when you cut into that, I want it to have a little bit of a texture. But I want it to hit the knife to be able to. You can see where you cut it. It's a nice smooth cut and it's when it hits your mouth. It falls apart in your mouth and not on the plate.

Doug: 42:44

Oh my gosh, that sounds terrific. And so once you make the cabbage rolls I noticed you have preheated oven to 350 Fahrenheit. You stuff them in like a 9 by 13. You pour over either tomato juice or V8 until you cover it pretty well.

Jeff: 43:00

Yes, you want to cover it with aluminum foil. If you leave it out it's going to burn the top, so you definitely want to cover it. And the original recipe. The way my grandmother taught me, she used Campbell's tomato soup. I like the V8 and the viscousness of the V8 or the tomato juice, because as it cooks some of the fat from the meat will seep out into that and you can actually make a nice sauce out of it. Oh wow.

Doug: 43:22

So when you plate it, yeah, it's made a great sauce. Yes, over the finished product. Oh, I love it so it's multi-purpose. Oh, very good, you submitted a picture as well with the stuffed cabbage rolls. They look amazing, but there's also another dish on your stove top sitting right beside it. What is that?

Jeff: 43:40

That is a broccoli cheddar rice casserole.

Doug: 43:43

Oh, I think we might have to talk about that on another time.

Jeff: 43:46

It would be my pleasure.

Doug: 43:48

Okay, Jeff. Thanks so much for the family recipe, and if you have any more, please send them through.

Jeff: 43:55

I will be happy to.

Doug: 43:56

All right, thanks so much. Well, that's our show for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode.