Local pastry cook on Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship

Awesome, okay, we don't hear it. Okay, you're supposed to hear some music right now. Yeah. . . . . Hey, listen, you hear that music? . The holidays and major star power just hit the Good Day Cafe. D.C. pastry cook Haley Limburger is here. She competes on Food Network's Holiday Baking Championship. Yeah, you brought treats with you as well. Kind of give us a taste of your many talents this morning. So we also want to hear about your work at the Waldorf Astoria as well. So I guess tell us a little bit about... You, your pastry background, and how you got into this business. Well, I originally started becoming interested in pastry when I was about 15. I'd see all the YouTube videos, and I thought, I could do that. And then I just got really into it from there. And then when it was time to go to college, I decided to go to a culinary school. So I started studying at... Johnson & Wales University for four years, where I got a Bachelor's of Science degree in baking. And from there, I've interned and worked at a number of luxury hotels, country clubs, bakeries, just kind of got my hands on a little bit of everything. And currently, yeah, I'm at the Waldorf Astoria in D.C., where I'm a pastry cook, and I love it. It's so much fun working there. We are always baking up something new and delicious. I love we always change our menu seasonally. You know, always something new. And Haley, right now we're looking at some video from the Holiday Baking Championship. You are a contestant. I know the big premiere was earlier this week. What is it like taking your talents to a reality competition? You shared one fun fact with us where I was like, really? Really? It was really fun. It was like such a great time having all this creative freedom. It was a little scary just because when we were in there, you know. I'm very good with my time management, but there's no clocks allowed in the studio. You can't know what time it is. So I was struggling a little bit with not being able to look at a clock and know how much time I have left. You constantly have to ask somebody, like, how much time is left on the clock? I don't know. Or you have to wait for Jesse Palmer to tell you or something like that. But otherwise, it was such a fun experience getting to meet all these other talented bakers and baking alongside of them as well as competing with them. Amazing. Well, one of the treats you brought us is kind of a nod to the first episode, right? Tell us a little bit about what you brought here. So I have some stained glass sugar cookies here. The first elimination challenge on the episode that just aired was to make stained glass cakes. So I... Brought with me some little sugar cookie treats that I designed to look like the cake that I made on the episode. Ooh, okay. I used the same technique where I used royal icing to create the black lines and then I used piping gel which I colored to paint it and make it look more like glass. Beautiful. She's so creative. Thank you. And you're gonna show us how to do a little decorating ourselves and hopefully offer some really fun tips for people at home too. Yes. So I have for us to make here some I'm... White chocolate mocha ganache filled chocolate macarons. So we have a chocolate macaron shell here and then our ganache filling here, which I made with white chocolate, espresso powder, heavy cream, and hot cocoa mix. Wow. Oh, that sounds fantastic. My goodness. And then we'll take our... Coating chocolate here and put it in the piping bag, and then we'll do a nice little drizzle to give it a little Okay I've never made a macaron before. My favorite technique is to make a little rosette So I have here a large French tip and then I start in the middle and then just slowly move out We're out. Oh. So and then you just want to lightly press Thank you. Oh, look at that. Such an easier technique if you're just starting out would just be a little dollop here. Okay. And then... That looks more my speed. Like you said, you're also at the Waldorf Astoria while Makia tries that. And you were telling me that, you know, a lot of people go there, they have the little different teas for the different seasons, and you make a lot of the pastries that come out with that. Yes, a large part of my job is the production for all the teas or all the dessert portions of the teas, the scones, the little desserts. I currently have one of the desserts is something I designed myself this season. It's a... Cranberry panna cotta with a persimmon jam insert, and then it's on top of a persimmon ginger cake. As well, rolled in ginger rosemary crumbles. Oh, that sounds delicious. Completely gluten-free as well, so. Did you know that I'm also gluten-free? Because now I've gotta come over there and try that for yours. Waldorf Astoria, we try to keep things very allergy-friendly so that everybody can enjoy it, but we work with a lot of vendors and such so that it still tastes very close to the original, as if you weren't gluten-free, which is one of the things I love and something I learned while working there. Because in the past, I had been working with suppliers who, it tasted very similar, but still not quite like the same. And, you know, that's just one of the very many things that I've enjoyed finding out about while working there. Appreciate that. So tell everyone how they can watch the competition if they haven't had a chance to yet and support you. Of course, so it airs every Monday on Food Network at 8 p.m., but if you miss it live, you can always stream it on HBO Max the next day. Okay, awesome. Haley, thank you so much. This is awesome. I'll let you finish decorating. We'll be back with you on the other side of the break. Stay with us. Jingle all the way.