Chef Alyssa Gangeri has been baking since she was a little girl in her grandmother's kitchen, all designed to feed her self-proclaimed, large Italian family. Because she says she wanted every child to be able to have a best-ever baking experience, she authored a series of children's storybook cookbooks to teach kids how to measure, mix and bake their way through the kitchen, while also giving safety tips.
"As a child, I loved baking and everything that came with it. As an adult and food lover, I realized there was something missing when I went to bookstores: an interactive children's cookbook," recalls Alyssa, saying she vowed to create especially engaging, fun-filled cookbooks for those just learning her beloved craft.
Since graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Alyssa worked for elite companies such as the Ritz Carlton, Tom Colicchio, Norman Van Aken and Gray Kunz. In 2018, she joined forces with management group Urban Grub, who moved her to Nashville to open and operate The Butter Milk Ranch as a partner and to oversee all pastry development for their namesake sister restaurant, Urban Grub in 12South.
Through Alyssa's journey of baking, she developed the Mimi character, her very own miniature version of herself, for Mimi came from a nickname her family gave her as a toddler. "Children these days have just as much interest in the kitchen as their parents do, but the ordinary cookbook just doesn't cut it," she adds.
In 2015, she created Mimi's Adventures in Baking to give children and adults a way to get into the kitchen and allow the child to become the chef and the adult the assistant. Each book has one recipe and an interactive storyline the child can read, and at the end, go into the kitchen and do what Mimi did. And for "non-baking" parents, she vows these elite pastry chef recipes are tested and ready for even the most inexperienced bakers.
"My main focus was to bring back those child crucial moments where you got to have one-on-one time with someone important to you, and family recipes got passed down," she adds.
Look for Alyssa's books titled:
- Mimi's Adventures in Baking: New York Style Pizza
- Mimi's Adventures in Baking Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Mimi's Adventures In Baking Gingerbread Men
- Mimi's Adventures in Baking Allergy Friendly Treats
Alyssa's children's cookbooks are sold online through outlets such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Walmart. These children's cookbooks also can be secured locally at Parnassus Books Nashville, 3900 Hillsboro Pike, Suite 14.
MimisAdventuresInBaking.com