Yes, please: Sedona’s pastry chef in the kitchen

AJ Jausel received her first kitchen aid mixer when she was in the fifth grade. Even before that, though, while growing up watching the Food Network on television, she knew she wanted to spend her life baking.

“There’s something about just being in the kitchen,” says Jausel, pastry chef at the new Cape Girardeau restaurant Sedona. “You can turn on some music, and you’re just in there by yourself, and you can just zone out. That is my favorite.”

Right out of high school, Jausel attended the French Pastry School in Chicago. From there, she got a job at the former Renaissance Grand Hotel in St. Louis, where she worked for nearly three years before moving to San Diego for a year to work at the Marriott Marina Hotel as an assistant pastry chef. Originally from Steelville, Illinois, she decided she wanted to be closer to her family, however, so she moved back to Chicago to work as a pastry chef at the Sears Tower. She worked there for nearly a year before moving back to St. Louis to work again at the Renaissance Grand Hotel.

Jausel moved to Southeast Missouri when she got married, working as a stay-at-home mom. When her daughter turned three, Jausel started her own baking business on Facebook, AJ Bakes Cookies, Cakes and More. This led to her new gig as the pastry chef at the new Cape Girardeau restaurant Sedona.

At Sedona, Jausel has designed the pastry menu as well as the syrups for the hand-shaken teas around using fresh, seasonal ingredients to create desserts from scratch.

On the menu, you’ll find French macarons, her “ultimate favorite” dessert to make. She enjoys the process of making the temperamental dessert because she says macarons are pretty and versatile — they can be made from any flavor profile or color. Also, they are intimidating and a challenge; baking desserts outside of her comfort zone is one of the tenets of her baking philosophy.

“They’re one of those things that you have to make them 100 times before you can get it right, but once you get it right, you know how to do it,” she says.

She currently has created 45 different flavors, including tiramisu, crème brûlée and mermaid. Her personal favorites are red velvet and cookies ‘n creme. Inside of her macarons, she often hides a surprise, such as a toasted marshmallow inside of the s’more macarons and sprinkles that fall out of the birthday cake macarons when the eater takes a bite.

Ultimately, Jausel enjoys baking because she can express her creativity for the enjoyment of others.

“I really like being precise,” she says. “I like everything very calculated and measured. But I also grew up really artistic. ... Doing cakes and things like that, I can put my artistic abilities out into the world. It just makes me so happy. ... When people eat dessert and you see somebody smile after eating something you made them — it makes my day.”

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AJ Jausel looks over her macarons to see if they have rested long enough before going in the oven as she prepares cookies-and-creme macarons in her kitchen in Frohna.

French Macarons

~Ingredients:

– 100 grams fresh egg whites (or carton egg whites with whipping agent), room temperature

– 90 grams sugar

– 3 grams egg white powder

– 130 grams almond flour (If you store it in the fridge, let it come to room temperature.)

– 130 grams confectioners’ sugar

~Instructions:

1. Sift together the almond flour and powdered sugar.

2. Mix the caster sugar and egg white powder together.

3. Put the egg whites into a mixing bowl and beat until frothy bubbles appear.

~AJ’s baking method:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Bake for 11 minutes.

3. Drop the temperature to 275 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. Bake six minutes more or until the shell doesn't move.

White Chocolate Oreo Ganache

~Ingredients:

– 100 grams white chocolate

– 45 grams heavy cream – Oreo crumbles

~Instructions:

1. Pulse cookies in food processor.

2. Heat heavy cream to a simmer.

3. Pour over white chocolate.

4. Add in cookie crumbles.