A community baking project from March–May 2020
← Back to RecipesRandom Acts of Pastry
In the first strange months of the pandemic, we started baking pastry and giving it to people whose work deserved a little recognition. The recipes taught us plenty. The deliveries reminded us why making food for other people matters.
This is the archive of that project, in the order it happened. We’ve kept the stories in their time and added clearer recipe credits where we can. The project is no longer active; the gratitude behind it isn’t dated.
Chronology comes first. Dates carry the sequence, so the two historical stories labeled “#5” can remain reachable without competing for the same place.
March 31, 2020
About the Start of the Project
The beginning of Random Acts of Pastry: why we started baking, who we hoped to thank, and what a small offering could mean in a disorienting week.
Project introduction · No recipe source needed.
March 31, 2020
The Story of Peanut Butter Cookies: How This All Started
The cookie story at the beginning of the project, and the moment a batch of baking became a way to recognize the people keeping a community fed.
Recipe by Danielle Rye at Live Well Bake Often.
April 5, 2020
What Comes From Our First Efforts
What happened after the first delivery, what we heard back, and why the project kept moving.
Community follow-up · No recipe source needed.
April 5, 2020
Crotin au Chocolat and the Challenges of Systems
A chocolate pastry, an unfamiliar process, and a reminder that even a generous idea still has to find its way through a workable system.
We made this · Source: Joe Pastry: Crotins au Chocolat.
Background: What the Heck Is a Crotin?
April 9, 2020
Strawberry Lemonade Bars, or What to Do With the Leftover Fruit
A lemon brownie became a place for the fruit left from another job. The result belongs here as much for the adaptation as for the finished pan.
Source: Joe Pastry: Lemon Bars Recipe. The strawberry addition is Kevin’s adaptation using leftover fruit.
April 18, 2020
Adventures With Pastry Cream
Gateau Basque brought cake, pastry cream, and more than one lesson into the same project. This is the story of making it, not a claim that the underlying recipes began here.
Source: Joe Pastry: Gâteau Basque Recipe
April 25, 2020
Life Is a Lot Like Puff Pastry Dough
Layers, waiting, and the temptation to rush what can’t be rushed. Palmiers gave the project a particularly apt lesson.
Recipe and technique tutorials from Joe Pastry.
May 4, 2020
Caramel Is Not My Friend
A banana upside-down cake, a difficult caramel, and the useful truth that making something once doesn’t mean pretending every part went smoothly.
We made this · Source: Joe Pastry: Upside-Down Cake Recipe.
Companion post: Joe Pastry
May 19, 2020
Cherry Clafoutis: Getting Back Into the Mix(er)
The last published story in the project brought us back to the mixer, cherries, and a recipe that asks for a little care at the table.
Source: Joe Pastry: Clafoutis Recipe.
The recipe calls for the cherries to be left unpitted
Archive note: These stories are presented as a dated record of a 2020 project. Where a recipe came from another cook, we credit and link to that work rather than republishing it as our own.