Several how-to and step-by-step cook books can tell you exactly how to create the perfect dessert, but what really goes on behind the scenes? How are these delicate morsels really made to arouse one's senses and make your taste buds stand up and sing!

A great source of baking knowledge can be learned from bakers, assistant bakers, and even at times bakery clerks...all serve as the real backbone of pastry knowledge. How products are made and how they make us feel makes one appreciate more greatly what goes on in a baker's kitchen. A few sweet memories pervade my senses, reminding me of when...

...I was a retail bakery clerk at the age of sixteen, provided the experience...of selling hot, sweet donuts, cakes, assorted desserts and breads; taking orders of said products; and writing on or correcting inscriptions on specialty ordered cakes, would be the basis of a future employment opportunity. Since I have a real passion for sweets, when the opportunity arose to work in another bakery, I accepted another bakery, I accepted the position, which was embraced whole heartedly, just to view the actual process behind the scenes of a bakery...the kinds of things that could make my mouth water just thinking about the treat. The bakery was an ethnic (Slovenian), family owned business in a multicultural community, serving up hot-from-the-oven trays of scrumptious pastries and desserts made for all tastes. Creating such works of art, none too big or small, required the cooperation of all bakery personnel. From helping to role out the dough to the finishing touch, every aspect can give a person a sense of pride and accomplishment.

The types of delicious holiday specialty items that are vividly brought to mind, flooding my senses with the distinct fragrance and flavor, are from the Slovenian culture. These three recipes were passed down from generation to generation in Nosan's Bakery of Cleveland, Ohio...now since long gone, a sweet memory in the making.

A popular treat is a deliciously light pastry called "angel wings", or flanceta, in Slovenian. The process of creating such a "heavenly" pastry can take several hours, from preparing the dough to the finished product, but it is sure worth the wait! Beginning mid-morning, several trays of chilled pasty dough are set out to warm up. The pastry dough was divided into several pieces and sent through a rolling press, then onto a conveyor belt. The long sections of thin dough was then taken by hand to

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