“,”heading”:””,”fullWindow”:false,”fullBleed”:false,”showFullBleedOnMobile”:false,”headColor”:””,”type”:”html5mobile”,”textColor”:””,” mobileImageUrl”:””,”bgColor”:””,”imageUrl”:””,”registeredOnly”:false,”linkUrl”:””,”aodaTitle”:”Instagram – Petit Patisserie”,”internalScroll”:false, “displayStyle”:”small-up”},{“text”:”Her menu changes regularly; other recent mouth-watering options include blueberry muffins and cinnamon rolls. So far, she’s been getting up to 20 orders a week via word-of-mouth and social (her sisters help by spreading the word on Facebook and Instagram), including many from students at her school. When money comes in, she pays back her parents for ingredients and saves some for art supplies; sister-suggested “long-term, stable” stocks; culinary or business school; and snacks. Ten per cent of each sale goes to a charity like ShareTheMeal or the GoFundMe her sister de ella set up for their mom to cover non-OHIP homeopathic treatments for her stage 4 breast cancer. (Huynh is also on the hunt for other places to give to in the future that’ll help others affected by breast cancer.) “,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false}, {“text”:”Huynh is planning new spring additions for the menu. “There will definitely be more fresh and fruity options with berries and citrus,” she says, hinting that her strawberry tiramisu may even make a return.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”: false},{“type”:”textBreakPoint”,”insertAt”:”contentEndBreakPoint”},{“type”:”ad”,”heading”:”ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW”,”name”:”ArticleSecondBigBox”,”display “:”medium-down”,”pos”:”2″,”interstitial”:true,”sizes”:[[300,250]]},{“text”:”Huynh loves baking up joy with these desserts. “The best feedback is seeing people’s reactions in person, like when I delivered cookies to school one time and watched my friends’ faces light up,” she says “When people say, ‘Wow, those were so good, I want more,’ it’s just a great feeling. And it encourages me to make more since it makes people feel happy.””,”type”:”text”, “isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false},{“type”:”relatedStories”,”relatedStories”:[]},{“type”:”articleRelatedFooter”},{“type”:”shareBar”},{“type”:”trustbar”},{“type”:”conversations”}],”assetTags”:[“foods”,”new_england_cuisine”,”petit_patisserie”,”meleni_huynh”,”smg2_life”,”InHouseArticle_thestar”,”cookies”,”chocolate_chip_cookie”,”smg_together”,”food_and_drink”,”matcha”,”cookies”,”online_bakery”,”nicrt2″,”kmi2″,”smg_people”,”cookie”,”small_business”,”smg2_together”,”chocolate_chip”,”smith_briony”],”seoKeywords”:”Petit Patisserie,cookies,Small Business,online bakery,NICRT2,KMI2,smg2_life,smg_together,InHouseArticle_thestar,smg2_together,smg_people”,”excludeInRecommendations”:false,”promo”:[],”tier”:”tier1″,”related”:{“pubdays”:0,”strategy”:0},”speciallabel”:{“name”:”TOGETHER: CITY INDEX”},”personalizationMetadata”:{” subsection”:”Together: Sunday in Toronto”,”description”:”“The best feedback is seeing people’s reactions in person, like when I delivered cookies to school one time and watched my friends’ faces light up.””,”hasImage “:true,”section”:”Life”,”asset_id”:”03528b64-39a5-4f38-b02b-e8bc042477c8″,”title”:”Thirteen-year-old makes the sweetest treats for her bakery, Petit Patisserie”, “type”:”article”,”sub_subsection”:”People”,”thumbor_image”:”{“imageid”:”GJM1FHPHS.4″,”origImageSize”:”900×1200″,” lastmodified”:1647034739006,”fullWindowMainart”:false,”forceoriginal”:false,”caption”:” The top treat of Meleni Huynh\u2019s Petit Patisserie is her matcha white chocolate chip cookie. “,”source”:”Petit Patisserie”,”type”:”image”,”credit”:””,”mainartSize”:”medium” ,”url”:”/content/dam/thestar/life/together/people/2022/03/13/thirteen-year-old-makes-the-sweetest-treats-for-her-bakery-petit- patisserie/main.jpg”}”,”published_time”:”2022-03-13T09:00:00Z”,”special_label”:”TOGETHER: CITY INDEX”,”last_modified”:”2022-03-11T21:43: 13.471Z”,”inHouseArticle”:”true”,”image”:”https://images.thestar.com/plkvgfHCIbUkCEpWpzw38oi5wYI=/1280×1024/smart/filters:cb(1647203673449)/https://www.thestar.com /content/dam/thestar/life/together/people/2022/03/13/thirteen-year-old-makes-the-sweetest-treats-for-her-bakery-petit-patisserie/main.jpg”,”enableLivechat “:”false”,”images”:”https://www.thestar.com/assets/img/thestar-ribbon.png”,”noShow”:”false”,”enableConversations”:”true”,”abstract “:”“The best feedback is seeing people’s reactions in person, like when I delivered cookies to school one time and watched my friends’ faces light up.””,”smg_tag”:”together”,”url”:”https: //ww w.thestar.com/life/together/people/2022/03/13/thirteen-year-old-makes-the-sweetest-treats-for-her-bakery-petit-patisserie.html”,”site_name”:” thestar.com”,”enableLivechatadmin”:”false”,”publisher”:”https://www.facebook.com/torontostar”,”author_names”:[“Briony Smith”],”authors”:”[{“author”:”Briony Smith”,”photo”:{“origImageSize”:”2136×1448″,”lastmodified”:2700061000,”url”:”/content/dam/thestar/columnist_logos/Smith_Briony_logo2019.jpg”}}]”,”smg2_tag”:”life”},”seoHead”:”Thirteen-year-old makes the sweetest treats for her bakery, Petit Patisserie”,”headline”:”Thirteen-year-old makes the sweetest treats for her bakery , Petit Patisserie”,”subheadline”:”“The best feedback is seeing people’s reactions in person, like when I delivered cookies to school one time and watched my friends’ faces light up.””,”shortSeoGoogleHead”:”Thirteen-year -old makes the sweetest treats for her bakery, Petit Patisserie”,”canonicalUrl”:”https://www.thestar.com/life/together/people/2022/03/13/thirteen-year-old-makes-the -sweetest-treats-for-her-bakery-petit-patisserie.html”,”seoDescription”:”“The best feedback is seeing people’s reactions in person, like when I delivered cookies to school one time and watched my friends’ faces light up.””,”enableConversations”:true,”publishedepoch”:1647162000000,”lastmodifiedepoch”:1647034993471,”abstractVisible”:true,”abstract”:”“The best feedback is seeing people’s reactions in person, like when I delivered cookies es to school one time and watched my friends’ faces light up.””,”paywallMode”:”metered”,”storyuuid”:”03528b64-39a5-4f38-b02b-e8bc042477c8″,”republish”:true,”slideshowid” :”B881688649Z.1″,”lastmodified”:”03 11 2022″,”lastreplicated”:”Sun., March 13, 2022″,”readtime”:2,”breadcrumbs”:[{“label”:”Life”,”relurl”:”/life”,”url”:”https://www.thestar.com/content/thestar/life.html”},{“label”:”Together: Sunday in Toronto”,”relurl”:”/life/together”,”url”:”https://www.thestar.com/content/thestar/life/together.html”},{“label”:”People”,”relurl”:”/life/together/people”,”url”:”https://www.thestar.com/content/thestar/life/together/people.html”}],”authors”:[{“author”:”Briony Smith”,”photo”:{“origImageSize”:”2136×1448″,”lastmodified”:2700061000,”url”:”/content/dam/thestar/columnist_logos/Smith_Briony_logo2019.jpg”,”sizes”:{“1:1”:{“small”:”https://thecanadian.news/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Smith_Briony_logo2019.jpg”},”3:2″:{“small”:”https://images.thestar.com/qVV2Pr4SYHl9aFD8_KaKPmwB2aY=/114×76/smart/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/columnist_logos/Smith_Briony_logo2019.jpg”,”medium”:”https://images.thestar.com/xf350UfARuHj_n4GwZ9o-d1QlHI=/330×220/smart/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/columnist_logos/Smith_Briony_logo2019.jpg”,”large”:”https://images.thestar.com/OOEa6UcnjQ1GcjMEoGtOAe0F6Yk=/690×460/smart/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/columnist_logos/Smith_Briony_logo2019.jpg”},”21:9″:{“large”:”https://images.thestar.com/vQMpzWGh5sirDCJpzF55P6oFZrg=/1080×460/smart/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/columnist_logos/Smith_Briony_logo2019.jpg”}}},”location”:”Toronto”,”tag”:”smith_briony”,”credit”:”Contributing Columnist”,”twitterId”:”brionycwsmith”,”email”:”[email protected]”}],”paywall”:true,”urlMetatag”:”https://www.thestar.com/life/together/people/2022/03/13/thirteen-year-old-makes-the-sweetest-treats-for- her-bakery-petit-patisserie.html”,”numOfParagraphs”:8,”liftigImage”:{“captionPosition”:”overlay”,”fullWindowMainart”:false,”type”:”image”,”imageid”:”GJM1FHPHS .4″,”origImageSize”:”900×1200″,”lastmodified”:1647034739006,”forceoriginal”:false,”caption”:” The top treat of Meleni Huynh’s Petit Patisserie is her matcha white chocolate chip cookie. “,”source” :”Petit Patisserie”,”credit”:””,”url”:”/content/dam/thestar/life/together/people/2022/03/13/thirteen-year-old-makes-the-sweetest-treats -for-her-bakery-petit-patisserie/main.jpg”,”mainartSize”:”medium”,”renditions”:[{“url”:”https://images.thestar.com/VAD2lLpHTDrpXcrAtwzFsU2NCeA=/93×52/smart/filters:cb(1647034739006)/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/life/together/people/2022/03/13/thirteen-year-old-makes-the-sweetest-treats-for-her-bakery-petit-patisserie/main.jpg”,”width”:93,”height”:52,”scalefactor”:10,”aspect”:”wide”}]},”seopublisheddate”:”2022-03-13″,”seomodifieddate”:”2022-03-13T09:00:04.593Z”,”totalParas”:0,”additionalEvents”:”,event29″,”sectionLevel1″: “Life || /life”,”sectionLevel2″:”Together: Sunday in Toronto || /life/together”,”sectionLevel3″:”People || /life/together/people”} //–>
ADVERTISEMENT
“The best feedback is seeing people’s reactions in person, like when I delivered cookies to school one time and watched my friends’ faces light up.”
When Meleni Huynh was eight, she started dreaming of opening her own bakery. “I even have the store layout sketch in an old sketchbook,” she says. She had fallen in love with baking while acting as sous chef as her oldest sister de ella made banana bread. “It just feels natural to me,” Huynh says. “It’s so amazing to see so many different ingredients create this delicious treat that you can enjoy and the realization that you’ve made it. Also, I love to learn about what each ingredient adds to the final dessert since I like science.”
(Kennedy Sherwood of Knead It Baked shares her Top 5 Toronto treats.)
Staying home during the pandemic, she had the opportunity to experiment with her own baked goods. “One time, I decided to tackle a Black Forest cake since it’s one of my mom’s favourites, but when I took it out of the fridge and cut it in front of everyone, it was rock hard,” she says. “At least it still tasted pretty decent.” (Potential culprits: over-mixing, over-baking or over-cooling in the fridge.)
It didn’t take long for Huynh to make her childhood dream come true. Now 13, she runs Petit Patisserie via Instagram, where she takes orders for her baked goods. “My sister is now my sous chef and I’ve become head baker,” Huynh says.
Huynh’s matcha white chocolate chip cookie has become Petit Patisserie’s signature treat. “It’s special because it isn’t super chewy or crispy; it’s more of a cakey, decadent texture that matches well with the white chocolate chips,” she says. “Matcha is a large part of Asian culture. Of course, I understand that not everyone is familiar with the taste, but I’m very happy when I see people who haven’t tasted it yet enjoy it – and even happier when I see people who love matcha recognize my cookies as delicious. ” Huynh also offers chocolate chip cookies.
Her menu changes regularly; other recent mouth-watering options include blueberry muffins and cinnamon rolls. So far, she’s been getting up to 20 orders a week via word-of-mouth and social (her sisters help by spreading the word on Facebook and Instagram), including many from students at her school. When money comes in, she pays back her parents for ingredients and saves some for art supplies; sister-suggested “long-term, stable” stocks; culinary or business school; and snacks. Ten per cent of each sale goes to a charity like ShareTheMeal or the GoFundMe her sister de ella set up for their mom to cover non-OHIP homeopathic treatments for her stage 4 breast cancer. (Huynh is also on the hunt for other places to give to in the future that’ll help others affected by breast cancer.)
Huynh is planning new spring additions for the menu. “There will definitely be more fresh and fruity options with berries and citrus,” she says, hinting that her strawberry tiramisu may even make a return.
Huynh loves baking up joy with these desserts. “The best feedback is seeing people’s reactions in person, like when I delivered cookies to school one time and watched my friends’ faces light up,” she says. “When people say, ‘Wow, those were so good, I want more,’ it’s just a great feeling. And it encourages me to make more since it makes people feel happy.”
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free)
More from The Star & Partners