A Sweet Find with Flour Girl Desserts

BY KAREN YOUNG

“I know it’s candy, but if it’s not good, there is no point eating it,” says Mindy Trotta, a Calabasas resident and owner of Flour Girl Desserts Company.

The Brooklyn native first learned how to cook in her mother’s kitchen. Years later she learned under the tutelage of Nancy Silverton in her La Brea Bakery days, and Sherry Yard, the pastry chef at Spago.

The Flour Girl herself, Mindy Trotta.

From Silverton, she says she learned the art of baking and how to appreciate the finest ingredients.  It was Silverton who advised, “Even if you only make one thing, make sure it’s the best.”  From Yard, whom she assisted as a pastry chef, Trotta says “She taught me precision, as well an insight into seasonal things, fresh produce, and color.”

Peppermint Cookie Bark

Trotta’s passion for baking and cooking became a professional interest after a career as an editor at Dell Publishing and McGraw–Hill.  Trotta credits Yard as the one who told her to pursue the profession and “get a real job.”  She took her advice and enrolled in the professional pastry program at UCLA.

And she’s never looked back.

Her first real job as pastry chef was at the now defunct Cha Cha Cha in Encino (now Coral Tree Café). “I made everything — soufflés, sorbets, pastries, cakes…I loved it there.”  She has also taught cooking classes at various places, including Gelsons, and is currently part of the Nutrition Network program “Chefs in the Kitchen” where she teaches nutrition to inner city kids.

Hand-Iced Cookies are made to order in any shape.

“At home, I baked all the time and friends kept encouraging me to start my own business — and so,  Flour Girl Desserts was born,” says Trotta.

Today Trotta’s business is taking flight.  Her candy is really a bit of a combination of pastry and candy, but the most important elements are her technique and ingredients.

“First, I always use couvecture chocolate because it has the highest percentage of  cocoa butter,” says Trotta. “I’m very precise [which comes from my editing days]. I only use the highest quality products and such items as my ‘cookie bark’ need to be made thin instead of thick….if it doesn’t meet my standards, I won’t sell it.

She currently offers four flavors of candy as well as a cookie assortment, but is in the midst of  creating more. Just launched in time for the holidays is Peppermint Cookie Bark flavored with just the right amount of mint and dusted with peppermint candy that looks like little snow flakes.

Another holiday themed candy is the Pumpkin Spice Brittle — small pumpkins seeds  are combined with a bit of ale, butter and pumpkin spice to make this a most unique candy combination.

Pumpkin Spice Brittle

Karen Spadaccini, who owns Simply Italian, a gourmet market in Woodland Hills, says she’s addicted to  the Pumpkin Spice Brittle.  “I can’t stop eating it.”  Spadaccini says she stocks Flour Girl Desserts in her store because “the flavors are all so delicious and the packaging is so adorable…I just like how it looks on store counter.”

Rocky Road

Another flavor, Rocky Road, is a twist on the traditional. Trotta’s version is a vanilla marshmallow lightly mixed with peanuts and covered in bittersweet dark chocolate.

“I love working with spices and mixing sweet and salty flavors together,” says Trotta.

Caramel Cookie Bark is the perfect candy/cookie combo.   Trotta first perfects a thin, crisp sugar cookie, covers it with buttery toffee, topped with a smooth layer of dark bittersweet chocolate.

Caramel Cookie Bark

Got a special occasion and need special theme cookies?   The  Hand-Iced Butter Cookies are cut into the shapes of your choice and then  hand-iced in custom colors. They make great party favors or use them as a party platter centerpiece.

Environmentally friendly packaging.

Most exciting, Trotta’s desserts can now also found  Little Spoon Desserts Truck.  “Mindy is so incredibly creative with desserts,” says co-owner Melissa  Hanna. “Everything she makes is delicious and beautiful to look at.”

Trotta can service any occasion — corporate and personal gifts, party favors, hospitality platters, honor bars — you name it.  All orders are packages in ecologically sound paper craft boxes. Flavors range from $20-$24 a lb.

For more information, go to www.flourgirldessertscompany.com

Karen Young is the Editor/Publisher of My Daily Find.

Share this: