Want to do some baking for a friend these holidays? CBC Saskatoon Morning has the recipes

CBC’s annual Food Bank of Saskatchewan fundraiser is in full swing. CBC Radio’s Saskatoon Morning dedicated its entire Dec. 10 show to this year’s theme “Make the Season Kind.”

What better way to share kindness than with treats for someone who deserves it?

Show host Leisha Grebinski has reached out to all corners of Saskatoon and spoken with five different bakers. Below, are recipes they’ve shared in an effort to spark inspiration for others to whip something up in the kitchen and share it with others.

Snack-a-lot buns

Desola Fadeyi says you don’t need to be a professional to make her snack-a-lot-buns. Pastries like this transport her to childhood where her mother de ella always had something fresh-made for her to snack on.

“Who doesn’t love a fresh-baked pastry?” Fadeyi asks.

Fadeyi spends a lot of time in the kitchen with her mother and loves to watch how she gets things done.

Fadeyi bakes custom cakes and pastries that are indigenous to her home country of Nigeria and sells them through her business Snack A Lot Foods in Saskatoon. Fadeyi says Snack A Lot fills a need for immigrants to experience home, while away from home and brings Canadians a taste of Nigerian culture through cuisine.

beehive pastries

Doha Kharsa says these pastries have a magical ability to start conversations about her home country of Syria.

“This is my way to spread love,” she says. “I like to share some of my culture and traditions, and food is a very important part of my culture.”

She cooks for her six children everyday. On weekends, she makes and delivers food as a side hustle called Middle Eastern Delights.

pecan chocolate chip cookies

Enter the kitchen of home baker Micaela David, where she whips up treats that introduce people to her Filipino culture. Personally, baking gives her a method of self-expression and spreading joy. She started Delice Baked Goods three years ago. These cookies are one of her favorite desserts of all time.

Her obsession when giving baked goods to others? The first bite.

“My aim is for your first bite to be, like, the happiest moment… So, I think it’s one way of definitely spreading kindness, joy, cheer any time of the year,” she said.

Rosemary Oatmeal Shortbread

Baker and cookbook author Renee Kohlman says she first tasted these cookies in 1999 when she was working in the Yukon at a fly-in fishing lodge.

“The pastry chef baked up a batch for the guests, and after my first bite, I was like: ‘Hello, what do we have here?'” she says.

This was the pastry chef’s grandmother’s recipe, and she graciously shared it with Kohlman that summer. She’s been baking it up at Christmastime every year since to rave reviews from friends and family. Kohlman says folks will wander into your kitchen asking what in the world you are up to and will then wait to see the cookie magic come out of the oven. Her advice from her: “Get them to load the dishwasher while they’re loitering.”

Kohlman says not to be scared off by two cups of butter. The recipe yields a giant batch of cookies that smell of Christmas.

Dark chocolate, blue cheese, pear tart

Ian Frias goes by the name @Imaginasian__ on Instagram. His love of reality baking shows during the pandemic turned into a love affair with baking.

“In my head, I’m like: ‘I don’t really know how to bake. So who am I to talk about criticizing someone else’s baking?'” Frias says.

And so it began. Although he’s relatively new to the craft, he’s not afraid to dream up new recipes and “baking that pie in the sky.” This includes his first-ever creation of him when he started baking.

“To me, it’s really about offering your kind of heart and soul into something and then presenting it to someone. So my favorite thing about baking is just kind of watching people’s reactions and kind of like seeing that joy,” he says.

LISTEN| Saskatoon Morning’s Make It Kind show: