There is a reason I chose my Traditional Honey Walnut Baklava as my January Baklava of the Month: It was the very first baklava I ever learned how to make. Most of you already know my baklava origin story as there are a few videos online that tell it; but for those of you who don’t, I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version.
When I was 16 years old I started working for a Greek family in North Carolina where I grew up. They were three brothers, two of which were married with kids. They all lived on the same street and had all come to the United States as adults. While they were very successful in the restaurant business, they relied on good help to navigate through our culture and language. Once they realized that I was “good help,” they utilized me in lots of different ways. In addition to working at the restaurant, I babysat their children, paid their bills, and picked up their parents and brought them to work with me on many occasions.
I was around “the Greeks” (as I called them) a lot, and over the years I learned a ton from them—not only about their country and culture but about life and business in general. They were extremely proud of their roots, and I was introduced to all things Greek while in their homes. I was curious about it all. It was very different from my African American culture, but they reminded me a lot of my own family in many ways: family was important, food was always part of the festivities, and they were loud. They primarily spoke Greek around me unless they were speaking to me directly, but I didn’t need to understand what they were saying to absorb from them.
When my boss would ask me to pick up his mama or daddy, it was never a quick honk of the horn and Nick (Papou, Greek for “grandfather”) hopped in the car. I had to park, ring the doorbell, go in for Greek coffee and treats, and smile while awkwardly eating. It was awkward not because I didn’t want to be there nor because I didn’t feel comfortable; I couldn’t stop speaking in English and they couldn’t stop speaking to me in Greek, and none of us understood each other.
I was always interested in what Yiayia Maria (Greek for “Grandmother”) had to offer me, and she could tell I wasn’t just being polite. She would show me the pastries she baked and would explain them to me in Greek and I would look and respond back in English. It was a dance we did every time I went over. Let’s just say, there was a lot of smiling and you don’t have to understand a particular language to understand the meaning of a big smile. She and Papou have long since passed away, but I still remember their kind, warm faces and their proud Greek spirit. I was so smitten with the years I spent with the Greeks that I never forgot the recipes long after I left their restaurant and North Carolina behind for my adventures in Spain and then my life and family here in Utah.
Over the years, I’ve expanded on that first baklava recipe and have run wild building upon it. In 2008 after tinkering with my recipes for years and sharing them with friends, I opened Sheer Ambrosia Bakery. Enjoy my version of Traditional Greek Walnut Baklava and Happy New Year! May 2021 be a blessed and healthy year for all of us.
With lots of LOVE,
Rita Magalde
“Rita Magalde of Sheer Ambrosia bakes delectable baklava, a succulent dessert pastry formed of crisp phyllo dough and drizzled with a honeyed sweetness or sugared syrup to hold it together. Chopped nuts mold each layer, and, once baked, the flaky dish crumbles and melts on your tongue with a flavorful duality of earthy walnuts and soaked honey.
Appropriately named, Sheer Ambrosia bakes food “fit for the gods,” says Magalde. Not any business can slap such a title onto their storefront and have it feel congruous. As someone who has traveled far past her current home, Draper, Utah, to better understand how food and dessert is derivative of varying cultures and identities, Magalde has earned the namesake. With baklava that is delivered across the United States, she has certainly mastered the craft and ardently recognizes cooking and baking as an art form, not just something that tastes good and satisfies a craving.”
Read the full article HERE in the Slug Mag.
Article written by Jamie Christensen
We’ve made it to the end of 2020, and hopefully you and your family members are healthy and well. It’s almost Christmas and, for me, Christmas is a special time. It’s special not only because my business generally booms during the holiday season but, more importantly, because I love Christmas. I’m going to get a little personal with this month’s message so bear with me.
I was raised in a religion that didn’t allow me to celebrate Christmas as a child. Our family never had a tree; carols were never sung in our home. I never received a Christmas present, and I always knew Santa Claus wasn’t real. There was zero Christmas spirit, cheer, or nostalgia. My parents were wonderful, but they were steadfast in their belief that Christmas was not to be celebrated in our home. At school, while other kids colored pictures of Santa and the reindeer, I colored the letter R for Rita. And when we went to music class, I awkwardly sat in silence as the other children sang all the traditional Christmas songs one after another.
When I was 18 years old I left the church I grew up in, and a month before my 19th birthday I celebrated Christmas for the first time. I remember as if it were yesterday. I had my own apartment, and I went to Target and bought one of those two-feet-tall Christmas trees that came with pre-installed lights and tiny ornaments. It sat in the corner of my little apartment, and I was so happy.
The year my husband and I bought our first house, I raced out and purchased our first tree but had no idea how to decorate it. I put the bulbs on first and they all came tumbling down when I tried to install the lights. Ha! Ha! Rookie mistake! Lights first, then the ornaments, Rita!
When my children were born, I spared no expense and had the biggest tree with the most beautiful lights and ornaments. The candles warmed our home with their Christmas fragrances, and I cooked and baked and bought them all the presents they could want. My children would not be denied Christmas joy!
When I was 36, my boyfriend at the time couldn’t believe that I’d never experienced the Nutcracker in any form or fashion so he treated me to The Nutcracker ballet. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever witnessed, and I cried during the performance.
For years, my Cranberry Walnut Spice served as my go-to “holiday” flavor and it still does. But last year I wanted to come up with an alternative flavor. As you know, I love fusing my baklava with fruit so I decided to make a Sugar Plum version as an homage to the beautiful Sugar Plum Fairy and my love for Christmas.
So there you have it, friends…Sugar Plum Walnut! Enjoy the subtle hints of plum and the sweetness of the sugar along with the honey and spices. Relish the Christmas season as much as I’ve grown to appreciate it over the years. It’s cold outside, but it’s my hope that your home is always warm inside with love, good food, the company of your family, and the comfort the holiday season always seems to bring
So, from our house to yours, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Blessings that you remain healthy and safe!
Happy November! I’m so excited to connect with you again. I’ve been spending lots of time alone these days because I desperately want to stay COVID-FREE so I can continue to bake for you, my customers and friends. So when I get to write to you and tell you stories, I get a little giddy!
We have come to my favorite flavor of the year! Yes, I know, a mother shouldn’t have a favorite, but I dooooo! I can’t help it. The marriage between tart and sweet with this combination is TO-DIE-FOR…or should I say TO-LIVE-FOR. Anyway, the year I came up with this flavor (I think it was October of 2013) I’m pretty sure I gained at least 10 pounds over the holiday season, and it was ALL from this Cranberry Walnut Spice Baklava.
I can’t believe it took me as long as it did to come up with this flavor because I’ve had a love affair with cranberries for a long time. It all started back in the summer of 1995, before I left for Spain. I was doing an internship for my history major in New Port, Rhode Island, where I worked at the Newport Historical Society Monday through Friday and on the weekends. I explored New England, living on the Salve Regina University Campus in an old mansion (there are LOTS of mansions there), which they converted into student dorm rooms, and I loved it!
Every morning on the way to work, I rode my bike to an old historic home converted into a bakery where I’d sample a different pastry. One morning I had a cranberry orange muffin and thought I’d died and gone to heaven! From that day forward, it was a cranberry orange muffin…nothing else would do! That burst of tart amongst the light, airy, buttery sweetness of the pastry was just so delightful. I was 110 pounds soaking wet and could eat whatever I wanted in those days without gaining an ounce, so yummy muffins every day? An explosion of goodness—bring it on!
A few weeks into my trip, I visited Cranberry World by Ocean Spray in Plymouth, Massachusetts, with a group of students. It was a museum dedicated to, you guessed it: CRANBERRIES! It was there that I learned how cranberries are cultivated and harvested, about the cranberry bogs, and all the delicious ways you can enjoy the fruit. I remember getting lots of laughs when I told my friends back home that I went to Cranberry World!
After the internship was over and right before I drove back home to North Carolina, I stopped to get an oil change at the local Jiffy Lube and met a realtor in the waiting room. We talked about my adventures, how much fun I had during my summer, and my newfound fondness for this part of our vast country, in particular New Port with its flat, biker-friendly streets, neat, culture-rich shops & people, and gorgeous beaches. She slipped me her card and told me to call her if I ever wanted to come back to live. At the time, I thought that was definitely going to be in the cards for me. Little did I know that my study abroad in Spain would change the trajectory of my life.
Years passed and I forgot about my dream summer in New England, but when I re-discovered cranberries for my holiday baklava in my own bakery in Sandy, Utah, memories from that summer came roaring back. It reminded me that there are so many places here in the States that I love too and that I don’t always have to travel outside of our borders to enjoy and learn about the world. If you’ve never been, and once this crazy pandemic is over, you must find time to visit New England. It’s so beautiful and there is so much culture and history to see, eat, and poke around in.
Stay safe and healthy because there are good times to come.
Love,
Baklava Rita
This month’s Baklava of the Month flavor is Spiced Pear Walnut, and I have to tell you the story of how I came up with this flavor. I love, love, love cooking, baking, and home décor/decorating. There’s nothing like a beautifully cozy and inspiring space with delicious aromas filling the kitchen and permeating the entire home. I grew up watching Martha Stewart and perusing the pages of Good Housekeeping, Southern Living, and Architectural Digest. To this day my television toggles between HGTV and the Food Network.
Anyway, back to the story…years ago, I was watching one of my favorite chefs, Ina Garten (host of Barefoot Contessa) bake something I had never heard of before. She called it a Pear Clafouti. It sounded so sophisticated and foreign, and my interest was immediately piqued. I took notes as I watched her making it on the screen, then went right out and bought the ingredients. It turned out lovely and smelled divine once it was baked and cooling on the rack. I made it again for my next dinner party, and it was a hit! From then on, I enjoyed experimenting with pear desserts. I made pear fruit tarts, both summer chilled and warmly baked. I made poached pears served warm and another version served chilled. I explored recipes with various varieties of pears: Bartlett, Bosc, D’Anjou, Asian, and others. Did you know there are over 3,000 varieties of pears? Crazy, right! I learned that clove, cinnamon, and allspice are wonderful complimentary spices to pears; and, of course, I added pears to my baklava recipes. Over time, I tweaked and formulated my spiced pear walnut baklava recipe into what it is today.
I hope you enjoy my recipe, which was inspired by Ina and her Pear Clafouti. To honor her, I’d like to direct you to her recipe if you are feeling adventurous and want to enjoy another pear dessert after you’ve gobbled up your baklava. You can find it at HERE. By the way, a Clafouti is a baked French dessert made with fruit. It is traditionally made with black cherries, which is also oh, so yummy!
Enjoy your baklava! I can’t wait to talk with you next month! And please remember…I appreciate you more than you will ever know.
“Once again, the country is reeling after another abhorrent death. Breonna Taylor. Darrien Hunt. Amaud Arbery, George Floyd. Countless others. Now, Jacob Blake.
In response to these horrific and unjust deaths, we saw the Black Lives Matter movement gain traction and support this summer. As people all across the country continue to protest in the streets, tens of thousands of Utahns are expressing their own style of protesting – not only in the streets – but also with support for Black-owned businesses. By putting their money where it really counts, Utahns are showing their love and support in meaningful ways and for that, I am so incredibly grateful.”
Read the full article HERE in the Salt Lake Tribune
Written by Rita Magalde
I’m so excited to connect with you again, my Baklava of the Month Club customers/friends! This month I don’t really have a “story” per se to explain how I came up with my apple baklava recipe, but I do have some wonderful news to tell you! My first instinct was to make it a surprise, but I’m not good at keeping secrets. So here goes…
I am so incredibly grateful to you all for your support and business and I want to show my appreciation by giving you something else of value besides your monthly baklava treats. Because I think of my baklava as art, I decided to capture all my flavors in pictures…but I’m also all about useful gifts. So I am in the process of creating a 2021 baklava photo calendar for you all! I’m not using the same images from my website. After all, I took most of those photos and although they are good, they are not FABULOUS!
So I hired a REAL photographer. Her name is Aubrie Cornelius, and she’s a food photographer here in Salt Lake City. She’s a young stay-at-home mom of two and like me, family is important to her, but turning her passion for photography into a business was something she was born to do. Aubrie reached out to me, so I checked her out on Instagram and was blown away by her photos. Can you say G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S! If you’re on Instagram, please go see her page; her handle is @theblonde_chef. After we talked and really connected, we spent the entire month of August working on the calendar pics doing about two a week. Aubrie did an amazing job interpreting my vision and ideas. She’s just finished putting the final touches on each photo and turned them over to me this week, and man are they lovely!
Now, I’m working with my graphic designer to create the perfect calendar. My goal is to have it ready to send to you with your October Baklava of the Month Club orders. Above is a picture of an interview I did with Aubrie on Facebook Live. If you have a Facebook account, please go check it out HERE. It’s approximately 22 minutes. We discuss how we met, our passions, all the ways we are alike, and a little bit about life. Aubrie is an amazing up-and-coming photographer, and I just had to introduce her to my Facebook followers and you, of course!
Stay tuned for the calendar. I can’t wait for you to see it…heck…I can’t wait to see it! It’s going to be beautiful and each month, when you turn the page, you’ll know right away what flavor to be expecting in your mailbox. Enjoy your Apple Pie Walnut baklava. My favorite way to enjoy it is with caramel ice cream. It’s so decadent and yummy. Until next month! And please remember…I appreciate you more than you will ever know!
With Love,
Baklava Rita
We loved getting to know Rita Magalde from her last appearance, when she whipped up the tastiest deserts and told us all about her bakery, Sheer Ambrosia. When we found out she was also author of book “From Mrs. To Ms”, we knew we had to get her right back in!…
Check out my feature in ABC4 Utah’s episode of “Good Things Cooking”: WATCH NOW
In this video I share my recipe for Kourambiedes, a Greek butter cookie, talk about my passion for baklava, and briefly mention my book, FROM MRS. TO MS. – How To Pull Your Life Together When Your Marriage Falls Apart.
“While thousands are making a statement about injustice at marches, protests and vigils, many Utahns have found an additional way to fight racial inequity.
They are spending their dining dollars at restaurants, food trucks and bakeries owned by people of color.
‘For a white person who is not comfortable going to a protest,” said Rita Magalde, owner of Sheer Ambrosia Bakery, “this is another way to support black Americans.'”
Read More of this Salt Lake Tribune Article
Article written by Kathy Stephenson | June 5, 2020
Today’s post is one I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I want to discuss finding your passion/purpose, getting into your groove, doing your “thing” successfully at an older age. We live in a time that seems to think that if you haven’t made your millions, aren’t able to retire at 45, or aren’t at the top of your career game by 40, then you’re a loser. That is so far from the truth! Just because Mark Zuckerberg became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire at 23 doesn’t mean that you belong on the trash heap because you’re 50 and are still working on making your mark in your industry. Not everyone is destined to be Mark Zuckerberg or Kylie Jenner. They are the exception, not the rule.
Life is a J-O-U-R-N-E-Y people! It’s not about the end game; it’s about how you get there through all the twists and turns, roadblocks, and obstacles. It’s about the pitstops we make in order to enjoy parenthood and explore other passions. It’s about learning from mistakes, and sometimes it’s just about taking time to handle things that become new and more important priorities. Sometimes—NO, ALL THE TIME—we change. We evolve and our dreams and desires change as we evolve.
There are examples of folks that became famous, rich, or leaders in their industry while they were young, and I’ve already named a couple above. But there are also plenty of examples of people who became all of those things and more later in life…after they raised their children, after they took care of a sick parent, after they retired from a job they needed in order to care for their family. Whatever the case for the delay in them becoming household names until way past their supposed prime, they still made their indelible mark.
Let’s take a look at a few of my personal role models and guilty pleasures:
I have to start with my favorite female celebrity chef (sorry Martha Stewart…I like you too) but Julia Child is my girl! The queen of cooking didn’t even write her first cookbook until she was 50! It was called Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She went on to have several cooking shows, and thanks to PBS I learned about this wonderful woman when I was a little girl. Thus began my own journey into the cooking world.
Thanks to Henry Ford and his Model T, mass car production became a thing. But guess how old he was when he created the Model T…he was 45 years old!
Ray Kroc was a milkshake machine salesman before he bought McDonald’s at the age of 52 and grew it into the world’s largest fast-food chain.
A gracefully beautiful woman that I admire who is considered a late bloomer is Vera Wang. She started her figure skating career at eight years old and later switched to fashion as an editor for Vogue. She was in her 40s when she became the fashion designer she’s most noted for today.
You can’t go to the movies now without seeing Samuel L. Jackson’s face on the big screen, in a trailer, or on a poster in the hall. But did you know he was 43 when he got his first breakout role in Spike Lee’s film Jungle Fever? Still, he didn’t really become a household name until his rock-star role in Pulp Fiction. That movie solidified him as an icon in Hollywood. He was 46 years old!!!
For all of you Marvel Comic fans, did you know that Stan Lee was almost 39 when he created The Fantastic Four! He co-created Spider-Man after that, as well as the X-Men and other Marvel comic heroes.
I don’t want to bring down the positive mood here, but I cannot leave out my favorite celebrity chef of all time. Anthony Bourdain was a master cook, world traveler, and storyteller—my top three passions since, well…FOREVER. Anthony experienced a rollercoaster life. He went through times of both struggle and success on his way to ultimate name recognition, but he didn’t really become famous until his mid-40s. Anthony embodies everything that I strive for. Although Anthony struggled with his demons, he loved life, people, family, food, and adventure. A man after my own heart!!
I’ve saved another one of my favorite examples for last. Meet Laura Ingalls Wilder. Did you know she was 65 years old when she published her first Little House book? It was called Little House in the Big Woods. Her books inspired The Little House on the Prairie television show. It was my favorite show when I was a little girl. Our family never missed an episode. It came on Monday nights. We watched as a family with our homemade popcorn we popped on the stove in my mom’s big yellow cast iron cooker and washed it down with my mom’s favorite homemade lemonade she made with tap water, Real Lemon lemon juice and a pound of sugar!!!
I could go on, there’s Harland Sanders, better known as the Colonel. He was 62 when he franchised Kentucky Fried Chicken. He later sold it for 2 million dollars!!
Ok, I think you get my point. You haven’t missed your chance to make your mark on the world if you’re in your 40s like me. Like me, you’ve probably been busy raising kids & keeping the lights on and food in bellies. You may have changed careers like me. You may have gotten a divorce like me and had to change your priorities since you no longer have a partner to assist you. You may be helping to take care of your elderly parents. For whatever the reasons you haven’t been able to create that something special yet, don’t fret…you still have time.
Stop judging yourself and just appreciate where you are right now! Also, let the examples I’ve shown you prove that it’s not over ‘til the fat lady sings…it ain’t over ‘til it’s over! It’s never too late to make your mark on this beautiful world we live in. Wherever you are right now in your quest to make your difference, in the words of the late, great Curtis Mayfield, “keep on pushing!!!” Check out his song Move On Up Below…it’s inspiring!!
—Peace, Love, & Baklava Forever,
Rita
How many times have you contemplated your life and the decisions you have made and had regrets? Misgivings about your choice in a mate, regrets about which college you chose to attend, or your choice to not even go to college. How about regrets about a career choice or regrets about where you live? I can tell you I have had moments of regret in the past—laying in bed, unable to sleep, restless regrets I call them. I would lie there and wonder what my life would be like if I had not done this or that thing, had made this or that choice instead of the ones I did make.
I finally realized something: I understood that everything I chose was what I needed to choose at that time. Every person I’ve allowed into my life, every situation I have encountered, every project I thought I squandered time on…they have all shaped me into the person I am and were by no means a waste of my time. Please remember this simple message when you start to doubt your past decisions and the results they produced. You have been through a lot and have managed up until now, so don’t start to have reservations about what you have managed to do with your time. Trust that every moment of time exhausted was time well spent sculpting you into the YOU that you are.
Remember this quote by Asha Tyson:
—Peace, Love, & Baklava Forever,
Rita
