November 2, 2024 • 9 mins
Girl Scout cookies can be incredibly addictive right out of the box, but imagine them transformed into a completely different type of tasty dessert! That's the assignment for a group of local bakers and chefs who are coming together in Boston's Seaport later this month for the "Cookies and Cocktails" event to benefit the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts. Valerie Nin, Executive Pastry Chef at Grill 23 in Boston, is one of the chefs competing in this tasty event. She joins Nichole on this week's episode to talk about the event, her idea for the competition, and the Girl Scouts.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England
Weekend where each week we come together right here we
talk about all the topics important to you and the
place where you live. It is so good to be
back with you again this week. I'm Nicole Davis. I
can't help it. I am a sucker for Girl Scout cookies.
They are so good. They're wicked, addictive, a box goes
(00:28):
by way too fast and also by the way, as
a former Girl Scout, they're also a fabulous way to
teach young women and girls the basics of business. They're
also a fantastic way to highlight a fundraiser to empower
young women, and that is exactly what's happening later on
this month in Boston Seaport, local chefs are coming together
to create their own special dishes, highlighting and focusing on
(00:50):
Girl Scout cookies. One of them is Valerie Ninch is
the executive pastry chef at Grill twenty three in Boston. Valerie,
great to have you on the show. Thanks for coming
on to talk about this. Tell me a bit about
your restaurant.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
So, Girl Funny three is a fine dining steakhouse. So
for the dessert menu. I try to keep it sort
of nostalgic classics for the menu, and then with like
seasonal items, and our signature item is a coconut cake.
I love coconut, so I had to do something coconut
(01:25):
on the menu. And I so my parents owned a
Chinese restaurant when I was a kid, so I grew
up sort of visiting their restaurant all the time. And
when I was in high school, my parents were basically like,
if you want spending money, you need to get a job,
(01:47):
you know. And I was like, Oh, I want to
work in restaurants. It's what I know. You know, I
love cooking. I specifically loved already knew I loved pastry,
so I just started working in restaurants until I went
to a culinary school.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Wow. I love pastries and I love eating them. And
I watch a lot of shows like Great British Bake
Off right where it's just so intricate and you watch
it all get put together. It's really kind of a
science and an art at the same time.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, I would agree with that.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
So then tell me a little bit about how you
got involved with this event, specifically with the Girl Scouts.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I entered the competition last year. Our our marketing manager
is really great at looking for events and like sort
of keeping her ear out and asking me about things
that she knows I'll be interested in. So she was like, hey,
(02:42):
what do you think about Girl Scouts? And I was
like absolutely, like sign me up.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, I mean Girl Scout cookies They're classic, right, and
there's so many different types of cookies and flavors. You
could go all sorts of directions with those cookies to
work with.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Absolutely, there's so much variety. And I mean personally, as
a pastry chef, I don't actually buy a lot of
packaged cookies except when it is Girl Scout cookies.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, I mean there's nothing quite like. I mean, I'm
sure your cookies are insane and really really good, don't
get me wrong, but I mean I'm a former Girl
Scout and to this day, when thin mint season comes around,
I'm like, okay, I'm done, give me like sixty five boxes.
I can't handle this.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, it's crazy. Like we The restaurant's really near a
train station, and one of my coworkers mentioned that there
is a table where like the girls sell the cookies there,
and I immediately went after work.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Were you ever a Girl Scout yourself, or like, have
you been involved in the Girl Scouts in the past?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I was not, actually, okay, like I've always known about them,
but no, I never did. I never did Girl Scouts.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Okay, all right, Well, then let's talk about the event itself.
And this is called cookies and cocktails. And I don't
know about you, but again, I could eat these cookies constantly,
but you have to come up with a pretty creative
dish to match with a cocktail. How does all that
work in your brain when you're kind of pulling this together?
What's that like for you?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I definitely am very much about like taste testing and
like charts, And so when they sent us the cookies,
immediately I like gott to use the paper. My Sushif
and I tried every cookie. We wrote down tasting notes,
We talked about texture, and then from there it was like, okay,
(04:35):
what would be fun, what would be good to have
with the cocktail? Like what style of dessert? And then
which cookie flavors do we think would sort of enhance that.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Are you able to give us a little bit of
insight about what you came up with or do you
want to keep this secret to the event.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I can say that my favorite cookie right now is
the lemonade, so I knew I wanted to use that
in my dessert this year.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I am obsessed with the lemonades, like I was talking
about thin mints, but they pale in comparison to the
lemonades easily my favorite. So that makes me so happy
that you're doing that.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
They're so good, like caramel delights, I think for my
entire life, were my favorite up until last year when
I got to try all the cookies and I was like, Wow,
people aren't talking about the lemonades enough.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
No, they're not. It is kind of like a sleeper.
I hate to say it, but I mean it's a
good thing that there's more for us, but.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
You cannot go.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
You cannot. It's like a nice vanilla e lemone, creamy, short,
bready sort of vibe and I can't get enough of it.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And it's so cute because the pattern looks like a
lemon wheel.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
That's true. That's true. And this is not an ad
for the Girls' Cout cookies. By the way, I'm just
saying this. You are like super much. They're just really good.
What can I say? All right, so you got like
a sort of a lemonee vibe going on with your dish.
What is like, what are kind of the challenges of
working with prepackaged cookies as somebody who tends to make
all of her own stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, The thing about using an already finished product as
an ingredient is that it's not you know, it's not
like subbing in one type of flour for another type
of flour. Like it has fat, it has sugar, it
has like more to it. So with recie testing, we
turned all of the cookies into their own individual cookie
(06:29):
butters to see like the viscosity and the fat content
and kind of give us an idea which was very delicious,
and the entire stuff we're very happy to come taste
tests with cookie butter. Yeah, and then from there it
was like, Okay, it's like it seems like it has
like it's going to add this much fat, this much
sugar to like whatever we put it into. So we
(06:51):
just have to keep that in mind.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Okay, all right, Well, I don't want to spoil it anymore,
but give us a bit of information about the event
itself and when it is, where it is, so on
and so forth.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Sure, it's so it's a fundraiser for a women's leadership development,
young women's leadership development, and it is in the Seaport Thursday,
November fourteenth at six pm at the PwC in the
Seaport District.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Beautiful, Okay. And I do see that this is twenty
one plus obviously because well there's cocktails, so keep that
in mind. For sure. This is not necessarily a kid
friendly event.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, although some people did bring their kids last year,
and I think the kids were happy to eat all
of the sweeps, but it was mostly adults enjoying cocktail.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
That makes sense. That makes sense. Okay, So I guess
my last question for you. You know, this is a fundraiser
for women's leadership development. I mean, how do you feel
about taking part in something that helps to boost young women,
you know, maybe like young women like there's yourself, who
really liked cooking and culinary What does it mean to
you to be part of an event like this?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I mean, I think it's so important to have programs
like this that teach young women about you know, finding
your voice and not being afraid to use your voice
to lead people and to be a strong leader, like
as especially a woman in the kitchen, like I lead
a staff of predominantly men, and I have been very
(08:32):
fortunate that I was raised by a strong boss lady
who sort of taught me how to, you know, feel
confident in myself and in like asserting my own voice.
And I think it's important that we are teaching the
next generation about that.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Valerie, thank you so much for your time and good luck.
Thank you have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join
me again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England
Weekend where each week we come together right here we
talk about all the topics important to you and the
place where you live. It is so good to be
back with you again this week. I'm Nicole Davis. I
can't help it. I am a sucker for Girl Scout cookies.
They are so good. They're wicked, addictive, a box goes
(00:28):
by way too fast and also by the way, as
a former Girl Scout, they're also a fabulous way to
teach young women and girls the basics of business. They're
also a fantastic way to highlight a fundraiser to empower
young women, and that is exactly what's happening later on
this month in Boston Seaport, local chefs are coming together
to create their own special dishes, highlighting and focusing on
(00:50):
Girl Scout cookies. One of them is Valerie Ninch is
the executive pastry chef at Grill twenty three in Boston. Valerie,
great to have you on the show. Thanks for coming
on to talk about this. Tell me a bit about
your restaurant.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
So, Girl Funny three is a fine dining steakhouse. So
for the dessert menu. I try to keep it sort
of nostalgic classics for the menu, and then with like
seasonal items, and our signature item is a coconut cake.
I love coconut, so I had to do something coconut
(01:25):
on the menu. And I so my parents owned a
Chinese restaurant when I was a kid, so I grew
up sort of visiting their restaurant all the time. And
when I was in high school, my parents were basically like,
if you want spending money, you need to get a job,
(01:47):
you know. And I was like, Oh, I want to
work in restaurants. It's what I know. You know, I
love cooking. I specifically loved already knew I loved pastry,
so I just started working in restaurants until I went
to a culinary school.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Wow. I love pastries and I love eating them. And
I watch a lot of shows like Great British Bake
Off right where it's just so intricate and you watch
it all get put together. It's really kind of a
science and an art at the same time.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, I would agree with that.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
So then tell me a little bit about how you
got involved with this event, specifically with the Girl Scouts.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I entered the competition last year. Our our marketing manager
is really great at looking for events and like sort
of keeping her ear out and asking me about things
that she knows I'll be interested in. So she was like, hey,
(02:42):
what do you think about Girl Scouts? And I was
like absolutely, like sign me up.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, I mean Girl Scout cookies They're classic, right, and
there's so many different types of cookies and flavors. You
could go all sorts of directions with those cookies to
work with.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Absolutely, there's so much variety. And I mean personally, as
a pastry chef, I don't actually buy a lot of
packaged cookies except when it is Girl Scout cookies.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, I mean there's nothing quite like. I mean, I'm
sure your cookies are insane and really really good, don't
get me wrong, but I mean I'm a former Girl
Scout and to this day, when thin mint season comes around,
I'm like, okay, I'm done, give me like sixty five boxes.
I can't handle this.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, it's crazy. Like we The restaurant's really near a
train station, and one of my coworkers mentioned that there
is a table where like the girls sell the cookies there,
and I immediately went after work.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Were you ever a Girl Scout yourself, or like, have
you been involved in the Girl Scouts in the past?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I was not, actually, okay, like I've always known about them,
but no, I never did. I never did Girl Scouts.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Okay, all right, Well, then let's talk about the event itself.
And this is called cookies and cocktails. And I don't
know about you, but again, I could eat these cookies constantly,
but you have to come up with a pretty creative
dish to match with a cocktail. How does all that
work in your brain when you're kind of pulling this together?
What's that like for you?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I definitely am very much about like taste testing and
like charts, And so when they sent us the cookies,
immediately I like gott to use the paper. My Sushif
and I tried every cookie. We wrote down tasting notes,
We talked about texture, and then from there it was like, okay,
(04:35):
what would be fun, what would be good to have
with the cocktail? Like what style of dessert? And then
which cookie flavors do we think would sort of enhance that.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Are you able to give us a little bit of
insight about what you came up with or do you
want to keep this secret to the event.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I can say that my favorite cookie right now is
the lemonade, so I knew I wanted to use that
in my dessert this year.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I am obsessed with the lemonades, like I was talking
about thin mints, but they pale in comparison to the
lemonades easily my favorite. So that makes me so happy
that you're doing that.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
They're so good, like caramel delights, I think for my
entire life, were my favorite up until last year when
I got to try all the cookies and I was like, Wow,
people aren't talking about the lemonades enough.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
No, they're not. It is kind of like a sleeper.
I hate to say it, but I mean it's a
good thing that there's more for us, but.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
You cannot go.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
You cannot. It's like a nice vanilla e lemone, creamy, short,
bready sort of vibe and I can't get enough of it.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And it's so cute because the pattern looks like a
lemon wheel.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
That's true. That's true. And this is not an ad
for the Girls' Cout cookies. By the way, I'm just
saying this. You are like super much. They're just really good.
What can I say? All right, so you got like
a sort of a lemonee vibe going on with your dish.
What is like, what are kind of the challenges of
working with prepackaged cookies as somebody who tends to make
all of her own stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, The thing about using an already finished product as
an ingredient is that it's not you know, it's not
like subbing in one type of flour for another type
of flour. Like it has fat, it has sugar, it
has like more to it. So with recie testing, we
turned all of the cookies into their own individual cookie
(06:29):
butters to see like the viscosity and the fat content
and kind of give us an idea which was very delicious,
and the entire stuff we're very happy to come taste
tests with cookie butter. Yeah, and then from there it
was like, Okay, it's like it seems like it has
like it's going to add this much fat, this much
sugar to like whatever we put it into. So we
(06:51):
just have to keep that in mind.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Okay, all right, Well, I don't want to spoil it anymore,
but give us a bit of information about the event
itself and when it is, where it is, so on
and so forth.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Sure, it's so it's a fundraiser for a women's leadership development,
young women's leadership development, and it is in the Seaport Thursday,
November fourteenth at six pm at the PwC in the
Seaport District.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Beautiful, Okay. And I do see that this is twenty
one plus obviously because well there's cocktails, so keep that
in mind. For sure. This is not necessarily a kid
friendly event.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, although some people did bring their kids last year,
and I think the kids were happy to eat all
of the sweeps, but it was mostly adults enjoying cocktail.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
That makes sense. That makes sense. Okay, So I guess
my last question for you. You know, this is a fundraiser
for women's leadership development. I mean, how do you feel
about taking part in something that helps to boost young women,
you know, maybe like young women like there's yourself, who
really liked cooking and culinary What does it mean to
you to be part of an event like this?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I mean, I think it's so important to have programs
like this that teach young women about you know, finding
your voice and not being afraid to use your voice
to lead people and to be a strong leader, like
as especially a woman in the kitchen, like I lead
a staff of predominantly men, and I have been very
(08:32):
fortunate that I was raised by a strong boss lady
who sort of taught me how to, you know, feel
confident in myself and in like asserting my own voice.
And I think it's important that we are teaching the
next generation about that.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Valerie, thank you so much for your time and good luck.
Thank you have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join
me again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.