Cajun, Creole pastry maker to demonstrate craft at Experience Louisiana Festival

When cooking with antique recipes, its easy to consider yourself a bit of culinary chronicler.
“I used a 100-year-old syrup sweet dough pie with fig filling recipe from my grandmother, and I won second place in the professional category at the Sweet Dough Pie Festival in Grand Coteau,” said Denise Harding of Lafayette. “It’s more gingerbread in color than regular sweet dough pies.
“I’ve got degrees in photography and journalism, so I’m sort of like a food historian. It’s very interesting.”
Harding has baked professionally since the age of 10, and she will be selling Creole and Cajun pastries at the Experience Louisiana Festival Oct. 17-18 at the LSU Eunice campus.
“I’ve always had a passion for baking,” she said. “My first job was a cake decorator, and I am a self-taught pastry chef.”
“My mother, Margaret Harding, was a craft artist who attended festivals with her woven and native craft rugs. She is the one who suggested I start baking some of my grandmother’s recipes and sell them at festivals.”
For 20 years, Harding has traveled the state with her confections, and many of those who sample her baked goods take a trip down memory lane when they bite into a pastry.
“Some of the recipes are forgotten recipes,” Harding said. “At festivals, I get many members of the older generations who say they haven’t had a particular kind of pastry since they were young.”
“My grandma cooked organic back then, and I use organic now. I get raw sugar from the mill and use fresh farm eggs.”
Harding is looking forward to attending the festival, and she knows the importance of continuing native crafts like hers.
“I’m excited to be doing this festival,” she said. “The craft people who will be there are so important. Doing these things, going to the festival, are ways to keep the culture going.”
Contact Olivier at claudette.olivier@eunicetoday.com.