Family Fare presents: Fox 17 Morning Mix Bake-Off

I started baking as a hobby, making treats for friends and family all through high school and later pursued degrees in both Culinary Arts at Secchia Institute of Culinary Education and Hospitality Management at Ferris State University.

In 2019 I started my very own custom dessert bakery business: Equinox Pastries and Pops! I create custom cake pops, cookies, cakes, pastries and more for any size event or celebration my clients may have in their lives and love making connections through delicious desserts!

The future goal for Equinox Pastries and Pops is to open it as a small brick-and-mortar bakery and cafe south of downtown GR in a year or so as I grow out of the rental space I currently work out of!

I was born and raised in France, where I received my culinary training and completed apprenticeships at 2 and 3 Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris. I moved to San Francisco after falling in love with the city during a culinary school trip. I worked as an Executive Chef at a few different French restaurants, spent time as a tasting chef and catering manager at one of the largest caterers in the city, and then spent many years years teaching cooking classes at a school in Berkeley called Kitchen on Fire. I've loved aspects of all the work that I've done, but I enjoy connecting with people through my food the most. My wife and I got married in February 2020. We decided that we wanted to move to Michigan soon after that, to be closer to family. I started Gaby's Gourmandise with the dream of sharing my skills, my passion for authentic food, and my desire to connect with people.

I learned from my mom that baking comes from the heart. The dream of building something sweet on my own, while having my family by my side had been pulling on me for a long time. After practicing law for almost 20 years, I decided to go for it! Thus, The Good Cookie Sweet Shop was born! 

I fell in love with law because it allowed me to help others; why can’t these sweet treats do the same? When you buy a cookie from The Good Cookie Sweet Shop you are also supporting your community with our Doing Good Initiative. Every month we choose and donate to a local nonprofit organization within the West Michigan community. Our cookies are good, and they also do good. 

So, my mission is simple: to create the best-tasting sweets in Grand Rapids, while using the finest ingredients with the hardest working assistant (my daughter, Amelia) and employees by my side. 

Visit me in the pink and white building on the corner of Fulton and Fuller. Come taste my creations, always made from the heart - that's my promise to you.