From sophisticated boulevards, museums, restaurants and pastry shops to the historic cow town of the Arizona central highlands, it’s a long way from Paris to Prescott.
Sandra Bonhomme-Gilliam has brought Paris to Prescott in the form of “Ma Petite Pâtisserie sans gluten” and in classic French pastries with a twist. They’re dairy- and gluten-free. Sandra looks like a petite påtisserie herself, and that French accent is like pastry cream. And she has a PhD!
Sandra remembers growing up in Paris and visiting the farmers’ markets, where great food is celebrated and everything is lusciously beautiful and fresh. She remembers the elegant and sumptuous treats she found in the Paris pastry shops. It was all so wonderful.
In high school Sandra was fascinated with food and wanted to study nutrition, but school officials discouraged her from taking the science classes. She had to fight; she had to wait; when she graduated she had to take a special course of study. Through perseverance and grit she earned her doctorate in nutrition from Paris-Descartes University.
But something was wrong. Out of her passionate love for animals, she had become a vegetarian. That didn’t align well with the animal treatment required for research. And she noticed the pervasive corrupting power of industry-driven science. Both put her off working as a nutrition researcher.
She searched for another job, but only found research positions. Then she tried to get into veterinary school, with no luck. She visited Cottonwood, where her uncle had a home, and met a Frenchman who was opening a bakery in Sedona. He encouraged her to go back to Paris, go to pastry school and, he promised, he would hire her. So she did.
She learned the art of pastry-making and immersed herself in sugar, butter, cream and gluten. She says, “I had to try everything. But I was feeling sick, bloated, sluggish, fat, and I broke out in eczema. I started looking for ways to make pastry without cow’s milk or gluten.”
She put her scientific background to work, looking for healthy ingredients without sacrificing flavor. Sandra developed her own doughs, crusts, creams, fillings and preserves from scratch. She worked up recipes using organic ingredients like chia seeds, brown rice and chickpea flour, cashews, coconut sugar and coconut oil, and assembled the pastries with scientific precision and master French-pastry care, making each into a delicious, bejeweled work of art.
Sandra started her business, Ma Petite Pâtisserie sans gluten, in Paris, but wanted to return to Arizona to work. She visited her uncle often and applied for a work visa, but was repeatedly refused. On one of those visits she met the man of her dreams, Daniel Gilliam, a long-time Prescott resident. The pandemic broke out; for a time she couldn’t return to France. They fell in love, married and moved into his home in Chino Valley, where I now sit at the kitchen table.
Sandra makes all her pastries in this kitchen, with no professional equipment and not a lot of space. She is certified through the AZ Department of Health Services’ Cottage Food Program.* When she started selling at the Prescott Farmers Market she thought she would be there for one season. Three years later she is still there every Saturday morning, with beautiful, delicious, healthy, gluten- and dairy-free Moilleux au chocolat (soft chocolate cakes), Financiers (almond cakes), Madelaines, marble cakes, hazelnut-chocolate-chip cookies, chocolate-ganache tarts, brioche, pizza crusts, sourdough bread and more. Sandra says “Many people don’t understand French pastries, how much time and care go into them. They are eaten occasionally, fully enjoyed and expected to cost more.”
As Sandra lists all these pastries and products, I realize that it all comes out of this home kitchen, with one sink, one stove and no professional equipment. She says, “It’s a super challenge to do this all in my kitchen. It’s nuts.” Then we take a tour — through the back door and into the huge garage being remodeled as the site of the new professional kitchen. The new double convection oven, big freezer and refrigerator are sitting there waiting to get started. Big plans, big expansion. Sandra is already designing a line of raw food/live food pastries.
Next time you feel like celebrating for any reason, stop by the Prescott Farmers Market to visit Sandra and to pick up a beautiful, delicious, amazing, and healthy taste of Paris from Ma Petite Pâtisserie sans gluten.
More at mppgf.com and prescottfarmersmarket.org.
*: The Cottage Food Program allows commercial preparation in a home kitchen of non-hazardous foods like cookies, breads, cakes and pastries. The certification is straightforward and easy. More at azdhs.gov.
Chef Molly Beverly is Prescott's leading creative food activist and teacher. Photos by Gary Beverly.
