Festive Favorites

Jaden Reyna, Editor

It’s fall y’all! Hoodie season, pumpkin spice, and Halloween are all great reasons to love the fall season.  During this season the weather gets much colder, and there’s nothing better to warm you up than some baked goods!

At Gunderson, we have a lot of student bakers who enjoy giving out their products to their friends on campus.

Baked goods, such as pastries, cookies, or pies can be fun, but challenging to make. A popular item made during the fall season is pumpkin pie. For my family, pumpkin pie is a necessity to have at the dinner table for Thanksgiving. 

Senior Leo Hickman also makes pumpkin pie, along with apple pie cookies and pumpkin cheesecake bars for his friends. He loves the fall season, especially activities like going to a pumpkin patch, and will normally bring baked goods to share with his friends. 

When it comes to baking, Hickman enjoys trying to use whatever is available instead of buying lots of ingredients. 

One time, he only had ingredients for snickerdoodle cookies, but in a creative spur of the moment, he made apple pie cookies out of it, and of course, his friends were the first to try them.

Junior Grace Hirai enjoys fall treats as well. Some of her family’s fall traditions include fruit picking, baking as a family, and going to the local farmers market for fall treats.

Hirai’s favorite food from the farmers market is “one bread stall [that] has a pumpkin pound cake… with maple frosting on top.”

Hirai bakes apple pie bread, and chocolate chip cookies, and makes apple cider with her family. 

Hirai and her family make time to bake treats, such as brownies, and hand them out to friends at school. Hirai has a younger sister on the water polo team, so she will often give them baked goods as well.

Junior Roselyn Santa Cruz bakes and makes goods as a business.

She started her business when she was thirteen years old. During the pandemic, Santa Cruz would work on her baking skills and sell them to family and friends, and soon realized she should start a business.

Her business is called Roselyn’s Bakery and can be found on Instagram.

She sells cookies, cheesecakes, brownies, cake pops, and more. She is also trying to add some fall-themed items to her menu.

Santa Cruz also makes time to bake with her family. During holidays, such as Thanksgiving, Santa Cruz makes pastries with her family. She also makes a drink called Champurrado, which is a popular Mexican drink.