The Monkey Diaries: The Menu

About author / Rebecca Michaels

Queen of the desserts and pastry chef extraordinaire; graduate French Culinary Institute; Golden Scoop Award winner; Flying Monkey Bakery founder

I have been having a ton of fun lately figuring out what will be on my menu at The Monkey. I've put my creative chef's toque on and have been brainstorming away.

I've got so many recipes and things that I think Philadelphia needs to taste that it's been difficult paring down what we'll actually make on the line. Certain considerations affect the decision: cost, labor, shelf-life, and of course, the Will They Like This? Factor.

Obviously the cost of the ingredients plays a huge factor in what I will decide to sell. This is also tied to how much it will cost me for my employees to make an item. Let's talk about fruit tarts as an example of what I'm working with here:

First, the cost of the fruit can be very high depending on the season and the type of fruit. Second, making the tart shells from scratch is an extremely labor-intensive process, especially when doing lots of individual tarts. Additionally, making nice, even individual tart shells is a skill that requires lots and lots of practice if you're not used to doing it. Third, the shelf life of the fruit tart is relatively short compared to brownies or a cake. Fourth, I've no doubt that a fruit tart will pass the WTLT test, but there are plenty of other bakeries in Center City that make absolutely divine fruit tarts already. They've got a system and they're working it well.

So, I probably won't be making fruit tarts. At least not to start. Perhaps if I get lots of requests I'll rethink the situation. But for now, it doesn't seem to be a worthwhile menu item at The Monkey.

The two most popular items that I make are brownies and my chocolate covered marshmallows. Both are quick to make and have a good shelf-life (though I'm hoping they'll fly off the shelves!). The brownies are a bit costly ingredient-wise because I make them with high quality butter, cocoa and chocolate. But the expense is worth it for this particular product; top notch chocolate is an absolute must in any fabulous brownie recipe.

My marshmallows are made from scratch and are dipped in dark Guittard chocolate and then rolled in graham crackers, crushed Oreos or toasted coconut. People seem to get a real kick out of them because they're different yet still an accessible comfort food. There are very few places that make marshmallows around here, and I have the feeling that they just might become The Monkey's signature item.

I hope that a large component of my business will be custom cakes. My artistic bent is toward the more whimsical and different cakes. I absolutely adore polka dots, ribbons, dragees and petal dust. Hopefully I'll be able to create cakes that are as individual as the people who order them and as special and memorable as they events that they are celebrating. I love making special occasion cakes--from discussing the type of party with the client, to drawing the design to the final touches of petal dust painting the fondant.

So, this is where my thoughts are right now concerning the menu. I think it will end up getting tweaked as Philly and The Monkey get to know each other better. But it's a very exciting start. I can't wait to test my goods out!