Lenbrook Bakers Evoke Good Memories with Freshly Made Breads and Desserts
Good food brings people together, enabling them to connect and share. Every day at Lenbrook, residents enjoy delicious, freshly made cakes, pies, breads, and pastries when they gather for meals. That’s because Lenbrook Bakers Cinthia Cruz and Kristen Reed make most of the breads, biscuits, desserts, and pastries from scratch. Their delicious baked goods are a hit with residents, who often say they are Cinthia and Kristen’s biggest fans because the mouth-watering creations evoke wonderful memories of time spent with friends and loved ones.
Cinthia is a self-taught baker, while Kristen’s love of baking led her to train at the Culinary Institute at the Art Institute in Atlanta. On a typical day at Lenbrook, they bake bread and cornbread for all dining venues, create desserts and breakfast pastries for The Club, prepare desserts for the next day, and fill catering orders. They also develop party menus and make Lenbrook’s special crème brûleé, cakes, and special sweets to complement meals served at the upscale dining venue Phoenix.
Lenbrook has always served tasty breads and desserts, but the desire for more baked goods to be made from scratch began when Todd Clements, who currently serves as General Manager of Dining Services, became Executive Chef in 2016. He saw an opportunity to invest in making more breads and pastries in-house. At that time, Kristen was Lenbrook’s only full-time baker, making fresh bread for table baskets and about 25% of the community’s desserts. The rest were store-bought, leaving lots of room to grow and improve in-house production.
“Most chefs specialize in either savory foods or baking and pastry,” Todd said. “My career had been focused on all things savory, but I was eager to expand my knowledge. Fortunately, I had a great teacher – my wife, a professional pastry chef. She introduced me to the art of bread baking and the precise science of crafting delicious desserts and pastries.”
Inspired by this newfound passion, Todd began working with Kristen to expand Lenbrook’s in-house baked goods production. They started small but aimed to produce as many breads, desserts, and sweet treats from scratch as possible. They realized that a key player in achieving this vision was already on the Lenbrook dining team: Cinthia worked in the cold prep kitchen.
“Cinthia used overripe bananas to make a flawless banana bread during her downtime, and that caught my attention,” Todd said. “A few weeks later, she did the same with leftover berries, creating a perfect breakfast pastry. Her natural talent and self-taught skills blew me away. I asked if she’d be interested in working as a baker—and that conversation sparked a major turning point in our program.”
As Cinthia transitioned into her new role alongside Kristen, the two quickly became like sisters. Within a few months, they needed more space to keep up with demand. Instead of struggling for oven and prep space during the day, they proposed moving to an overnight shift to handle the needs. Their commitment to working from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. demonstrated their dedication and passion, and Lenbrook began planning for a dedicated bakeshop. That vision became reality when Lenbrook built the Kingsboro addition.
Cinthia and Kristen bake about 20 cakes and 50 pies per week, use around 800 eggs per week, and portion approximately 158 desserts each day. Their beloved desserts include upside-down pineapple, deluxe chocolate, gingerbread, and Bundt cakes, as well as Boston crème, apple, pecan, and cherry pies. They also make Danishes and muffins, including lemon-blueberry, sweet potato with crème cheese, and banana nut varieties, as well as challah, brioche, and focaccia breads. No matter what they are baking, sweet aromas waft temptingly from the bakeshop and fill the halls, generating residents’ anticipation of the treats to come.
“I like that I am increasing my experience at Lenbrook,” Cinthia said. “I can tweak recipes and taste most things to see if I like them. I’m making a recipe book for my daughter based on things I am learning at Lenbrook.”
Kristen enjoys the freedom and creativity that baking allows. “We use recipes, but it is kind of like an experiment. Baking is essentially a science, so there is always an exciting avenue to explore. I can do that here, and I love it!”
Residents regularly stop Kristen and Cinthia to praise the fresh baked goods. Some enjoy their baking so much that they submitted their own recipes for the bakers to re-create. Last year, Lenbrook Resident Babette Rothchild shared her cranberry raisin challah recipe, which Kristen and Cinthia use for Shabbat services. In the future, the team wants to offer specialized programs that involve residents in the baking experience.
“Cinthia and Kristen’s confections bring great joy to residents,” Todd said. “We are grateful to have such talented bakers so committed to crafting freshly baked goods from scratch for everyone to enjoy.”