The chefs at the Penn State Bakery are fans of healthy change. While providing baked goods and desserts for the dining commons and on-campus hotels, the chefs try to find ways to make their menu items healthier without drastically changing the recipes.
This includes incorporating multi-grain options and baking with 100 percent whole wheat. Executive Pastry Chef Heather Luse said her team is able to keep the same great taste and quality while creating healthier options for on-campus diners.
“We’re looking at our menus. We’re cutting calories and serving sizes,” she said. “Students are seeing healthier desserts on the menu, lower calories.”
As “healthy” desserts go, the bakery’s menu sounds pretty sweet. With items like cranberry apple crumble, chocolate fudge pie, and low-fat tiramisu, students with the sweetest sweet tooth may not even notice the minor menu alterations. Dining commons also feature whole-wheat muffins like chocolate chip and apple cranberry.
“They are all very tasty,” Luse said. “We basically opted out some of the ingredients for others–for example, apple sauce for oil–and provided smaller serving sizes.”
Cakes in the dining commons are now cut to have 18 slices, instead of 16. Luse noted that cutting back a little on sugar and calories goes a long way.
Parents and families can treat their Penn State students to a semester of tasty treats and snacks. By placing an order at the beginning of the semester, parents can send bakery sweets to any student’s commons desk one day each month. Each set of treats has a theme.
Twelve cupcakes or cookies will be delivered four times during the semester. Parents can choose from one of the three delivery days, and the delicious desserts will automatically be sent to your student. Below are the themes for each month.
September - Penn State
October - Halloween
November - Autumn
December - Holiday
The Penn State Bakery provides baked goods for more than 30 locations at University Park and across the Commonwealth. Many of the Bakery’s specialties can be found at the dining commons and other Campus Dining locations, as well as the Penn State Hotels, Bryce Jordan Center, Campus Catering, and more.
The Penn State Bakery has been serving the university community since 1947. Currently, the bakery is more of a multi-faceted factory and distribution center than your average neighborhood bakery. The 10,000-square-foot facility provides baked goods to more than 30 locations at University Park and across the commonwealth.
To give you an idea of the scale of the bakery staff’s repertoire, here are some annual production numbers:
59,000 loaves of bread
11,600 cakes
89,500 dozen cookies
930,000 rolls
9,800 pies
39 wedding cakes
2,357 specialty desserts
