The Happiness Within Story

I started baking Baklava when I was 10, helping my mother prepare it for our family. Much of my childhood was spent growing up in England. While my parents’ cuisine is Mediterranean, I was fascinated with how I could blend this with Western recipes to create exciting flavors. And like my mother, her mother, and her mother, our passion is desserts. When we ate an outstanding one it made us feel happiness inside.

So it frustrated me to find baklava so often offered either oversweet, or dry. I experimented and learnt from my family; blessed with many close relatives who bake outstandingly, without having taken a single baking class!

I tested the results with friends and it’s safe to say that it caused much happiness within.

So I tried my luck at the local gourmet farmers’ market in Menlo Park, Silicone Valley. When the Market management sampled my Baklava a look of happiness swept across their faces … and they welcomed me into the Market.

The Baklava’s success in the Market emboldened me to try my luck in local specialty grocery stores. And the happiness continued to spread. Baklava enthusiasts repeatedly told me “this is the best Baklava I’ve ever had”, and others were amazed to realize that “Baklava was supposed to taste this good!” This encouraged me to expand my offerings to more of my favorite desserts; Orange Tea Cakes. Light and moist they offer a complementary addition to my Baklava.

I wish you pleasurable eating, and Happiness Within,

Heba Badran

Owner of 5k Cuisine LLC, A Palo Alto company.

Our 9 year-old took this wonky shot, then added: "it's the Leaning Tower of Baklava!".